By Volunteer Zoe Cunningham
Today I left the day job
behind to take on my first official #WPFGSocialTeam duties.
Dressed in my Volunteer finery and sporting
my ever so official ID pass I headed to the fabulous Aurora Leisure in Bangor
for the first day of the swimming and netball events.
When I arrived there was
already a fantastic buzz about the place as smiling volunteers greeted
competitors and spectators alike to what we hope will be the friendliest games
ever.
The swimming was already underway and
I was amazed at all the different teams and cultures packed into the large
viewing gallery overlooking the pool.
Now, swimming for me usually
involves an exotic location, something inflatable for me to float around on, an
ice cold drink (Coca-Cola of course) and a distinct lack of anything resembling
front crawl, so today I was nothing but astounded at the talent and endurance
of the WPFG athletes.
Race after race
they plunged into the water, apparently effortlessly racing to complete their
lengths to rapturous applause from their supporters. I encountered a particularly enthusiastic
group of Canadians, who broke into hysterical cheers as Mathieu Poisson won one
of the men’s 400m freestyle races. With
this sort of enthusiasm on tap I couldn’t help but feel excited for the day
ahead.
To get a real feel for the
games I decided to take a walk behind the scenes down to the call rooms in
which competitors assembled before their races.
The atmosphere down there was different and a sense of quiet anticipation
and drive filled the air. I then got
down to the heart of the action and went poolside to take a few snaps and
watched a couple of races.
On my way back upstairs I met
Games Ambassadors Michelle and Kirsty, who were in charge of directing
competitors to their allocated call rooms and they kindly introduced me to Mike
Burns, who is competing for the New York Fire Department. When we met Mike he had just been placed
second in the men’s 30-34years 400m freestyle event.
Mike described the great atmosphere he and
the other competitors felt and said he was really enjoying the games so
far. Mike is also competing at Aurora on
Sunday and then in the open water swimming, which he really enjoys, on
Tuesday. We were later to find out that
the winner of Mike’s race had been disqualified so he had actually won – Go
Mike!
The swimming continues at
Aurora on Saturday and Sunday and is open to the public so get yourselves down
to Bangor pronto for a slice of the action.
Although Aurora is
predominantly known for swimming, it actually offers fantastic sports hall
facilities and is also hosting the netball, which takes place today and
Saturday. As a former netballer myself,
I was excited to watch top level competitors battle it out for victory, putting
my own netballing abilities to shame.
During the competition, two Northern Irish Teams, PSNI and the NI Fire
Service Wildfires, take on two Australian teams from the Victoria Police
Netball Club (VPNC). The event takes the
form of a round robin tournament, with all teams playing each other before the
playoffs to decide the final placings tomorrow.
The first teams to take to
the court were VPNC Blues and NIFRS Wildfires and to say the game was fast
paced is an extreme understatement. Both
teams played very well but the visiting team came into their own with a 45-17
defeat over the Wildfires. The second
match saw the VPNC Reds and PSNI battle it out with the VPNC side once again
defeating the local team with a convincing score of 51-30.
Credit where credit’s due, those Aussies know
how to handle a netball but our local ladies put up a fantastic fight in these
two opening matches and I’m sure as the tournament continues they will go from
strength to strength.
As my first day of
volunteering comes to a close I have to say I feel very privileged to have this
opportunity and I can see by the warm welcome everyone gave our international
visitors today and the electric atmosphere at Aurora that we are in for a very
exciting Games ahead.
Next week I’ll be back to
tell you all about my experience at the highly anticipated Ultimate Firefighter
event, which takes place on Tues 6th –
Thurs 8th August at the Titanic Slipways.
Until next time…
