Two volunteer teams to head for Winter Universiade in Erzurum 28.06.2010

Each team performed different tasks. Within the first week the teams visited 39 schools and made more than 60 presentations. Over 2 000 schoolchildren learned about the Universiade. During the week preceding Victory Day the volunteers were to congratulate veterans and help them to meet the holiday in cleaned up houses. Within the third week the contestants held an opinion poll regarding information awareness of Kazan citizens about the preparation process for the Universiade.

One of the most large-scale missions was to organize social events. Within a week the volunteers gave performances in the orphanages, organized theater trips for kids, helped in the boarding house for dogs and arranged litter picks. There were real catches: one team planted a volunteer logo flower bed and the other one offered red roses to pairs of lovers in exchange for a declaration of love. The English Language Stop event even got a TV coverage.

The volunteers attached labels in English to all the subjects at stops and also hung lists with answers to “how can I get to” questions on information stands. Thus, thanks to the contest, citizens of one the Kazan districts will make their first step in studying English.

All the contestants showed a great gift in creativity. In the framework of the contest they created video clips, made photos, wrote texts promoting volunteer movement and even performed on the stage.

The closing ceremony which summed up the results of the contest took place at the Towards the Universiade 2013 YouthVolunteer Camp on June 27. Each team was presented with new volunteer T-shirts and commemorative diplomas.

The audience choice winners and also the best photo and video clip winners were awarded with valuable gifts from OJSC MegaFon, general partner of the XXVII World Summer Universiade in Kazan.

The most persistent team of the contest called FishCat placed third. For a long time they haven’t ranked further than the sixth place in team standings but at the finish line they’ve gathered strength and have taken the third place.

Curiously enough for 8 weeks these 146 young people have been competing for an unusual prize – the trip to Turkey… in winter!.. for work! However every person who once has been at the Universiade will agree that it’s worth competing for 8 weeks for a possibility to work as a volunteer at one of the largest sporting events. The contestants stayed up late at night, organized social events, worked with schoolchildren, mastered photography and video recording within a week. The contest not just decided the winners but also unlocked the participants’ potential, energized and above all rallied the real volunteer team. As always it was the team that has won! More precisely two teams. In February 2011 the Light 4 U and the 20:13 teams will go to Erzurum to work as volunteers in the 2011 Winter Universiade!
To worthily represent our Republic in the World Student Games the winners are to learn Turkish and practice at sporting events held in Kazan.

We expect the continuation of the Team-2013 project. The contest will be held among all the Tatarstan volunteers and its participants will compete for the main prize – the trip to the 2011 Summer Universiade in Shenzhen (China).