On Tuesday (15th) we went to the Energy Solutions Arena for a volunteer orientation and learned that:
• We should wear closed-toe shoes, pants/shorts appropriate to the weather and plan to wear a volunteer t-shirt.
• We should come 10 minutes before our shift starts.
• We should NOT bother the athletes.
• We should turn in our credentials when we leave.
And we got a tour of the venues. Everything else (where we’d be working, what we’d be doing, etc.) we would learn at the beginning of our shift.
On Saturday we got to spend our time at the outdoor BMX venue. We were to help “load” the bleachers with spectators. Lots of different seating types (VIP / Reserved / Grounds Pass / Gatorade Free Flow Tour) and they all had different spaces.
James and I were to seat Gatorade Free Flow Tour spectators in their section of the Reserved bleacher and try to keep the Grounds Pass people from sitting in the Reserved section of the bleacher and seat them in their own rows. We tried. Mostly everyone had a good seat and people came and went, so we never had to be mean.
We were given lots of bottled water, pizza at the end of our shift, got to keep our bright blue volunteer t-shirts and had front-row access to the events. Pretty fun!
James watching the athletes warm up.
Self Portrait.
Playing with the camera during warm-ups, I discovered “auction mode”.
some video of warm-up
more warm-up video
The athletes waiting for the sound-system to come back on-line so we can start the competition. Took half an hour to fix it, so they occasionally dropped into the course for more warm-up.
Love this photo – check out the crowd, and especially the athlete’s shadow! In the foreground are the handicap section (closest to the venue) and the media section (closer to the bleachers).
The MTV 2 station had a guy named "Dirty" doing the anchor stuff, "Hey, what is up everybody! Dirty here at the Dew Tour BMX venue....." He kept messing up his lines - at a different place every time. He was providing some serious entertainment for me - everytime he'd mess up he'd laugh, call himself a name, blame lack of alcohol and try again. When he finally, finally got through the entire segment, the whole bleacher behind me erupted into cheers and he took a bow!
I spent about an hour inside the Energy Solutions Arena at the skate park directing people into sections, so I took one picture. I thought the biking was MUCH more fun.
We were done at about 4 p.m. so we wandered through temple square on our way to the car.
It was still early, so we drove up to Brighton to see if the trees in the canyon are changing colors yet. The bushes are starting to turn orange, but the aspens are still green. This cow moose was near the parking-lot at Solitude.
Beautiful day.