By Luke Giffen:
Hi all,
Luke again. It has been a couple weeks since my last post and I just wanted to keep everyone up to date with our happenings. This marks our 12th week in paradise (my mom makes sure to keep me updated on how long I’ve been gone; she must miss me or something). Things are really starting to heat up.
About 10 days ago now Geordie and I were lucky enough to be invited to attend our committee’s first sponsorship event. This was a very unique experience for me as it was certainly one of the most business-like events that I’ve ever attended. Here, the goal for us was to mingle and to try to get names and contact details to start a dialogue for potential sponsorship opportunities moving forward. While we weren’t the most successful in our endeavor, it was a humbling experience as we raked in 3 names. Later into the evening the marketing team showed a video creating hype around each of the 9 sports at this year’s Commonwealth Youth Games. Short speeches were held afterwards and we even got to hear the confirmation of the title sponsor for the games (it’s a secret for now)! After the speeches we were treated to a wide variety of interesting foods that I hadn’t tried before! Overall it was a fantastic experience that I’m proud I was apart of.
Geordie and I at the sponsorship event. “Who’s Next” is the sponsorship campaign we have been running with leading up to the games.
Last week we hosted the technical delegate for tennis, Miguel Irigoyen. Miguel hails from El Salvador and seemed to have an excellent time with us for the two days. It was very interesting talking with him and we got a great perspective to make tennis a successful event moving forward. We finished our time with Miguel by taking him to the Cricket Club (the first place Geordie and I ate at in Nassau)! Miguel tried the Cracked Conch and even sampled the Bahamian beers.
Geordie and I are now working towards the completion and distribution of the 9 sports guides. Further, we are now working at alerting the countries who have been approved for reallocation spots in the games. We are also preparing to learn the ATOS system for data entry that will be distributed to each CGA shortly in order for them to input their athletes’ information. Overall, we are busy.
Out of work hours, Geordie and I continue to enjoy our time in the sun and snorkeling. We had a day at the beach about a week ago where the waves were absolutely massive. Made for some good fun throwing the football around. With the amount of time we’ve spent at the beach it’s amazing that we haven’t been badly burnt yet (thanks sunscreen). I continue to run every other day to work off the excellent Bahamian food. Below is a shot from a spot I like to stop at halfway through my runs.
Bliss in the midst of a run
Until next time,
Luke