Volunteering for the Olympics

[David Martin]

Not too soon to think about my 2012 summer holiday.. I got an email from British Cycling today.

Dear David,

We are delighted to announce that, as a British Cycling member, you can be among the first to apply to be a cycling volunteer at the London 2012 Olympic Games.

This exclusive opportunity for British Cycling members comes ahead of the release of the general volunteering applications.

Do you have what it takes to be a Games Maker?  You need to be:

- Aged 18 or  over on 1st January 2012

- Eligible to volunteer in line with UK immigration rules

- Willing to volunteer for at least 10 days of shifts

- Able to attend a minimum of 3 days training

- Able to find and pay for own accommodation and travel

Hmm.. Accommodation should be easy, the timing seems right. could be good fun.

...ponders...

..d

[gordon taylor]

I registered as a potential volunteer last year.
I'm excited and can't wait!

[Riggers]

Just think, you could be stuck outside an Underground station directing visitors in the right direction for 10 glorious days. Enjoy.

[itsbruce]

I can't be the only London resident who wishes some other city had won.  Going to be chaos.

[Andrij]

I can't be the only London resident who wishes some other city had won.  Going to be chaos.

I am seriously considering a cycling tour tour during the Olympics.

The Olympic Park sits between me and my office.  Whether I'm on my bike or public transport, it will not be fun.
 

[David Martin]

Just think, you could be stuck outside an Underground station directing visitors in the right direction for 10 glorious days. Enjoy.

The idea seems to be that if you are a 'specialist' (ie know somethign about the sport) then you would get targetted towards that sport. The applications for 'generalists' aren't open yet.

It does of course make sense to target the national bodies for each sport to recruit specialist volunteers. Not much point in having helpers who don't understand the sport in direct athlete contact.

..d

[robgul]

I still think that the real winner of the Olympic location contest in 2005 was Paris BUT I have volunteered for cycling related stuff anyway.

The "training" that is being run by McDonalds should be interesting (Note to self : take sandwiches) .... although I fear I may not be selected as I will have probably punched someone's lights out with impatience at the potential process ... 

Rob

[Charlotte]

So let me get this right:

The ODA and LOCOG wants me to volunteer, for no payment or reward (including a grand total of absolutely no free tickets to any of the events) and if I don't live within commuting distance, they want me to pay for my own accommodation, travel and subsistence?

YMMV of course, but from my perspective, Sebastian Coe and Paul Deighton can get to fuck.

[hellymedic]

So let me get this right:

The ODA and LOCOG wants me to volunteer, for no payment or reward (including a grand total of absolutely no free tickets to any of the events) and if I don't live within commuting distance, they want me to pay for my own accommodation, travel and subsistence?

YMMV of course, but from my perspective, Sebastian Coe and Paul Deighton can get to fuck.

Yebbut you could get the Opportunity to Speak to a Celebity. That would be a Priceless Experience...

[Wowbagger]

When i was a steward at the World Chess Championships in 1986 I was paid fifteen quid a day plus travel. And I got to supervise the two K's private area. At the Mind Sports Olympiads I was paid varying amounts depending on how much Sponsorship was available but i don't think it was ever less than 100 quid a day.

[Zoidburg]

They should be feeding people and giving them a free pass to any event.

No bugger is going to volunteer for it or they will pull out nearer to the time when they twig how much they are going to be left out of pocket.

It's a grade one clusterfuck and they are going to run out of bodies. I can see them asking for community service monkeys and even the army to help out in the end.

[Rapples]

Olympics 2012 ?
It's gonna be a bit shit

Unfortunately I think he's gonna be right

[Wowbagger]

I would add that I fully concur with Charlotte about what Coe and co can do.

[Jurek]

At some point late last year I volunteered for 2012.

So far, I have been invited to register an interest in the purchase of tickets for the para olympics.

I also have an invitation to pre-order a limited edition soft toy mascot, available for £25, in addition to several other bits of tat souvenir memorabilia
(is it possible to have memorabilia before an event?) such as a die cast model of a London taxi (with judo logo) for a fiver, and 'Countdown to London 2012 £5 coins, 2009 and 2010 editions for.... £19.00.

Nothing, so far, about volunteering myself for anything.

[Notsototalnewbie]

So let me get this right:

The ODA and LOCOG wants me to volunteer, for no payment or reward (including a grand total of absolutely no free tickets to any of the events) and if I don't live within commuting distance, they want me to pay for my own accommodation, travel and subsistence?

