My Summer as a Games Maker

HerUni.com - August 20, 2012
http://www.heruni.com/my-summer-as-a-games-maker/

Waking up at 4am, overcrowded tubes, rude customers; this summer I was an Olympic Volunteer, and had one of the best experiences of my life. I was a ‘Security’ volunteer (the presence of the hysterical, and rather handsome, Army and Navy made up for the lack of glamour) and was one of the first faces spectators came across when entering the Olympic Park.

Being a friendly face was drilled into us on our ‘training’ days. I use the word ‘training’ here very lightly. Free guided tour of the Olympic park? Lots of free Cadbury’s? This wasn’t training. It was a walk in the- very big and exciting- park. But as training goes it did not prepare us for what was to come ( which ranged from the mind-numbingly dull to the excitable celeb spotting).

One of our roles as Security was checking spectators’ tickets. And you name it, we saw it. A five person family, dressed to nines in anything red, white and blue they could get their patriotic hands on, with, unluckily for them, tickets for the following day. The mother screeching ‘I’ve been telling you all day! I was right! I was right!’ is a sound I’ll never forget. As for the family who turned up a day late for their events, well, that was an awkward conversation.

In the ‘pacer’ role we walked up and down the queue, telling the spectators for the millionth time to get rid of any water, and later have the Army tell us, for the millionth time, to tell the spectators to get rid of any water. Working the opening ceremony I was fooled into thinking this was the best for celeb spotting. Seeing Eddie Izzard (the face of the Games Maker scheme) was a highlight. Tim Henman, John Bishop and Kevin Spacey all turned up whilst I was on lunch, typical. However, after this crazed first day the celebrities dwindled, by a lot. Someone mentioned something about the head of the FA once, but not knowing anything about football, I was disappointed.

Although our specific roles may have been fairly, in want of a better word, dull, the experience as whole was something I will never forget. As a student it’s easy to get wrapped up in the ‘university’ bubble. The only people we see older than 21 around campus are lecturers, so being part of a team where the ages ranged from 18 – 80, was something of an eye opener. On down-time they even gave great career advice and it was refreshing to hear encouraging words from someone other than my advisor, or my mother.

Meeting people from all walks of life was one of the highlights, yet being a volunteer was a privilege in itself. We were told time and time again we were ‘making the Games’, and as cliché as it sounds, after the tiring 2 weeks I felt like I had. Walking back from the tube stop after one particularly long 6.30am shift, a man and his young son told me what a fantastic job the volunteers were doing, and how his experience of the Olympic Games was made by us. With those words ringing in my ears the next day’s 4am start was made a lot easier.