August has been a big month for North Carolina USA’s bid for the 2027 FISU World University Games. It started off with a bang with the FISU Technical Site Visit, and it concludes this week with the formal submission of the bid dossier or bid book by the North Carolina Bid Committee. Read on to learn more.
FISU Technical Site Visit
The first of two site visits by the International University Sports Federation (FISU) took place earlier this month from Sunday, July 31 to Sunday, August 7, 2022. The FISU delegation included Jing Zhao, FISU Games Director; Brian Carrer, FISU Games Manager; and Andrea Uccello, FISU Games Coordinator. Our NC Bid Committee was joined by USIUSF executives, Dan Guerrero, President, and Delise O’Meally, Secretary General.
The overall purposes of the Site Visit are to perform a detailed assessment of North Carolina’s capacity and capabilities to host an event of the magnitude and import of the World University Games, and to provide feedback and input on the bid designed to result in the submission of the best possible proposal. After all, FISU will become a business partner for five years with whichever Bid Team is selected to host the Games, so it is very important to be able to help facilitate the best possible potential partnership.
Towards that end, the FISU Team was intent on doing a full inspection of the physical and fiscal assets of the North Carolina bid, but also the experience and expertise of the North Carolina Team involved in leading the bid and potentially the Games. The Site Visit Team, however, was not on site just to “check boxes”, but rather to develop and maintain a relationship with the Bid Committee, and to understand both the how and the why of the United States’ bid.
Their inspection included counting showers, sinks, and toilets in locker rooms and dorm facilities, measuring ceiling heights, analyzing seating (or in the case of dorms, sleeping) capacities, and gathering lighting specifications from each venue and Games Village location. “To say the Site Visit was ‘in depth’ would be an understatement, “ North Carolina Bid Chair and CEO, Hill Carrow said. “FISU staff must, of necessity, do a deep dive on the capabilities of any potential host of the FISU World University Games. Fortunately, it was a very good time of year when they visited as the majority of venues were preparing for the start of the school year which provided the best opportunity for a thorough review.”
The Site Visit required the coordination, work, and participation of more than 130 individuals and the North Carolina Bid Committee thanks them all. Special thanks go to our Culture & Arts Program Committee, Medical Services Committee, and Transportation Committee for their presentations.
In the end, both parties were pleased with the visit. FISU subsequently provides a written technical report on the site visit, and the North Carolina USA Team will use the findings of the report to continue to strengthen their bid during the remainder of the bid process, which concludes with the announcement of the winner at a FISU Executive Board meeting in Brussels, Belgium, in November.
At Cary Chamber of Commerce with Cary Mayor Harold Weinbrecht (Below).
America’s Bid for the World University Games
While the FISU Technical Site Visit plays a very important role, it is just one part of the total bid process to determine the host of the 2027 World University Games. Another, equally important component, is the bid dossier or bid book that consists of the documentation of the bid proposal, which gets submitted this week electronically to FISU.
Among the documentation required are responses to extensive questions focused on 18 Themes related to the Games. The Bid Questionnaire as it’s called, is similar to questions that are a required part of the bid processes of the Olympic Games and cover subjects ranging from climate and transportation to security and accommodations. The bid includes numerous tables and charts asking for detailed information on venues, athlete housing and dining, and travel times and distances. There are also more broad scope questions that ask for the bid committee’s vision for the Games as well as legacy plans. The result is a very important document that enables FISU to help compare apples to apples among competing bidders, but also certainly requires a great deal of introspection by the local bid committee and a greater understanding of the task at hand, should they be awarded the Games. One thing is a given, by the completion of the bid document, the bid committee definitely knows significantly more about its own assets, resources, and capabilities to take on a global event like the World University Games than it did when it started the bid process.
The North Carolina Bid Committee is extremely fortunate to have Hummingbird Creative, our design agency sponsor, take on the role of helping lead the planning, compilation, design, and development of the bid. “This is a very important aspect of the whole multi-year bid process,” said Wendy Coulter, President of Hummingbird Creative. “We got hooked on the project when we first got involved in web and logo design for the Bid Committee, and now we are fully committed, so, of course, we just had to continue the effort with our leading role on the bid book.” Additional thanks to our sponsor Stewart, who provided us with the services of Jeff Harkey and Tim Larkin, to develop the extensive maps required in the bid.
