55+ BC Senior Games 2015

I was asked by a friend who worked in First Aid at the stadium to help her organize and schedule medical volunteers. She was the Medical Director and my title was the Medical Volunteer Chair Manager. Our medical committee consisted of our Director and three other Medical Chairs who would serve as Team Leads.  This event is formally known as the BC Senior Games.

My role was to manage the volunteers and schedule them as they signed up. Problem was that no one was rushing to sign up. We didn't have group committee meetings so keeping in the loop about things was challenging. In the end, two of the Chairs had left the group and the Director left with only a couple weeks before the event. The worse part was that I had less than ten volunteers signed up less than a month before day 1. In a desperate effort, I Google every first aid training centre in the greater Vancouver area so I could email them and hopefully find volunteers. I received some emails back that they were posting my poster in their kitchen to get some eyeballs on it. However, there was a man, named Derek, who emailed me back and expressed that this was the type of event he was looking for. Training firefighters and paramedics need experience working with different patients and working with seniors was one on their list. He worked at Firemedix and offered to organize a list for me with volunteers. In the end, he sent me 40 medical officers. This was enough to keep the games going if managed properly.

The only other Chair left in the group, whose name was Steve, was quickly promoted to Medical Director and we got together and worked on the schedule as he had more medical knowledge than I did and understood their roles better. After a couple meetings at Starbucks, we came up with a schedule that worked.

The event ran from Aug 25-29th. The games cauldron was lit in North Vancouver at the shipbuilders yard.

The volunteers that showed up were wonderful to work with. We had some broken teeth, collapses and bumps and bruises to deal with but thank god, nothing major. We were based out of the Harry Jerome Centre. Every morning, they would show up, get their assigned shifts and pick up their medical equipment and then head off to their locations. I was very impressed with their professionalism.

On the last day, we had a crazy strong windstorm. I woke up a bit later that day so I could bring somosas for my team. It was bright and sunny in Surrey. As I got closer to North Van, I noticed the dark clouds and the wind. By the time I reached Harry Jerome, there were many small branches strewn about the roadways and the wind was getting stronger by the minute. We checked on our volunteers in each location as the storm got worse throughout the day. One of our volunteers reported back that a tree had just fallen on a house across from where he was. Others at curling and hockey were reporting power outages. The hockey game at the Canlan Ice Sports Centre was postponed once the power went out and was re-located to the Harry Jerome Centre where we were. I made sure my staff was safe and fed them somosas as they returned one by one. Then I sent them home as it really wasn't safe outside.

Steve and I stayed behind until the hockey game ended at our arena. We packed up our room and loaded our cars while we waited for the game to end. We had a paid medical team looking after the players. Once the game was over, we took our supplies back to the headquarters and unloaded everything. Then we decoded to go to our volunteer party which had already started an hour before we got there. We were recognized, given some gifts and fed burgers and salads. Steve didn't stay long as he got called back to the firehouse he volunteers at. I wasn't surprised considering the chaos going on outside because of the storm. All you could hear were the ambulance, fire trucks and police car sirens going off.   I didn't stay too much longer after he left.

I'm glad I got to work with such amazing people on this event. I learned a lot from them.

FIFA Womens World Cup 2015

Anyone who followed Women's soccer was here. Even if they didn't, they were still there. This was one of the biggest events we had hosted this year. This event attracted fans and media from all over the world. I was a Volunteer Manager for this event. I dealt with uniform distribution, registration, scheduling and troubleshooting throughout the games.  At times I would fill in as a media host. I volunteered during non match days because I worked the games during match days at the stadium.
The event itself ran from June 6 - July 5, 2015.

The event started off with a kick off event at an Adidas store on Granville street. They showed off the volunteer uniforms and invited all volunteers to show up. It was in the middle of the day during a weekday so not many were able to get time off work to show up but some did, including me.

My uniform was the full kit and more. It came stuffed inside a small black backpack. Inside was a pair of shorts, a pair of black pants, two red shorts, an inside jacket, rain jacket and a hat to wear. We were also given a three pairs of socks and a pair of shoes. Everything was branded by Adidas.

There wasn't much going on non match days. Marketing was mainly in the building replenishing product and making sure signage was up. Volunteers working at the Fan Zone located at the corner of Beatty and West Georgia were also going in and out. Lunch was served every day and was catered by the stadium, so most people came by to eat. We played foosball and watched the matches in our lounge on TV. We had created a match bracket and the winner received a duffle bag full of soccer clothing and items. I was close. I came in second as I had chosen Canada to go through. Majority of the volunteers had lost when Australia won their match. I had chosen them to go through. In any case, it was fun.

