Universiade volunteers greeted FIFA evaluation team 23.08.2010

The very important guests inspected the construction site of the modern 45-seat stadium under construction in the downtown, the Olympus Stadium of Kazan State Technological University named after Tupolev and other sports venues.

During their visit to Kazan the FIFA delegates were chaperoned by the Universiade volunteers. For more details about their duties and progress made kazan2013.com interviewed Tatyana Nikulina, main specialist of the Volunteers Department.

- Universiade volunteers were involved in preparation of the FIFA evaluation committee visit. What venues did the work at and what were their duties?
- The volunteers were involved in the opening ceremonies of all the three venues. Anastasia Koroleva and Liliya Fazlieva were imposed the most complicated and honorable mission – to report about the readiness of the venues for the opening ceremony. We’ve seen them on huge screens at the Olympus Stadium and were nervous no less than them. The girls justified the confidence reposed in them and completed their tasks successfully.
Besides our volunteers Dayan Urmanov and Anastasia Fadeyeva greeted the very important guests at the entrance to the Olympus Stadium. They told the delegation about the new Universiade venue and invited them to the stands. No event is imaginable without volunteer activators. Waving flags of Russia, Republic of Tatarstan, Universiade and 2018/2022 FIFA World Cup Bid Campaign they also energized the audience and created a festive atmosphere at all the three stadiums.

- It goes without saying that without complex preparation organisation of such an event is out of question. How did volunteers get trained for the opening ceremony, what issues were brought into special focus?
- Preparation for the event started a few months prior the date of FIFA’s visit to Kazan. The volunteers were inspired to take part in such a major event and entered for different positions. The team leaders for each venue passed orientation and attended coordination meetings so that to know the programme details for the opening ceremony.
The most significant part of the event’s preparation was selection and training of greeters and volunteer correspondents that were broadcast live. They learned their lines by heart and worked on their pronunciation, participated in hours-long rehearsals but despite hard times were enjoying the mission they were entrusted with. Thus, for example Liliya Fazlieva left the following feedback on the Universiade 2013 Volunteers group site: “Every time when new venues were opened I wished I should be so lucky as the volunteers that were standing in front of a camera and were opening new complexes. It’s August 18 and here I am, granted the right to open the Miras Sports Complex! Thank you very much for the chance of my lifetime. Call me again, I enjoyed it very much despite back pain and mouth tired of smiling. I feel myself a tiny part of the history)))”

- The World Cup is a large-scale international sporting event, second to the Olympic Games in its magnitude. Not any volunteer was likely to be selected to participate in the 2018/2022 FIFA World Cup Bid Campaign. How did you chose them and what professional and personal qualities did you give importance to?
- In the volunteer movement the major thing is a genuine desire to help the city and the country. That’s why we invited all the volunteers wishing to participate in the opening ceremony. All of them are dynamic and consumed with desire to energize the audience. As for the greeters and correspondents we’ve been searching them for quite a long time. The major criteria were first of all a genuine desire to assume such a responsibility, readiness of speech both in Russian and English and of course a sincere and cheerful smile. As one of the greeters Anastasia Fadeyeva admitted after the event, “Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko has such kind eyes that my nervousness slipped away and I delivered my speech fluently.”