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Show Wasatch Canyon Reporter Pre-Season FACE VOLUNTEERS By Tom Welch, President | | Salt Lake Olympic Organizing Committee The 1996 Olympic Summer Games in Atlanta undoubtedly proved to be a great ‘resource and laboratory for Salt pool from which we’ll draw when volunteers there as special observers along side their will be needed. friendly exclamation point to the an incalculable service, they added value to the games and, for the most part, seemed to be having fun - despite the fact they were requiredto work long hours over long days performing duties ranging from sweeping volleyball courts to serving as translators and personal hosts to foreign visitors. The effort was greatly enhanced by several major employers in the area who encouraged their employees to serve as volunteers while keeping them on the payroll. That’s an idea that has great potential locally. These observations and recollections coincide with the most frequently-asked question members of the SLOC staff and I receive when we speak to groups around ‘the region and in casual conversations with friends.and neighbors; “How do I become a vainnees for the 2002 Olympics?” The expansive TV coverage from Atlanta and the excitement, pageantry and patriotism that accompanies the Olympic Games obviously rekindled the deep-rooted volunteer ethic of area residents. We’ve said for years the 2002 Olympic Winter Games will be remembered as the people’s Olympics” because our hospitable citizens and their volunteer ‘Spirit will be our legacy. SLOC’s plans call for some 12,000 volun- teers to help us successfully stage the 2002 _ Brickyard Plaza Salt Lake City ‘www.denalil.com patience among the many volunteer hopefuls. Those already on file will be included in the games. Not only did they collectively provide 484-5044 1140 East 3200 South don’t what that to occur, so we’re asking for Olympic Committee staff members who were zestful, Denali ciated and their enthusiasm would wane. We Lake Atlanta counterparts One of the important areas we carefully evaluated in Atlanta was the volunteer program where some 49,000 hearty souls added a RNs Saereneecess sands of folks because we likely would not be able to use their services for two or three years. In the interim the well-meaning applicants would feel slighted, ignored or unappre- games. In most instances the volunteer tasks will be very demanding and not necessarily a sure means of seeing Olympic competitions. Many volunteer assignments will be outdoors and/or on a mountainside in all types of weather conditions in the height of winter — a far cry from the shorts-and-golf-shirts volunteer conditions in Atlanta. It obviously is not in the intent of SLOC to defuse the enthusiasm of the thousands of area residents and others anxious to sign on now as 2002 Olympic volunteers, but that program will not become a priority until 1999, after the 1998 Olympic Winter Games in Nagano, Japan, when Salt Lake City is presented the Olympic flag and we become an Olympic city. If SLOC encouraged applications now for Page 2 Atlanta’s volunteer effort ae other important messages: Train SLOC volunteers well, train them well in advance of the games, arid give them authority commensurate with their responsibilities, SLOC is working those _ important principles into its plans. SLOC training will be authentic because we anticipate staging national and international-caliber events, including World Cup competitions, in each of the seven Olympic Winter Games sports prior to the 2002 games. These Olympic “previews” will give area residents and visitors several Opportunities to see the world’s best male and female athletes in action before 2002. Further, they will serve as “dress rehearsals” for our Olympic prepara- tions because they afford SLOC several opportunities to refine our volunteer program, train judges and other officials, test and evaluate our capabilities in event scheduling and staging, transportation, technology, hosting, accommodation’s, national and international broadcasting, spectator requirements, security, accreditation, translation, results reporting, media information and federal and municipal governments liaison.To add more Olympiclike intensity and realism to these important competitions, SLOC plans to conduct two or three simultaneously, just as will occur during the 2002 Winter Olympic Games. That means, for example, we could have figure skating at the Delta Center, luge, bob sleigh or ski jump — competitions at Bear Hollow, and alpine rac- ing at the Park City Ski Area —all on the same day and repeated over a three-day period. SLOG is looking to begin staging such competitions in the winter of 1999-2000. Already on our docket is the 1999 U.S, Figure Skating Association championships, awarded to Salt Lake City early in October, which will be staged by SLOC, the Utah Figure Skating Club and the Salt Lake Junior League. That means we really only have two-plus years to get our plans off the drawing boards and into world-class operating order After that, there is no end in sight for the’ region’s soaring destiny as a world-class winter sports training and competition center. It’s a destiny that will be founded in well-trained winter sports officials and volunteers, in state- of-the art facilities and in hospitable citizens who will spice the Olympic Winter Games of 2002 with western-flavored warmth and friendliness. terete el Walt, THEN PRACTICE, Vier a 23-26 volunteers we’d be doing a disservice to thou- OLYMPIC UPDATE: REY Snowshoe Sale October |