When I worked in media, I was taken to the Westin Bayshore Hotel where my role was to sign in media and then I was asked to be a microphone runner for media questions during the session with the President of FIFA among others sitting in a panel. I wandered over to Jack Poole Plaza one day before my shift and saw the media centre that FOX had set up during the tournament. It was raining the day I went so there weren't many people around.

Game day was interesting. There were three fires reported blowing into downtown Vancouver all day. Thick smoke from Sechelt, Burnaby Mountain and Vancouver Island had also entered the building as the stadium roof was wide open that day. It was a USA final vs Japan and so we had many visitors from the States. There was a family from Florida who came for the games who looked out the windows at the stadium and felt a little uneasy not being able to see much. Science World had disappeared under the smoke. I told them not to worry cause the fire wasn't near. Apparently they don't have forest fires in Florida.

The volunteer party was held at the Electric Owl on Main Street. This was fitting as our FIFA mascot was an owl. We had lots of great food, wonderful company, raffles, photo booths and creative drinks for everyone. Two of my favs were the Voluntini and the FIFAtini.

Our volunteer gifts were just as amazing. A mini FIFA soccer ball, a silver medal, an Adidas coupon and pins. We also received a certificate for volunteering.

Overall, it was a great event and it was fun to see so many volunteers I know volunteering for FIFA. The atmosphere around the city was electric and the patriotism was fun to see. Japan fans were appreciated by stadium staff as they actually brought trash bags to clean up after themselves. In the end, the USA team won but all the women's team were appreciated by the fans.

Prince George Canada Winter Games 2015

After Grey Cup ended, I started to get excited about my next event. It was the Prince George Canada Winter Games 2015. One of my good friends and former Volunteer Coordinate who I look up to, Christine Nicholls, was working on this wonderful event with her friends Stu Ballantyne and Kalli Quinn. The event ran from February 13 - March 1, 2015.

This was the first time that this trio was working on an event without their usual management crew, being us, and we all wanted to be a part of it. Of course Christine and Stu made it happen. They arranged for a coach line to pick us up in various locations throughout the lower mainland and brought us up to Prince George for two weeks. We stayed with billets and had a great time. Some people went for two weeks and others stayed for the full four week duration of the games. I went for two weeks as I had to get back down in time for my Whitecaps orientation.

Some fellow volunteers and I who have been friends with for years went for the first two weeks. On the way up, we also made some new friends. I stayed with Christine for my duration along with her sister and a couple others. Once we arrived, we were sent to the Canada House for uniform distribution and to get our assignments. We had also arranged for Transportation to come pick us up in the morning. I was sent to the CN Centre to work in an administrative role. I found out shortly after I got there that they have no such role there. So, I hoped back on the Transco vehicle waiting outside and went back to the office to see Christine. She saw me right away and re-assigned me to the Athletes Village. This is where I spent my next two weeks.

We started at 6am and our shifts ended at 12pm everyday. This left us with the rest of the day to explore and enjoy the games. We watched many sports like Wheelchair Basketball, Gymnastics, Ringette and Speed Skating. We managed to get Christine to join us for a couple games with us.

We also roamed the pavilions and collected many pins. One of our favorites was going out to the Casino to get the five pin set collection.  We also traded pins with athletes and pin enthusiasts alike no matter how young or old.

Some of the fun had in the pavilions and offices.

We were also interviewed many times. While walking thru the village past the stage, we were interviewed by the host there. A few hours later, we learned that Jay Janower from Global wanted to do a segment on volunteers who follow Stu and Christine everywhere. My friend, Todd, was also interviewed on the street about the games for a local news station.

We had a blast. We met athletes who won medals, made friends with Transpo drivers and showed our appreciation for their service to us by collecting pins for them too, cheered on a girl from Ontario who played on the wheelchair basketball team and even cheered for her. "Ontari-ari-ari-o, Ontar-ri-o!" We went out for dinner one night and had a blast with our waitress. The menu was "Fresh".

We had a wonderful team at the village as all these people who I came up with, all had the same experience I did and we all ended up volunteering at the Athlete's Village and Hotel. There was a volunteer appreciation party on the Friday night before we left. We enjoyed pizza and partied in the village after listening to speeches and the awesome music. 

It was an amazing experience and I'm glad I went. I still keep in touch with my new friends and continue to volunteer with my old friends. The ride home started out early in the morning and was quiet most of the way as we all slept for a couple hours. We stopped and had lunch in Cache Creek before we continued back on the hwy. I was dropped off in the parking lot of the Langley UFO theatre where my brother picked me up. What a trip!