In the end, the NC Bid Committee is excited about the final product, feeling that it not only provides all the information that FISU requires but also appropriately showcases North Carolina and its many attractive assets and destinations while providing a true flavor of the world-renowned hotbed of college and university sports that is the central region of our state, our proposed host region for the 2027 FISU World University Games – North Carolina’s University Hub.
Next Site Visit
Next month, from Saturday, September 17 through Wednesday the 21st, we will be hosting our second international site visit, the FISU Evaluation Site Visit, as the FISU executive team of Leonz Eder, President; Marian Dymalski, Vice President; Eric Saintrond, CEO; and Jing Zhao, Director of FISU Games, visit North Carolina for a more high-level tour intended to meet our state leaders, as well as local government, bid, sponsor, and sport key executives. Our guests will also spend time at primary venues, Games Villages, and on our Games plan and bid. We look forward to their arrival and to showcasing what North Carolina can offer the 2027 World University Games in the United States of America.
News Briefs
FISU Volunteer Leaders Academy
We are pleased to announce that two of our North Carolina Bid Committee interns, Lulu Black and Alyssa Hendrix, have been selected to represent the United States International University Sports Federation as participants in the FISU Volunteer Leaders Academy. Both Lulu and Alyssa are students at North Carolina State University. Lulu is a senior and Alyssa is a Junior, and both are majoring in Sports Management. Impressively, Lulu and Alyssa are both national champion cross country runners as they compete for NC State’s Cross Country Team, the reigning NCAA Champion in the sport. Lulu and Alyssa spent the summer, together with fellow intern, Ben Greer of George Washington University, working on North Carolina’s bid for the Summer World University Games (See photo above. Alyssa is on the left). All interns got great event experience assisting with, and participating on, the FISU Technical Site Visit earlier this month. They were led and aided by Ryan Decker of the World University Games bid staff.
The FISU Volunteer Leaders Academy is an educational event that serves as a key part of the international sports and volunteering movement. It is considered a flagship event for FISU and student leaders active in university sports in their countries. Held annually in a virtual format, the FVLA brings together more than 100 student leaders from over 90 countries. According to the FISU website, “The aim of the FLVA is to create a volunteering community around the world that could share the best global practices in volunteer projects in all kinds of sports events. … This involves all the values of university sport including excellence, teamwork, innovation, the joy of sport, and integrity.” The program involves a group project and can position participants for additional elite internships and scholarships, including work opportunities at the World University Games. We congratulate Lulu and Alyssa and wish much them success in the program.
Volunteer of the Month
We have never previously had a North Carolina Bid Committee Volunteer of the Month, but this month, we definitely have a volunteer who has gone way above and beyond the call of duty and deserves major recognition. Stan Campbell, who resides in Chapel Hill, and who has been active in collegiate, Olympic, and amateur sports events and activities since serving on the Board of Directors of the U.S. Olympic Festival in the 1980’s served as the transport driver, helpful tour guide, North Carolina historian, and Tar Heel ambassador throughout the recent FISU Technical Site Visit. He was warmly accepted and embraced by our international visitors and added tremendous value to the Site Visit. As a long time, avid Carolina fan, Stan made sure all guests were properly outfitted in their mini-Tar Heel stick-ons before they toured UNC facilities. Always providing sage guidance and important insights throughout the Site Visit, Stan, we thank you profusely, and proudly recognize you as our North Carolina Bid Committee Volunteer of the month for the month of August 2022!
Support the Bid
You can support the bid in a number of ways: corporate sponsorship, individual contribution, volunteering, or purchasing bid merchandise. (Bid apparel could make an attractive gift. Just click here.) We encourage you to visit our award-winning website at www.ncwug2027bid.com and join our team.
Sponsor Thank You’s
We cannot thank our sponsors enough for their strong belief in, and generous support of, North Carolina’s bid for the World University Games. We encourage you to patronize their businesses and give them your own personal thanks when you do.
