October 29, 2021
Happy Halloween week to all! We think that most would agree that the sports event experience in 2020 and the first half of 2021 was truly frightening! While everything in sports is not totally back to normal, we have come a long way from the really scary situation a year ago. These days it is so energizing to participate in sports events where fans can attend. If there is one thing the pandemic taught us, it is that while sports events can be held successfully without spectators (e.g. the Tokyo Olympic Games), such events are just not the same. For any significant sports event, it takes fans to make that event truly complete. Our special thanks go out to all the athletes, teams, leagues, sports organizations, venues, and especially fans for helping bring about our current major sports tourism industry comeback in the Triangle, North Carolina, America, and beyond.
Volunteer Opportunity Opportunity Program Launched
Earlier this month, on Tuesday, October 5, our North Carolina Bid Committee announced the formal launch of the new Volunteer Opportunity Program (VOP) as part of its bid for the 2027 Summer World University Games. The VOP is primarily designed to attract volunteers to the state’s effort to land the Summer Games, but it has the added benefit of supporting other major sports events in central North Carolina over the next several years, enabling those who participate in the VOP to work their way up to preferred volunteer status.
“We currently have several ways that you can support our regional bid for the 2027 Summer World University Games,” said Hill Carrow, Chair & CEO of the North Carolina Bid Committee, “These include sponsorships, contributions, and merchandise purchases, to name just a few. The addition of the Volunteer Opportunity Program provides another means of supporting the bid effort, but at zero cost to the participant.”
A large and experienced volunteer contingent is essential to successful execution of a global Olympic sports event of the magnitude of the Summer World University Games. The WUG’s participant delegation of between 10,000 and 11,000 is second only to the 15,000-member delegation of the Olympic Games. The North Carolina Bid Committee is currently projecting the need for at least 20,000 volunteers to help host a successful Games. This projection is based on the experience of recent Games such as Taiwan that utilized over 20,000 volunteers for the 2017 Summer Games in Taipei.
Championships Events and the VOP Points System
The central region of North Carolina already has over 55 major championship competitions in the sports of the Summer World University Games scheduled from mid-2021 through 2026. Those events range from large regional tournaments and state high school championships to State Games competitions and NCAA Championships. And there are undoubtedly more to come as local destination management organizations continue to recruit additional sports events to the area. Each of these events (the VOP refers to them as Qualifying Championship Events or QCE’s) represents a potential volunteer service opportunity, with the added benefit of being able to accumulate points for each service hour to enable volunteers to position themselves for potential top positions within the Summer World University Games volunteer hierarchy, should North Carolina land the Games.
The North Carolina World University Games Bid Volunteer Opportunity Program lists the major events both by year and by sport and provides a contact person for each. The program also details how to go about getting credit for volunteer service hours and accumulating points towards preferred volunteer status. Once volunteers in the program have reached 10 service hours, they will receive a complimentary cloisonne lapel pin featuring the NC USA bid logo (like the one pictured above).
How to Participate in the Volunteer Opportunity Program
The VOP is easy to understand and use, and it’s a great way to track your volunteer hours. Most importantly, the VOP will help our potential volunteers for the Games get significant sports event work experience, a necessity for the Triangle and North Carolina to deliver a most successful Summer World University Games.
A number of volunteers, have already signed up for the program. Among those who have signed up thus far, Alina de Armas, from Simi Valley, California, holds the “long distance award” as the volunteer located farthest from the Triangle. However, Alina has already scored points in the system having worked on the 2021 U.S. Masters Swimming Short Course Championships which took place at the Greensboro Aquatic Center in July. (Alina is pictured above giving meet results a serious review before posting them.)
Those that sign up sooner rather than later have the advantage of getting a jump on accumulating points towards preferred volunteer status for the Games. The Volunteer Opportunity Program can be found by visiting the North Carolina Bid Committee website and clicking on the “Volunteer” tab, or it can be accessed directly by clicking on this link: Volunteer – World University Games (ncwug2027bid.com)
Recent Committee Activities
Sports industry trade shows are now starting to come back with live, in-person gatherings. The Travel, Events & Management in Sports (TEAMS) Conference and Expo brought over 1,000 sports tourism industry representatives together in Atlantic City, September 27-30, 2021, while the Sports Events & Tourism Association (Sports ETA) Annual Symposium just concluded this week in Birmingham, Alabama, with approximately 750 attendees. At these two shows NCBC staff were able to meet with U.S. National Governing Body (NGB) executives of a number of sports of the World University Games to discuss their involvement in, and support of, North Carolina’s bid for the Games. Those NGB’s included USA Baseball, USA Diving, USA Fencing, USA Gymnastics, USA Judo, USA Softball, USA Table Tennis, USA Taekwondo, USA Track & Field, and USA Water Polo, as well as executives of the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee. In addition, conversations on the bid were had with U.S. collegiate sports organizations such as the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) and National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA).
On October 18th the NCBC made its second presentation to the Board of Directors of the U.S. International University Sports Federation (USIUSF), our country’s member organization of the International University Sports Federation (FISU), international governing body for the World University Games, on its progress on the bid to date. The presentation primarily focused on the recent trip by USIUSF and NCBC leadership to Switzerland for meetings with FISU and International Sport Governing Body executives, as well as local efforts to continue to pull together all the key regional organizations needed for a successful bid.
Support the Bid
You can support the bid in a number of ways: corporate sponsorship, individual contribution, volunteering, or shopping. Visit our new website at www.ncwug2027bid.com and join our team
Sponsors
