07/06/2014 10:31
Impressions from backstage, volunteers make the difference at Poetto beach
2014 CEV Beach Volleyball European Championship - Final
Cagliari, Italy, June 7, 2014. It takes a lot of passion and dedication to prepare hundreds of t-shirts for the players that are showcasing Beach Volleyball at its very best here on Poetto beach, some four miles away from Cagliari downtown. A small crew of five to six volunteers is on duty almost all day long, for at least 12 hours a day, to print the various logos to be displayed on the uniforms.
Click here for more info including detailed results, a match programme and much more
Click here for a live gallery of the Championship
“We have been doing this since last Tuesday and will continue to do so until the end of the tournament,” they say. “Actually, being so busy from the early morning up to the late afternoon, we still haven’t seen any single match of this European Championship.” It is evidently on these people and on all other volunteers that the organisers have relied in order to set up, in only four weeks, everything that is needed for a large-scale event such as the European Championship Final.
These guys have produced more than 300 t-shirts since the beginning of the competition on Tuesday, some 12 per hour. They are standing very difficult working conditions since the heat in that tent is almost unbearable, especially if combined with the extra steam produced by the machine they are using to glue and stick the logos on the players’ shirts. “If we are doing all this, it’s only out of our passion for Volleyball and Beach Volleyball. We just wanted to come and help in some way,” the say.
The crew also includes a member of the Board of FIPAV Sardegna, the regional division of the Italian Volleyball Federation. She is setting the example that all others are looking at. “It does not make any difference that I am in the Board of our Federation, every hand is needed and I am happy that I can help my organisation deliver this event. Our focus lies on the players and we want to make sure that they do enjoy the best conditions to display what they are capable of,” Maria Antonietta Pattusi (pictured) says. “She is our role model and if we are here, it’s all because of her,” add the other members of the crew. An example that many more may follow in the future, once an international event stops in the neighbourhood where they live.
|