Maksim Orlov: Having heard of Kazan, 80 percent of people recall the Universiade 28.06.2010

- In Kazan you are known as a major social activist. How did you get involved in social work?

I started public work at school. I remember that the deputy principal invited me to the first school meeting and I was elected chairman of the school council. It was in 1996. My school experience became the groundwork for my future achievements. Since then it was very important for me to create and work for the public good. Later on when I entered the University I went on improving myself. To me, personal growth results from communicating with other people.

- Kazan is to stage the 2013 Universiade, what do you have to do with this significant for the city event?

As I live and work in Moscow I can watch the processes that proceed in Kazan from outside. I was pleasantly surprised that having heard of Kazan, 80 percent of people recall the Universiade-2013, nearly 15 percent name Rubin and Ak Bars and another 5 percent are at loss to answer.
I’m proud that I worked as a volunteer in preparation for the Universiade when Kazan was bidding for hosting the 2011 Student Games. I was lucky to see how the Kazan students were inspired and goal-seeking. Young people will be approaching the Universiade with an increasing desire and drive. I’m looking forward to seeing when the Kazan citizens will demonstrate their famous Tatar hospitality.

- Could you tell us about the Towards the Universiade 2013 Youth Camp? What’s the idea of this event?

The camp drew volunteers from all over Russia. There are two types of volunteers: sports and social. Sports volunteers help in preparation of large sporting events. Social volunteers are mainly involved in providing assistance to people who need comprehensive aid e.g. handicapped people. They also want to volunteer at the Universiade and they’ll be given this chance.

- Volunteers. Who are they?

In Russia volunteers are involved in sporting events management. These young people are to communicate personally with foreign sportsmen and different delegates. It should be admitted that it is on their work that the world image of the 2013 Universiade and of the coming Olympic Games in Sochi will depend.

- What’s the brief portrait of a real volunteer?

In my strong opinion a real volunteer must be a person who knows the native city inside out, location and plan of the sports venues, be kind to people, be a mine of information and be sensitive to other people’s feelings. Besides a volunteer must have leadership qualities and know at least one foreign language.

- What’s your role in the camp’s activity?

At the Towards the Universiade 2013 Camp young volunteers are overloaded with new information. They learn something at one workshop and ten minutes later they have to apply their new knowledge at another one. Under such conditions young people are exposed to severe stress and my work is to relieve this stress. We arrange training sessions, become active and get energy boost.

Walking along the volunteer tents Maksim described the camp plan to the kazan2013.com correspondent.

There are three areas in the camp: the international one where the guests from Estonia and Egypt camp, the glam one where young ladies conscious about their looks and the looks of their tents stay at, the sports one which is located in distance from the previous areas in shadows of pine-trees and birches where young men live.
We’ve assembled the most active volunteers from all over Russia. We set a goal within a week to make friends, exchange experience, accumulate new knowledge from the experts at workshops and learn to turn ideas into reality. During the week the camp like a living creature has been living its own life. For example the volunteers invented such a catchy thing: when one volunteer meets another one of them cups hands around mouth and yells “Uni!” while the other one is to rise his right arm and exclaim “Alga!” (Go! in Tatar).

One of the most interesting tasks to me is to choose the motto of the 2013 Universiade volunteers.