YMMV of course, but from my perspective, Sebastian Coe and Paul Deighton can get to fuck.

But you get a free t-shirt with the Olympic logo on!

Cheeky feckers. And that's a massive chunk of leave for someone who only gets the usual 4-5 weeks a year.

Ads all over the tube saying that you'll have a sore throat from giving people directions, etc, but that telling your grandkids you did it will be priceless. Right...

[robgul]

.... be interesting to see what happens to non-UK holiday prices when the Sports Day Olympic fiasco is on - probably some good deals while all the people at home here sit with their cut-price lager packs, crisps and new mega TV.

I only volunteered, see up-thread, on the basis of cycling events, and being inside the velodrome ... although I fully expect to be rejected as an agitator 

Rob

[Wascally Weasel]

I think they have misjudged it with the volunteering angle (mainly the amount of time they expect people to commit to and the limited rewards) but I'm still very positive about the games overall.

I'm one of the (many) people working on planning the public transport side of the games, in fact the opportunity to work on this is one of the reasons why I'm still in London.  

Of the team of three that I directly manage, none are originally from London, two are from other European countries and both have cited the games as one of the main reasons they came to work in London (these are highly skilled, highly qualified people who could easily find work anywhere).

[gordon taylor]

I'm unequivocally positive. I want the games to be a huge success and am prepared to give a few days of my time to help that happen.

It's just the same as volunteering to help LEL or PBP work, isn't it?

[Cudzoziemiec]

Volunteering means giving your time and skills of your own free will and for free, as I understand the word. If you expect to be paid, you are not really a volunteer.

I'm not sure whether I would volunteer to work for the Olympics - I have a feeling that much of the work may be quite boring, and I'm not personally sure that holding the Olympics is going to be a good thing for London (or the rest of the UK) - but if I did it would be on the basis of unpaid help in whatever way, not recompense to me nor the opportunity to purchase a Russian* doll with the Windsor clan dressed in athletics gear, or whatever the marketing people/tat merchants dream up.

The Moscow olympics 1980 are one of the few that seem to have left a lasting (30 years!) legacy of symbols and souvenirs. What this says about capitalism, socialism  and marketitng, if anything, I'm not sure.

[Steve Kish]

I was invited to marshall 'Le Tour en Angleterre' in 1994(?) on top of Ditchling Beacon where I stood for about 2 hours waiting for the peloton after which I was offered a pack of crap goodies in return for my marshalling jacket.

Logic prevailed - I didn't go back to the HQ and sold the jacket on eBay USA for about $85!

I can only hope that the post-2012 housing turns out to be a bit nicer than the post-1948 housing, the White City Estate, one of the crime hot-spots in west London .... Jeez, we had brekkie close to there on Sunday!!

[andygates]

Much of most volunteering is quite boring - tri club event voll'ing is mostly panic with road signs and cones and a scaffolding spanner, then hours of sunburn and yelling or lap counting in the pool, then a slink home with a red neck. 

Marshalling is crap.  It's made tolerable and entertaining by the antics of the athletes.  It's made good by love of the sport. 

They've cunningly asked members of the various sporting orgs for volunteers first, which means we'll do the same "for the love of the game" thing as usual, rather than grumbling about having to direct traffic for some event we've never heard of or care about.  I'm sure pankration is awesome but the British Pank guys can marshall that one.

[Wowbagger]

To what extent is the olympic spirit alive and well? Do the athletes get paid for performing? If they don't then it's not reasonable to pay the stewards. However, there's so much money sloshing around it would really stick in the craw to work for them for nothing.

[David Martin]

Well, you get a uniform, free meal vouchers and free travel to the venues you are supposed to be assisting in.

There are a few fails though. All training for London is in London. Whilst I would be happy to give up part of my holiday to do boring things like marshal road races/Time trials/etc. I am not about to shell out three times for travel to London for taining sessions. Glasgow maybe, or Edinburgh but to expect me to shell out in excess of £400 for the pleasure of volunteering is a bit of a joke. We'll see how it plays out as they may well be able to do a lot of the training regionally.

My thinking is that either they will be inundated with qualified applicants and not need us regional bods, or will be desperate and therefore have to do some regional training.

..d

[Jaded]

Can you volunteer to hold the underwater camera at the synchronised swimming?

[David Martin]

Can you volunteer to hold the underwater camera at the synchronised swimming?

Only those who can hold their breath for 15 mins need apply.

..d