Grey Cup 102nd Vancouver Nov 26 - 30, 2014

As most of you know, Vancouver was awarded the Grey Cup after Winnipeg had construction delays to update their stadium in time. Vancouver had successfully hosted the Grey Cup in 2011 with the strong management crew I work with and we got to do it all over again.

In 2011, I was a Team Lead in Hospitality and got to be a part of many different events. This time, I was on the Management team and my department was Transportation. I worked with two amazing guys, Brad and Ray, who took care of the ground work while I handled all the administrative and scheduling aspect of it. It was a truly amazing experience. We were armed with a fleet of 28 SUV vehicles from Nissan. I started months before Ray and Brad as I was receiving requests for pickups and drop offs from the VIPs who were allowed to use the vehicles for airport to hotel runs.

From Players, Coaches, Mayors, major sponsors to CFL staff, my team was kept busy. While scheduling my driving/dispatching volunteers, I got to know some amazing people. Some of them have been loyal to Brad and Ray going back to the Molson Indy days and those relationships are still going strong. I was lucky to have all of them on my team. My volunteer family had only expanded.

The logo I used above was created by BC Lion, defensive lineman, Keron Williams.

 

Although I was the Transportation Manager for the Festival, I did work as a Team Lead at the stadium on game day. Ray and Brad handled everything wonderfully in my absence. One of the items they were pushing at Guest Services was a poster of Geroy Simon. We had lots of them.

 

 

I was really busy in the Transportation room at the Vancouver Convention Centre, where we were based, so I never really got to go out and see any of the festival unlike 2011. I managed to go out one night for 20 mins to check out the festival before they tore it down. It was freezing cold out but the Calgary fans I ran into didn't seem to feel it as they walked around in t-shirts and shorts. It actually started to snow lightly in Vancity during the week. It wasn't sticking downtown but as soon as I got back to Surrey, I found there was a major snow blizzard in the works and my car was buried under 2 feet of snow. Of course I wasn't prepared for it and ended up having an asthma attack while driving home at almost 2 o'clock in the morning. Good thing I carry my trusty inhaler with me where ever I go!

My days consisted of getting up at 5am and leaving home at 6am to get downtown for either 7 or 8am. I stayed in the Transpo room with my dispatchers troubleshooting and answering the phones all day. I left for home once the last car was back in the lot and usually got back home around 1:30am. Then I would go through many emails sent to me by the CFL regarding various things. Then I would send out emails to my team regarding things they need to know for the next day. Sometimes I would get to eat before sleeping or at least have a cup of tea. Bedtime was around 2:30-3am, whenever I winded down. After a couple hours of sleep, I was back at it again. Tough schedule, but I made it. I know Ray and Brad did the same. We got to sleep once the festival was done though.

Here are some souvenirs I was able to pick up. These black footballs were being tossed around everywhere. I managed to pick up a few for my toddler nephew.



Another item I was able to get was a toddler hat. I was able to get them signed by three BC Lions players. Adam Bighill signed the underside.  My nephew is 3 yrs old now and loves wearing it but not to preschool. He doesn't want it to get stolen. He loves my hat collection from the events I've done so I decided to get started on one of his own.

As the Transportation Manager, the Grey Cup Festival Committee treated us as a part of their group. We received these wonderful Grey Cup Festival duffle bags, pins and black Grey Cup jackets to wear. We were also treated to a nice dinner and raffle by the Operations staff and President of the Festival at Yaletown Brewing in Yaletown for all of our hard work.

Even though the BC Lions were not part of the Grey Cup, our city still managed to host another amazing and successful event and that's because the people I volunteer with are amazing people. The fans alone create the atmosphere and I know that from the emails I received from most of the VIPs after the event, they all had a wonderful time. I hope that everyone else did too! I know I did.

 

 

Scotiabank Hockey for Alzheimers 2014

This is an event that I volunteer for every year since it's inception.  This is Gordie Howe's event.  I look forward to seeing him every year at the event. However, this year, things took a turn for the worse for Mr. Hockey.  He suffered a stroke a few weeks ago. He was recovering well after the stroke but heard he was getting worse on the day of the event.

