The Commonwealth Collective

Ah, my time is done, the Games are over and now to reflect on the time I spent as a volunteer as part of the Commonwealth Collective.    After failing for 2012 but getting in for 2017, (You can read all about my experience at the World Athletics in 2017) I decided to try and be part of another multi-sports event – the 2022 Commonwealth Games held in my local city Birmingham.  

Recruitment

I registered as a volunteer in September 2020, when covid was hitting everything and this was hope for the future, that things would change. I got invited to an interview in October 2021, over a year later, with a role confirmed in Feb 2022. These things take time – there were over 500 volunteer interviewers talking to over 20000 applicants from a pool of around 40000 people.

The Role

Unlike 2017, this time the role I was offered stuck all the way through – I was invited to be part of the Protocol Team based at Edgbaston (for the Women’s T20 cricket) – they’d selected “confident and culturally aware candidates with excellent communication and interpersonal skills” which is a nice piece of feedback on how I came across the interview.

Chatting in the various Facebook groups later, it turned out that few who were selected for this role knew exactly what we were in for but all was to become clear in our training in April.  In essence we were there to help out in the Games Family Lounges, which were basically hospitality lounges for the team staff and guests, Commonwealth governance, politicians and designated VIPs. This involved greeting them in the drop off zones, directing them to the lounge, helping with transports back and answering any questions they had. There was a bit of door opening and sorting out coffees, but most of it was to be present and supportive as needed. So similar to what I finally ended up doing in 2017 (just interacting with guests), but indoors with a smaller, select bunch of people.

The Team

Having talked to quite a few volunteers, our team were very lucky across the board.  We had relatively short shifts of 6 hours, either afternoon or evening. We had a purpose built room at Edgbaston, with a catering crew that did this all the time at the event, we had air conditioning (very nice with these temps). We were also never overly busy, as cricket was not seen as a hot ticket, the max attendance was 111.  A better experience for me than 2017 in general, but with some of the same considerations

• I come across as having great interpersonal skills but exercising them is hard!  I was exhausted after every shift and had to have quiet time. People-ing is just hard work. In contrast, I watched team members totally feed off the energy, chatting to people, working from group to group checking all was OK. In contrast, they could not be put on a post on their own and be expected to stay there, 😊  So a mixed team was always going to be needed.  I do think that if I am lucky enough in the future, I would prefer a more task based role than a general people based one.
• These games appear to have far better volunteer organisation than 2017. There were very few stories of roles being dropped, massive changes being made or people being unhappy. There were definitely some issues, with some of the (paid) Team Managers not necessarily doing what they needed to do and some volunteers having a hard time, but overall, it seemed to be a lot happier and more organised.  The general feedback and tone of comments in the “back channels” were very positive. It also helped that these channels were also positive when it came to the balance of experienced vs novices. I understand the selection process looked hard to give new volunteers a chance, combining them with old hands, so this mix worked well.

The Experience

Overall I loved it. There were frustrating moments, but I’d made the decision to just go with the flow, to not get annoyed at anything and focus on what I needed to do; by doing that I made sure I had a good time and presented my best face to our guests.   The team was great, pulling together to make sure we delivered the best experience possible.

I am honoured to have the chance to be part of this, of being able to showcase Birmingham to the world. As always, the energy and enthusiasm shines through, and guests, teams, athletes and media were all positive about it. 

We had some really interesting guests in the lounge, from regulars such as the Anguilla delegates through to the VIPS such as Malala and Theresa May. We even got a royal visit from Prince Edward, but that was not on my shift. 

The Aftermath

There’s always a thread across the social groups about how events like this will be the best experience ever, you’ll never have done anything like it and you’ll make friends for life. For some, that is the reality. For people like me, it’s never quite like that, because we all have different approaches to people and events. It was an amazing time, I really enjoyed it, but I never quite get the transformational experience that some others have.  I have no regrets in doing it, but also no post event blues that many in the groups are talking about. On to the next thing I say!