EM diary | The fascination of volunteers

A very special strength of these European Championship days in Munich are the friendly volunteers who are present everywhere and are always there to help and exchange nice words. Like the 56-year-old from Munich in the press center who is happy to help with this revival event for 1972 because he still remembers the fascination of the Olympics when he was a 6-year-old boy.

Another employee in the media center comes from further away: 32-year-old Konrad from Poland was a volunteer at the Football EURO in Munich last year. He liked it so much that he immediately registered for the European Championships. The volunteers do not receive any payment, but they do receive access to all competitions, food, the official event outfit and much more. You can hear the fascination of being a volunteer when Konrad says that in Munich he met colleagues from Brazil, Peru and Colombia who had already helped at the 2016 Olympics in Rio.

A diary entry from Dieter Seifert. © ÖA / jaidermartina

Konrad will do it again, even if the work shifts can last longer than 8 hours. The volunteers actually have to pay for their own travel to Munich and accommodation for the two weeks. However, some of them, like Konrad, can stay overnight in 2 Munich schools for free. The outfit provided by the organizers includes shorts and long trousers, 3 T-shirts, jacket, rain jacket and peaked cap. In order to be in Munich, the volunteers have to take vacation from their actual work. The young Pole works in automotive technology in the field of thermomechanics in his home country. So he takes time out from a demanding job and enjoys watching athletics and triathlons in Munich in his free time.

The Munich volunteers have many tasks: They run onto the track in the Olympic Stadium to clear away the starting blocks. They help fans to get tickets. They set up and dismantle equipment at sports facilities. They show the routes to the sports facilities and help with the supporting program, but also with transport, in the anti-doping area, in the TV and press center and in many other areas. The European Championships from August 11th to 21st only work because these 6000 women and men get involved. 13.000 people applied.

A particularly likeable one of them is Rolande: The “over-50-year-old” is half British, half French and is used as a joker in Munich, at different locations as needed. She has been volunteering at major sporting events for 10 years, since the 2012 Olympics in London. She loves sports and she loves communicating with people and meeting new people.

According to Rolande, the positive spirit always prevails when working as a volunteer; Everyone is happy and enthusiastic – and curious. In addition to the many Germans among the volunteers here in Munich, she also met people from South America, Belgium, Switzerland, France, Spain and Poland. She is enthusiastic about the athletics races. Tomorrow, Sunday, she is looking forward to watching gymnastics. As a half-French woman, she will certainly be a volunteer at the 2023 Tennis Hopman Cup in Nice and a big dream would of course be the 2024 Olympics in Paris.

" data-fancybox="inline-123317" target="_image" href="https://s3-images.sportnews.bz/_images/scale/1280x1280/img/2022/08/egon-theiner-und-dieter-seifert-von-links-bei-den-european-championships-in-muenchenzsuni-schriftstil0-schriftartquadraatsans-schriftgroe.jpg"> Egon Theiner and Dieter Seifert (from left) at the European Championships in Munich

After chatting with Rolande, I suddenly see a familiar face: Egon Theiner, with whom I started working as a journalist at the new Sunday newspaper “Zett” almost at the same time in 1989. Egon was at “Zett” until 1995, then at “Salzburger Nachrichten” for a few years before he moved to Vienna and began managing media centers at large events. Since 2006, he has worked behind the scenes in media and TV at 10 Olympic Games. He also runs a publishing house in Vienna. Shortly before, I was surprised that I hadn't met a South Tyrolean yet, and then the happy reunion with one of my very first professional colleagues! These are also the European Championships!

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EM diary | The fascination of volunteers

What would a major event like the European Championships in Munich be without the many volunteers? Dolomites editor Dieter Seifert describes his experiences on site.

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