I have met Mr. Howe before.  Back in 2007 at the Memorial Cup event in Vancouver.  I worked in hospitality and he was always around.  Always made a point to say hi to me every day and made sure I saw his VIP wrist band when I was checking at access points.  Mind you, he never needed to show it to me. He's Gordie Howe.  The greatest hockey player ever.  He never needed to show me his wrist band but he did cause that's just who he was.  I finally got to have a conversation with him in the green room at the River Rock Theatre.  Again, I was doing access control for the room when he walked over to me before heading up to the awards ceremony.  I thought he was going to ask me where the bathroom was, but instead he wanted to know how I'd been doing and if I'd enjoyed being at Memorial Cup among other things.  He wanted to small chat.  It as a brief conversation but it was one I'll remember always.  He never behaves like one of the other hockey greats who shall remain nameless, who wink at you and think they are the greatest people alive.  He never made you feel cheap.  Instead he made you feel appreciated. Gordie Howe to me is the most classiest person in hockey.  I will say a prayer for him and send him good vibes.  The hockey world needs more Gordie Howes.  We can't lose him yet.

From the emails I received from the event a few days before, I noticed was that the location was different this year.  It's always been held at the Canlan Ice Sports arena in North Vancouver.  However, this year, it was held at the Planet Ice, formally The Great Pacific Forum, in Delta.  It was a bit tricky getting there as its just off Nordel Way by the Alex Fraser bridge but curls around Anansis Island and back into Delta.  In any case, I got there pretty quickly from Surrey thanks to google map.

The first thing I noticed when I walked in was that the area where the reception desk was located was inside another room close to the entrance. Not in the entrance like it was set up at Canlan.  At Canlan it was ALWAYS freezing in that area.  I'm talking super cold.  Here, it was much warmer and more pleasant to work.

I met with the coordinator and she gave me the instructions on what to do and then gave me a breakfast voucher to eat at the restaurant upstairs.  There were a group of us starting at our various tasks at 9am.  It was still 8am when we got there.  So, we all decided to get something to eat.  I had a muffin, hashbrowns and eggs with a cup of coffee.  Once we were all done eating we headed back down to our reception area.  I sat down at the reception desk and go to work. The others had other roles and dissapeared.  My role was to hand out tickets to those who had tickets left for them by a player or for those who donated to a player and to address all questions and solve problems.   I saw a few Canucks Alumnis.  The regulars were there, Gary Valk, Greg Adams and Darcy Rota.  Kirk McLean, Gary Nyland and Theo Fleury are usually there too but I believe that McLean was touring in Kelowna with the Hockey Hometown event at the time. It was the second day of the tournament so I may have missed the others.  I had to work the elections the day before so I missed the first day.

Here's Greg Adams doing an interview outside the reception area by the rink. Alzheimers is very close to his heart as his father suffers from it.

Close to lunch time, the other girls were setting up the jersey's for the All-Star game behind me.  So I took pics.

I didn't have too much to do as it was slower on Sunday than it was on Saturday but it was still a fun event.  The people who run the event are awesome and do a really good job of it.  I was given another snack voucher around 10 am and then a lunch voucher as I was about to leave at 12 pm when my shift was over.  I thought that was more than generous for their volunteers.  I was given a lanyard to wear and got to be a part of something amazing again.  I'll be back again next year. I hope Mr. Hockey will be back again too.

Canada Women's Soccer vs Japan October 28, 2014

So, since the last match back in June, I've been busy mainly with Grey Cup Festival stuff.  Not much volunteering except for this.   For this event, I was the Youth Programme Coordinator again but this time I had a different role.  This time, instead of teenagers and flags, I had been given the task of directing children 10 and under who were to be the player escorts.

Curtis took me over to the East Entrance and showed me what he wanted me to do with the kids on the pitch.

Canadian Tire was a huge sponsor for these kids.  They were given jerseys to wear when they got there.  I had them all wrist banded and role called before we headed into the banquet room at BC Place to have them site for a bit and place their bags and jackets away.  I was given a radio and awaited for Curtis to give me the heads up to start bringing my kids down the 'ring road' to the West Entrance where the flag girls had just finished rehearsing their bit.

I lined up my kids in two lines.  One for Team Canada and the other for Team Japan.  I lined them up behind the flag girls and waited for the FIFA music to start playing.  Once this happened, we started to walk out together and showed my crew where to walk and stand on the pitch once the flag girls were in place.  Once the anthems were done, I had the kid at the farthest end of the line run towards the corner of the pitch.  We rehearsed this a few times with the flag girls to make sure it was all set in their minds.  Then I took them back to the banquet room for dinner and drinks (pizza and Gatorade). 

They had no idea that they were going to be getting a whole kit to change into so they can wear it out with the players.  Once they finished eating, I announced they were to going to get the kits and had to change into them.  They were so excited.  I handed the kits out with the help of Balbir, the other Youth Programme Coordinator.  One of the little girls wore thigh high grey boots.  She didn't bring her runners.  So, she had to go on the pitch with her red uniform on with grey boots.  Not much we could do about it.

