2013 SU Update: Team 2013 is recruiting City Volunteers

KAZAN – Another season of the Team 2013 Project was solemnly launched in Kazan’s High School 177 on January 19th. This edition of the project was initiated by the Kazan 2013 Executive Directorate in cooperation with the Department of Education of the city of Kazan and is aimed at building the team of city volunteers for the 27th Summer Universiade in Kazan

Among honored guests that attended the event were the FISU Family delegates that had arrived to transfer their event management knowledge at the FISU Seminar: Director for the Summer Universiade Marc Vandenplas and Director of Educational and Development Services of FISU Kolë Gjeloshaj, as well as Secretary-General of the Russian Olympic Committee Marat Bariev, Chief of Staff of the Kazan 2013 Executive Directorate Larisa Sulima, Deputy Director of the Education Department of the Executive Committee of Kazan Svetlana Giniyatullina, and Svetlana Demina, a silver medallist at the 2000 Olympic Games in the skeet event.

Welcoming the participants of the project, Chief of Staff of the Kazan 2013 Executive Directorate Larisa Sulima stressed that «we all live in an amazing and happy time, having a chance to witness and become part of the World University Summer Games which will bring together representatives of 170 countries of the world in Kazan.» «With the help of the Team 2013 Project we hope to build the best team of city volunteers, 5,000 smiley and beautiful volunteers knowing their home city as the palm of their hand and having English language skills. Your enthusiasm will allow to create a brilliant atmosphere on the streets of Kazan for the period of the Universiade», she added.

Director for the Summer Universiade Marc Vandenplas also extended his best wishes to future volunteers of Kazan 2013: «We are happy that Kazan have been preparing for the 2013 Games so well. Now the whole sports world knows aboutKazan, about your sports achievements, best inEurope. You are afforded a chance to become volunteers of the Universiade. It’s an incredible experience that you will never have a chance to see:you will meet world-famous champions, will learn a lot and find new friends. It will be your contribution to the Universiade’s success.»

For his part, Director of Educational and Development Services of FISU Kolë Gjeloshaj pointed out that volunteers were to serve as messengers of the host nation’s culture and history to participants of the Universiade. «We are all standing behind you, dear volunteers! Because it’s you who will contribute to the Games’ success that will take place inKazan. I want you to keep in mind that when the University Games come to an end, the city will also host the FINA world aquatic championships and FIFAworld football cup.»

And Secretary-General of the Russian Olympic Committee Marat Bariev, who had been one the initiators of Kazan’s bidding campaigns to host a Summer Universiade while acting as Tatarstan’s Minister of Youth, Sports and Tourism at that time, conducted a sociological survey on stage. He asked schoolchildren present at the ceremony to raise their hands in case if they:a) know what the Universiade is; b) do sports; c) learn languages. The sea of raised hands followed each question. «In this manner I wanted to show our guests that young citizens of Kazan perfectly know what the Universiade is, love sports and get ready for the Games, learning foreign languages. You will meet such schoolchildren in anyhigh schoolofKazan», Marat Bariev commented on the ‘survey’ results.

Students of High School 177 presented an outstanding performance to the guests of the solemn opening ceremony. Vocal and dance numbers, an acrobatics show delivered by the Flamingo sports acrobatics team, that is a current champion of Russia, and a parade of best athletes of the school brightened up the official event. After the show ended, the guests were invited to inspect the sports facilities of High School 177, such as a swimming pool, a multifunctional sports hall, etc. The FISU Family delegates were pleased with the school’s equipment and conditions created for children for doing sports.

Within the next several months, from January to April 2012, students ofKazan’s education establishments will be striving for the top volunteer team title. The entering teams will be given tasks to complete, like to find non-standard social solutions, to write Internet blog articles or get acquainted with cultures of the countries competing in the 2013 Summer Universiade.

The new season of the project will focus on training city volunteers that will be helping visitors ofKazanto get around the city. In the first stage, which will start in late January and will run inside high schools, participating teams will need to create the 2013 Summer Universiade Information Board and illustrate it with essays, pictures, posters and handicrafts. The teams that make the best presentation of their information boards will move to the next stage of the project and will be entitled to take part in the best video clip contest in the category ‘We’re Kazan 2013 Volunteers’, to create presentations of Kazan 2013 participating nations and organize sightseeing tours in a foreign language.

The upcoming season of the project is going to be unprecedented in terms of the number of entrants; 165 schools and 52 further education institutions will take part in it. One of the challenges of the project will be the Kazan 2013 Participating Nations Contest. We will offer the entrants to study thoroughly the history and modern times, cultural peculiarities, national cuisine of the countries competing in the future Universiade and then deliver a presentation of this or that nation to their peers. International students will act as team tutors, since they are native speakers and they know their own culture well.

For reference: Two volunteer teams that placed first and second in the first season of the Team 2013 Project were awarded the right to travel to the 25th Winter Universiade in Erzurum, Turkey. The winners of Team 2013:Season 2 were afforded the chance to apply their volunteering skills at the 26th Summer Universiade in Shenzhen, China, while the runners-up of the project were granted an opportunity to prove themselves at the 7th Winter Asian Games inAstana,Kazakhstan. Members of the best team among specialized secondary education establishments received netbooks and other valuable prizes from MegaFon, General Partner of the 2013 Summer Universiade in Kazan.

(Source: Media Department of Kazan 2013 Executive Directorate)

 Marat Bariev

Kolë Gjeloshaj & Marc Vandenplas