Kazan 2013 Volunteers put their Skills to test before Universiade

KAZAN – The Heads of Delegation Meeting and the All-Russian University Koresh and Freestyle Belt Wrestling Competitions have just finished – and the Kazan 2013 volunteers are now getting busy again. The 12th Russian Children and Youth Basketball League Junior Championship is drawing to a close these days, whilst a whole series of water sports test events kick into high gear in Kazan.

Over 500 volunteers in total are currently engaged in the organisation of test events, including 115 volunteers from regional volunteer centres of the regions of Sverdlovsk, Kirov, Samara, Penza, Republic of Udmurtia, Republic of Mari El, Bashkortostan, Primorye Territory, Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Area-Yugra, and the town of Nizhnekamsk. A few more volunteer groups are arriving from outside of Kazan next week, 35 people in total, for the Russian Synchronised Swimming Championship. The Kazan volunteer team is comprised of more than 350 people, mainly schoolchildren, students and silver-haired volunteers.

April’s test events will keep them all very busy: big sporting events will take place one after another during a short time span – and it is going to be like this during the Universiade as well. For example, the Aquatics Palace, which was only recently built in Kazan, is already hosting a series of national-level sports competitions: over a 17-day period – from 11 to 27 April – it will host 3 sporting competitions with more than 200 volunteers participating. This is going to be some sort of a test for the Kazan 2013 volunteers. Many of them will be engaged in all three competitions, and they will have even more working days and shifts than during the Games.

In spite of their busy work schedule, the volunteers manage to make time for rest. Yesterday, for instance, they visited one of Kazan’s tourist attractions, the Temple of All Religions, and after that there was a visit to the Kazan 2013 Volunteer Recruitment Centre at the Ekiyat Puppet Theatre, as well as to the Uniform Distribution and Accreditation Centre, which all of them will visit again in less than 3 months from now to collect their uniforms and accreditation badges. The volunteers had there a meeting with Director of the Volunteer Department Alexander Karpov. He took the guests on a brief tour around the centre and answered their questions regarding the preparations of regional volunteer teams for arriving at the Summer Universiade. Of course, the volunteers were particularly interested in the distribution of jobs during the Games and in organisational formalities: preparation of documents for accreditation, issues related to the arrival of volunteers from outside of Kazan, provision with food and accommodation, and other issues.

As we reported earlier, along with the participation in test events, the Kazan 2013 volunteers are still receiving training for this summer’s World University Games – they are currently doing the role-specific module and the general training module at Kazan universities and regional training centres. Besides, the main volunteer services are being actively tested at the present moment: arrivals and departures, accommodation, training of volunteers from outside of Kazan, the programme for the motivation, encouragement and recognition of volunteers’ work at the venues, coverage of volunteers’ activities in the media, etc. This intensive workload will be an excellent experience in the run-up to the 2013 Summer Universiade for both the Kazan 2013 volunteers and the Organising Committee.

(Source: Kazan 2013 Media Dept.)