Road to London 2012

Around the beginning of the year I was riding on the Tube and noticed a new advertisement that had gone up in the train. It talked about needing people to volunteer sign up to be a Gamesmaker for the London 2012 Olympics. “Gamesmaker” was the term they gave to the individuals in the volunteer force that is so vital to staging a successful games. I thought of how amazing an opportunity it would be to actually be involved in the operations of the Olympics and sent in an application as soon as I could.

Many of you have been well informed of the progress of this application since then. I heard nothing for so long and then was, out of the blue, selected to be a part of the basketball test event held in August. As a member of the Press Operations team I manned the tribune area where reporters and writers sit to watch the games take place and type articles or make notes. It was a pretty easy gig and I had the chance to watch all 15 basketball games. A tough job but, you know, somebody has to do it.

After getting a lot of good feedback from the management team regarding my job I was hotly anticipating an interview for Gamesmaker very soon. Around mid-October I received that chance. I travelled over to the ExCel Centre in London’s east end pier area to begin my journey to the actual Olympics themselves. Well…I first had to begin the journey BACK to my house to retrieve my forgotten passport, but THEN I was on the journey to the actual Olympics themselves!

The set up was pretty legit. I went through a few admin processes and had my picture taken then went to watch a short “pump up” video with the other people there for interviews. Once I actually sat down with my interviewer it was a very informal conversation. She kept asking me to explain moments that I overcame adversity or was really proud of something or how I’ve worked with a team, blah blah blah. She wrote a lot of what I was saying down but I think the kicker was when I mentioned I had already worked for the Press team at a test event. Her average words per minute speed must have quadrupled because her pen was flying across the page when I mentioned that. I felt my chances were good.

After concluding the interview they send you on your way (where you are forced to walk through an Olympic shop….) and you can sign a board. There are multiple boards signed by every one of the 200 000 people who have applied and gone through an interview process. That’s kind of a lot….just saying.

Just one of the many walls of messages from interviewees

It was a beauty day out when I left and strolled for a bit. I managed to capture some great photos of the waterfront. Yeah, I live here…it’s awesome.

Riding the DLR in the front...who's driving this thing??

After a beer and some greasy noodles (what?) I headed back home. They told me it wouldn’t be until around December when I would hear back whether I was successful or not. I received an e-mail 6 days later telling me I was being offered a Gamesmaker position. Nice. My official role is “Mixed Zone Team Member” for the Basketball Arena (I think the test event experience may have played a part in this). The mixed zone is the tunnel where reporters and media can talk to the athletes and get quotes or interviews. Players are not required to speak to the press here but many of them do. My job is to make sure everything runs smoothly in this process. This means I will hopefully catch a glimpse of some big name players as they stroll through the tunnel to the locker rooms…awesome!

Updates on teaching and travelling to come!

Cheers and love,

Erik