2006 Arctic Winter Games Chef De Mission Report
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2006 Arctic Winter Games Chef de Mission Report Submitted by - Trevor Twardochleb June 2006 Table of Contents 1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 3 2. GENERAL UNIT MANAGEMENT 3 3. ACCOMMODATION 4 4. FOOD SERVICE 5 5. CEREMONIES AND AWARDS 6 6. COMMUNICATIONS 7 7. CULTURAL PROGRAM 8 8. FACILITIES AND EQUIPMENT 9 9. FINANCE 11 10. FORMS AND PUBLICATIONS 11 11. INSURANCE 12 12. MEDIA 12 13. MEDICAL 13 14. REGISTRATION AND ACCREDITATION 13 15. RESULTS 14 16. SECURITY 15 17. SOCIAL PROGRAM 15 18. SPORTS 16 19. TRANSPORTATION 18 20. WELCOMING AND SEND-OFF 19 21. TEAM SELECTION PROCESS 20 22. ARCTIC WINTER GAMES INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE 20 23. UNIT INVOLVEMENT SUMMARY 22 24. SUMMARY OF REVENUE AND EXPENDITURES 23 2 1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The 2006 Arctic Winter Games held in the Kenai Peninsula of Alaska was a terrific experience for all members and supporters of Team Yukon. Our contingent finished forth in the medal standings with a much younger group of people than in previous Games, and their general behavior and attitude was exceptional. As always there are a number of interesting challenges throughout the journey, but it only made the Games more memorable in the eyes of many. Our thanks and appreciation are extended to the 2006 Host Society, the communities of Girdwood, Homer, Kenai, & Soldotna, AWG International Committee, and all of the dedicated sponsors, partners, and volunteers who will be remembered for their tremendous hospitality and commitment to the Games movement. The following report will provide an overview of operations of Team Yukon. General recommendations follow each heading. 2. GENERAL UNIT MANAGEMENT The general management for Team Yukon is the responsibility of Sport Yukon based on an agreement through the Sport and Recreation Unit of the Yukon Territorial Government. The Executive Director of Sport Yukon acts as the Chef de Mission, and a member from the Sport Yukon Games Committee acts as the Assistant Chef de Mission. The Games Committee is responsible for all of the decisions regarding Major Games, including the selection of mission staff. Applications for mission staff were accepted from the general public based on a series of criteria. We were very lucky to find such a responsible and capable group of people the year. Only six out of 14 individuals had previous Games experience, and one person was from outside of Whitehorse. The mission staff were selected six months prior to the Games, and met once a month prior to the opening ceremony. Each of the mission staff were given certain sport responsibilities and were asked to work very closely with their Sport Governing Body which handle all specifics of the sport trials and team final selection based on a series of guidelines provided through Sport Yukon. The mission staff acted as a liaison between the sports and the Chef de Mission throughout the process to ensure that everyone had all the information they required. At the Games the Chef and Assistant Chef attended the morning Chef's meetings and then passed along the appropriate information to the mission staff at a meeting immediately following. 3 It is also important to note that the chairperson of our Discipline Committee is the Assistant Chef. This person is ultimately responsible for dealing with any major infractions that occur within Team Yukon, with the help of the Chef de Mission. We had quite a few discipline incidents during the week and all were dealt with effectively and efficiently with this structure. Recommendations: Continue to appoint the Executive Director of Sport Yukon as the Chef de Mission for the Games Continue to appoint a member of the Sport Yukon Games Committee as the Assistant Chef de Mission. This person would act as the Chair of the Discipline Committee. Select all mission staff at least 9 month prior to the Games, and improve upon engaging people from outlying communities in this opportunity. Consider taking an athletic therapist or medical liaison as a mission staff member with selection based on specific medical services which may not be provided by the Host Society. Lobby the AWG International Committee to increase the number of mission staff available for the larger contingents at the Games. Continue to contract a professional photographer to take all team pictures at the Games. Continue to dedicate one mission member the responsibility of newsletters or contract an individual to take on this task. Continue to have staff in the mission office throughout the course of the day. Arrange to have the majority of the mission staff arrive prior to the athletes, or on the first charter so we are better organized as a group prior to the start of the Games. Allow for the members on mission staff to take on more specific responsibilities with team management prior