Again, I awaited for Curtis to give me the go ahead to bring them over to the West Entrance to get set behind the flag bearers.  I had them in their two lines and they were getting excited as they could see the players warming up on the pitch pre-game.  Soccer balls were being kicked into the entrance and the kids were grabbing them and sending them back out to the players.  It was exciting for them.  I went over some things for them to remember when they went out as I wouldn't be going onto the pitch with them this time.

The players came off the pitch and headed into their dressing rooms on either sides of the west entrance.  This was my cue to get the kids ready.  The players came out shortly and lined up next to their little buddies.  You could see how excited they were.  Curtis had asked me to walk over to the other side of the pitch where they would be running off to after the anthems to greet them and send them through the east entrance.  So, as the FIFA anthem started, the flag bearers and players with their escorts walked onto the pitch, I slowly made my way around the side of the pitch to the corner to await them.  I watched from there as they walked into line in front of the players and waited for the pyros to go off before running hand-in-hand off the pitch towards me.  As they came towards me, I directed them to follow the flag bearers out the east entrance and back into the 'ring road'.

They did an amazing job and I was so proud of them.  They were so happy and excited they got to do something so cool.  I took them back to the banquet room where they got to eat and drink some more before they changed again into a different set of Canadian Tire jerseys for the half time show.  Once they were all ready to go, I took them all up to the 2nd level concourse and to the section where their families were sitting.  From there, I left them with their parents and let them know that someone else will come and get them for the half-time show.  It was still in the first half when my role was complete.  I saw some Team Leads I work with at BC Place and talked to them a bit before I headed down to say goodbye to Curtis.  Once I got down there, all the pizza was gone and Curtis was no where to be found, so I left.  It was a great experience once again.  Next up, Womens FIFA 2015!!

Canada Women's Soccer vs Germany June 18th, 2014

I little late on this one but thought I'd blog about it all the same.  So I was contacted by FIFA to come out and volunteer at the soccer match.  I was given the position of Youth Programme Coordinator.  This basically meant I was to organize and manage the young ladies who play on youth soccer teams in the lower mainland to be flag bearers for the opening ceremonies.

I showed up on June 18th and met up with Stephanie and Joy-Ann, who basically run the show.  I was given a black shirt with the Canada Soccer Association logo on it along with a lanyard that gave me an all access match day pass.  This was so I could go on the pitch with the flag bearers without BC Place security on me all the time.

The girls arrived and I took them down to the banquet hall so they could put away their belonging and relax for a bit before we started rehearsals.  When it was time, Curtis, from the CSA, came over and told me to take the girls over to the West Entrance and meet him there.  So I did.  It was there that the girls were split into four groups.  One group held the blue FIFA flag.  The second group held the yellow Fair Play flag.  The last two groups held the Germany and Canada flags.  We set them up in the entrance and showed them how to hold the flag as they walked out.  It was to be held as close as possible to their hips as they walked out.  We were short three girls as they were late, so myself and another volunteer were stand-ins.  I held the flag close to my hip and marched out onto the pitch with the girls when the music started. Then as we struck our poses in the middle of the pitch, we were instructed by Curtis how to get off the pitch and fold our flags.

We did rehearsals two times before the last three girls finally arrived and took their places holding the flag.  I was able to step back and watch the whole rehearsal.  Once the girls were done, we took the girls back to the banquet hall and fed them pizza and energy drinks.  We handed out their shirts to wear onto the pitch as well.  They were given special headbands as a keepsake as they would have to give the jerseys back at the end of the night.

While we waited for the match to start, Steph, Joy-Ann and I talked to the girls and reminded them about being a professional out there and to have fun.  We got to know them a little bit better and they looked relaxed.  When it was time, Steph and I took them to the East Entrance and got them positioned under the tunnel with their flags ready to head out.  The Canadian Women's team were just coming off the pitch so the girls got to see them up close as their locker room was by the tunnel we were standing in.  Once we heard the music go on, we were signaled to send the girls out onto the pitch.  They were wonderful.  Steph and I were so proud of all our girls out there!  We took them back to the banquet room after the opening ceremonies were done and they were handed a ticket so they could go up in the stands and watch the rest of the match from their seats.  They all had a great time.

Steph and I also headed up to the stands to watch some of the game.  Team Germany defeated Canada 2-1 but it was still a really good match.  It was fun seeing the CSA and FIFA crew again.  The last time was when I worked for CONCACF Women's Qualifying Tournament in January 2011.  I hope to work with the crew again for the upcoming Canada vs Japan match on Oct 28th.