2010 Arctic Winter Games

ARCTIC WINTER GAMES POLICIES CHEF DE MISSION FINAL REPORT 2010 ARCTIC WINTER GAMES Team Yukon, Chef de Mission Section I Evaluation of Performance of the Host Society Registration and Accreditation - Was pre-Games registration convenient and functional? o Online registration worked very well, few complaints by participants o Kimik functions, from the registration site, are very helpful o On-line registration began too late - Did the accreditation system at the Games work well? o We appreciated receiving the accreditation tags and lanyards days in advance of teams arriving in order to organize and package per team. o We were missing quite a few tags, but the process to replace those was clear, and the volunteers were fantastic. o For those athletes who were replacements, or who registered really late, accrediting them at the airport was convenient. - Provide comments or recommendations o Begin the registration process, host initiated, at least 4 months out from start of the Games. A quick and easy registration process, that teams can send out to their participants, is preferable. o Continue to hand out completed accreditation tags to the Chefs days in advance of teams arriving. Welcome/Arrival Services - Was the arrival of your team handled in a timely manner with a minimum of confusion o Baggage tags had to be duct taped onto all participant luggage to ensure they did not rip off during transport. o Nice that the mascot was there upon athlete arrival, as well as media. o The solution to separate non-participant luggage upon arrival changed a couple of times, at no fault to the host. The airport made those changes, and the GM was responsive on cell phone so that I could explain the changes to the process. o The athletes were whisked away in buses per school, with their luggage, immediately upon arrival and we received no lost luggage complaints. Excellent job! o Thank you to the Host for providing cube vans and volunteers to transport boxes of supplies to the Mission offices. o Athletes were welcomed to their accommodation units with smiles, backpacks, and sleeping bags. Again, all went well. - Provide comments or recommendations o Use baggage tags of good quality, so extra work is not created for contingents, and host volunteers. o Continue to hand out backpacks and sleeping bags at the accommodation venues. o Transporting participants on buses labeled per accommodation unit worked very well. Opening Ceremony - Did the Opening Ceremony do a good job of kicking off the week? o It is always a great feeling for all, to experience the formal protocol of the ceremony, flag raising, lighting of the flame, so it truly does feel like we’re off and running once those elements happen. However, due to the participant experience in the holding area, it did dampen spirits with a negative twist for the next day or so. Refer to comments below. - Were they well organized and choreographed? Provide comments or recommendations. o It was clear a lot of work was put into the planning of the ceremony, and local talent was well represented. o Organizing the participants by holding them in an adjoining venue, or on buses, is a practice that people are tiring of. You’ll see veteran AWG athletes and coaches dreading ceremonies for this reason alone. From what I’ve seen and experienced, pre shows do not make up for the time spent standing in a stifling hot area, in walk out uniforms, with 1800 other people. Our recommendation to future hosts is to transport and organize athletes in a manner where they are taken directly from their accommodation venue, and walk directly, or within 15 minutes, into the ceremony venue. I’ve seen it done, I know it can work, it takes faith in the transportation folks, but with the size of the communities these Games are held, one can assume the buses will not be held up. Simply, consider the athletes first in the planning of marshalling. o The marshalling of athletes was systematic, however, athletes slowed down as soon as they entered the ceremony, which, for many reasons, is always the case. It is good to have assertive marshalling volunteers, who set out the expectations to the kids before hand, move them along very quickly at key junctions, and not allow the kids to choose their own seats within their section. If you are sixth in line, you sit in seat six. o Thanks to the Host for providing seats to all participants. That’s not an easy task, but very much appreciated. o The athletes commented that they would have liked to see the entire show, although, it’s understandable that their entrance is a pinnacle, and has to be included as part of the choreography and storyboard. If they weren’t kept in a holding area for so long, I’m not certain there would have been complaints about missing so much of the main show. Team Accommodations - Were accommodations sufficiently spacious or too crowded? o The accommodations were very well planned, and there was sufficient room in each classroom. The air mattresses worked out well, and are SO much easier on the host volunteers. Although I heard a lot of complaints about the beds deflating throughout the night, those would probably be the same people to complain about uncomfortable bunk beds. It was good to have some bunks in those rooms with taller participants in them. - Were they well-located or too spread out? o They were well located. - Were there sufficient washrooms and shower facilities? o I know…I know…you all proved me wrong. There were sufficient numbers of showers in the accommodation venues, and the ability to shower at the competition venues was appreciated. - Was cleaning during the Games adequate for the maintenance of hygiene? o Yes - Was security in the accommodations area functional and effective? o Not for the first three days of the Games. I was very concerned about mixed gender access to the showers, but to my knowledge, no incidents occurred. This is one of the most crucial volunteer positions in the accommodation venues, and if suitable volunteers are not able to hold these posts, then consideration should be made to hire security companies to handle security in accommodation venues. - Provide comments or recommendations. o With the sheer number of participants in these Games now, it is becoming impossible to house athletes in less than two villages. Therefore, logistics of food service, entertainment, transportation, etc, are an invitation for criticism by participants and Chefs, and are difficult to manage. Grande Prairie had fantastic facilities, and managed their accommodation units very well. o Continue to offer a few bunk beds to contingents to place in the rooms where their larger participants are housed. o Either hire a security company to secure the accommodation units, or anticipate what type of volunteers, and back up volunteers, you will need. o Dog mushers have stated, yet again, that all contingents would like to be housed together. This makes sense, as they have very different schedules (feeding dogs at wee hours during the night and morning) as well as cultural similarities. There will continue to be issues with the participants being housed at a separate location from their dogs. If at all possible, house ALL dog mushers at the same venue as their dogs. o Cultural participants were housed together, mixing contingents, which is what they prefer. They appreciated this. o Please enforce no smoking outside the doors of the accommodation units. Food Service/Village Dining - were the hours of operation/serving sufficient and convenient? o The hours of service were very good. The hosts planned well for late night matches and games, and teams were not left on their own to find food after an evening hockey game (for example). o We did hear complaints throughout the week that grazing was shut down at Comp High, or not open when it was posted to be open. This caused some considerable stress to those athletes and coaches who were banking on getting a quick bite before leaving for their game. - Was the quality of food adequate? o At St.Joes, the food was excellent. At the Comp, the food tended to be greasy, and a lower level of healthy options were served at that venue, which was odd, as the contractor for both was the same. - Was enough food available to meet your team’s needs and appetites? o Bottled water and juice were not readily available at either venue. Water bottles should probably be included with the welcome package if a limited amount of bottled water will be available. - Did the box lunch program work well? o What can we say…Francois put a lot of effort into this project. I believe some more advanced planning could have reduced the stress this caused, but there’s not much to say now. Once the system started to work, it worked well, and the mission staff were all happy with the Chef de Food and his openness to dealing with special requests and allergy requirements. - Provide comments or recommendations. o I would suggest, through advance planning, that food from the main cafeteria be transported to the venues where sport schedules prohibit athletes from returning back to the main cafeterias for lunch. Limit access to sport venue grazing through accreditation tags, and sport schedules. Again, all this should be done well in advance. Awards Ceremonies - Provide comments or recommendations on awards ceremonies both at sport venues and the main awards venue. o We definitely agree with all athletes and coaches, and spectators, who are confused why the awards are awarded 1-2-3, versus 3-2-1.

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