to and during the Games. Include a series of quarterly orientations for team members and supporters prior to the start of the Games. Provide a questionnaire for each of the Sport Governing Bodies to allow for input on changes to sport trial guidelines. Plan an AWG presentation in all schools in the Territory at the start of each AWG school year. 3. ACCOMMODATION The mission staff accommodation at the King’s Inn in Kenai was good. The staff was very helpful and made our stay very comfortable. The location of the Hotel was quite close to the 4 Challenger Center (Chef de Mission Meetings) and Mt. View School (Mission Offices) which was important. The location was also quite central to the majority of the sport venues. The athlete/coach accommodations were quite acceptable considering the number of residences utilized. Some were certainly better than others, but the majority of the rooms had ample space and the bunk beds were comfortable. There were a few concerns raised about the availability of showers, or the portable showers/washroom setup, the splitting of a team into different rooms, the mixing of different contingents within a room, the paring of team and individual sports within a room with very different sport schedules and the traveling to eat from Sears Elementary on a bus that was not all that dependable and time consuming. Request for changes were certainly accommodated if space allowed and the staff and volunteers were excellent to work with. This division continues to be a major focus and is of vital importance to the enjoyment and the performance of athletes at the Games. We have certainly made progress over past Games and must continue to fine-tune it. Recommendations: Try to minimize the number of accommodation units to house athletes from each contingent. Continue to house mission staff and officials separate from athletes. Allow Chef’s more input in room assignments or give them the responsibility. Only house more than one contingent in the same room for those sports where it is appropriate, and if space is a problem. Consider sports, schedules, ages and supervision when mixing sports. Try to keep team sports together in one room Ensure that there are ample washrooms and shower facilities in all accommodation units. Continue to focus upon security, and allow for same sex supervision. Continue to separate males and females. Take into account cultural differences with where they exist. Continue to use bunk beds in dorms. Continue to keep units smoke free. Allow an area for a coach’s lounge. Provide a drop area for people you do not want their sleeping bags when departing. 4. FOOD SERVICE 5 We all know the food was quite disappointing at the beginning of the week and improved remarkably as the Games progressed. The availability of beverages at each location however was excellent throughout. It is vitally important that the menus approved and circulated to each contingent prior to the Games be followed as you can’t expect athletes to perform at their potential when they can’t fuel themselves properly. A couple additional problems that we experienced was that for grazing between meals nothing of substance was offered and there was limited consideration for feeding athletes after a later competition so we were forced to buy and deliver food in a number of cases. We were certainly impressed on how Food Service worked hard to improve their product throughout the week! Recommendations: Continue to allow for each contingent to provide feedback on menu development. Ensure the menus are approved and distributed to each contingent well in advance of the Games so there are no surprises. Ensure that Food Service delivers on plan. The International Committee should, consider a holdback or deposit in such cases. Provide food service at each accommodation unit. Continue to implement a grazing style program, with no limits on the number of visits. Ensure there is a wide variety of healthy food choices, and a vegetarian option at each meal. Ensure all menus and hot meal times are consistent and posted at the food service venue. Allow for flexible hot meal times if schedules become an issue. Continue to provide ample water and unsweetened juices at the cafeteria. Consider schedules, distance from venues and coach responsibilities when instituting a box lunch program. Consider a hot lunch option for teams provided with box lunches Be sure to develop and contingency plan for additional box lunches. 5. CEREMONIES AND AWARDS The opening ceremony was quite good. Highlights included the big screens, the presentation of the national anthems, and the short speeches by the dignitaries. It was quite a long period of time to ask athletes to stand however and the time it takes to bus/marshal the athletes into the facility has to be minimized in the future. 6 The closing ceremony was OK however all of our athletes at Skyview didn’t arrive until halfway through the ceremonies and our flag bearer was one of them.