Henry Dorling, a Lecturer in BA (Hons) Sports Management at UCFB, shares his own experiences of working at the Commonwealth Games over the last month. From landing the role, to how his time at the Games will enhance the education of UCFB and GIS students, he provides exclusive insight into the world of a major sporting event…
The road to accepting a role with the Commonwealth Games started in June 2021 when applications opened to become part of the commonwealth collective. As a Lecturer in sport I had always used the Olympics and Commonwealth Games as examples in my lectures, so I thought it was about time that I actually tried to a be part of a mega sporting event.
So I put my application in and waited. A few months later I received an email asking for me to go to Birmingham for a volunteer interview in November. The whole process was great and not only was it an interview for a volunteering role, but it was also an opportunity to showcase the history and importance of the Commonwealth Games in the sporting world and the impact and positive difference that the games was hoping to make in the West Midlands. The interview, or more like a relaxed chat, was really enjoyable.
Once the day was over it was a case of waiting until February to see if I had been successful. While I was waiting for the email, I thought about what it might be like to be part of something like the Commonwealth Games, what I might do, who I might meet and what I might see. I also thought from a professional level how my experience could be used in my lectures, what information could I find out that would enhance my lecture content and whether the type of critiques I usually had for events such as this would actually be true.
So February came and I was lucky enough to receive an email offering me a role as……a Fleet Driver! Not exactly the role I thought I would be offered and I still don’t know why I was offered the role of a driver but I thought it sounded fun and I accepted straight away.
From then on, things starting to happen pretty quickly as there was a lot of admin and info to sort out and send through. Part of the process was an online driving assessment which, having passed my test over 25 years ago, was actually quite tricky! Thankfully I managed to pull up the required answers from my memory and managed to get through it!
Next up was venue specific training. This was at Aston University which was to be the site where the cars would be stored. In one activity that we did, we were asked to come up with three facts about yourself – two true and one false. The lady sitting next to me said that one of hers was that she had failed her driving test seven times – this had to be the false one – but no…..it was true!
I was starting to feel part of something special after this first training session and it was beginning to feel much more real. There continued to be information sent via email and also through the volunteer portal, the platform through which we received all our training info and resources and where ultimately we would find out when our volunteer shifts were to be.
Next up was role specific training and this was exciting as we got to actually drive the cars! At the previous session we had been told that there was a variety of electric cars in the fleet, from Teslas and Polestars, to Mercedes and Jaguars, all brand new and all great to drive!
Well, it was my lucky day as I got to drive the amazing Mercedes CQ, a lovely SUV style car with loads of technology! It was great to drive but it was not all about driving posh cars! This was our chance to practice with the sat nav system, the passenger booking system and of course the walkie talkie radios. It suddenly dawned on me that this role came with huge responsibility – not only would I be driving expensive cars around roads I had never been on but I would also be trying to follow a sat nav system I was unfamiliar with, talk to the control room on the radio, make sure I had put the correct info into the passenger booking system and lastly not to mention actually having to talk to the people in the car! Wow, this could be challenging.
So, fast forward to July 2022. My shifts had been published on the volunteer portal. I had 8 altogether that I was able to do; two before the official start to the games and then 6 in the middle week. My uniform had arrived, although they sent me the wrong trousers (yeah I know!) but I managed to swap them for ones that fitted in the end (otherwise that could have been embarrassing…..1). I was staying with a friend of mine in his flat just 10 minutes from Aston University. I was all set and raring to go but pretty nervous.
On my first of those six shifts I had some lovely passengers, I went the right way, I didn’t crash the car and I even managed to chat about their games experience. As the week wore on although I still felt a sense of responsibility I relaxed into the role, made easier by driving some great cars (the Tesla and its gadgets were really enjoyable!), and having some lovely passengers who were keen to find out about me and my role as well as share their own background and interests.
Although I didn’t have anyone ‘famous’ in the car, the variety of people I met and spoke to was fascinating. As an example, I drove the Deputy Chef de Mission of Malaysia, The COO of Commonwealth Sport, an Anti Doping and Corruption Official, two female beach Volleyball players from Vanuatu and the Match Referee for the Swimming events to name but a few. I saw some fantastic sights in and around Birmingham which had done an amazing job with the facilities and from talking to all these people from around the world, I got a real insight to their challenges, their triumphs, their backgrounds and what the Commonwealth Games meant to them.
On reflection I am very glad I decided to apply to be part of the Commonwealth Collective. It was a privilege to be part of something on such a huge scale and although I was only one of 14,000 volunteers, I felt as though I had made a big contribution to the successful running of the games.
UCFB and GIS played a big role in allowing me the time to be part of the games which I hugely appreciated. In addition, the experiences I had, the people I spoke to and the information I gathered will play a large part in the education of UCFB and GIS students in the coming year. Industry relevance and up to date examples of major events play a huge part in the content of modules at UCFB and GIS. It is so important for students to understand what is happening in the world of sport and not just be confined to the four walls of a university, sitting in lectures and seminars. I am hopeful that my commonwealth games volunteering will enrich the student experience and their modules and courses will be much better for it.
Looking back I was glad I took on a role with such a lot of responsibility. Thankfully I had no disasters and can honestly say that I really enjoyed it. I was proud to be part of it and who knows, perhaps I will be driving a Tesla around the streets of another city in the not too distant future.
