Sydney World Masters Games

SWMG wrap-up

9th Oct Fri - flew into syd at 7am... had to see some patients in the arvo. one was competing in the SWMG and i wanted them to be right to swim.
went down to sydney olympic park to pick up my uniform. there were no sizes left so i had to get a 10... which was slightly small... hopefully it will stretch... but i dont know if i'll wear the shirts again cos as nice as they are they have a big 'medical' plastered on the back. maybe i can use them professionally.
looked at the queue going into accreditation - apparently 3+ hours wait... really long! i dont envy the people in that queue.

10th oct sat - well my first day at hockey. an 8am start is 5am perth time... sooo tired! got there and reported into the venue supervisor as advised. they didnt seem to know what to do with signing in...
there are 2 hockey pitches - olympic which is the main and pitch 2. the original pitch was no 2 but when they built the whole olympic pitch and stadium for the 2000 olympics.
i popped down to the first aid room at olympic pitch where the chiros were setting up. but the sports trainer that got there before me was so bossy. he sent me over to the other pitch by myself. turned out to be a great move. was right on the side of the pitch in like a 'dugout' area. the two guys who were in charge there were stan and marty. lucky for me it was a pretty uneventful day. few people getting hit by balls etc but nothing really serious.
we got meal vouchers that you redeem at the canteen. a meal voucher is worth $12 and snack voucher $6. we hardly got to eat since there was only 10 mins inbetween games and 10 mins half time. so at the end there were food vouchers left over. marty gave me his voucher. so i went over to the canteen and bought $24 of junk food for us all to have the next day. i think the guys were happy that i didnt just take the vouchers and buy stuff for myself but got something for everybody to share the next day.

11th oct sun - at the hockey again. and made my way down to pitch 2 where all the fun people were. and today we were all sugared up!! today was eventful cos i did have a guy fall over and have a colles fracture. had to send him off to hospital.
we did the same thing today with the food vouchers... i came back with arms full of junk food. the lady at the canteen recognised me as well and prob thought i was a big pig! but cos none of us were there the next day we divided up the food.
went to the opening ceremony of the games.

opening ceremony:
meant to start at 5:30pm so i had to kill some time. the beginning was so boring - they had a police band that were good but i was still a bit bored. the athlete procession didnt start till 6:30ish then speeches. was quite funny... they had the chairperson of the organising committee SWMGOC, chairperson of the world masters competitions, and nathan rees premier of nsw. they were opening the ceremony. so the chairperson of the SWMGOC welcomed prince fredrick of denmark and the applause was so warm and loud that she had to stop to let it all die down. but when nathan rees was introduced to open the games, there was very loud boo-ing. i was killing myself laughing. the next day i was approached by an american lady who asked me why people were boo-ing. i had to explain that nathan rees isnt really well liked at all.

12th oct mon - a bit of a late start 9am at the main booth supervising the chiro students. and then my relief was late which made me have to run over to volleyball to start my next shift. just made it. the medical rooms overlook the courts at the volleyball. lachlan's team were playing and it was good that i finished early enough to watch the match. was actually an ideal situation. working as a sports trainer but i did also supervise the students. these students were really good and quite competent.

14th oct wed - well this was an interesting day. i was posted to the tennis which was at cintra park concord. basically the tennis was played at 2 locations - olympic park and cintra. the over 70's were at cintra cos it's synthetic grass and easier on older joints. i got there and was greeted by a st. johns ambulance lady #$%@#$%@#$%. so i get there and she says 'i dont know why they bother sending you people here'. in short she basically informs me that i'm just there for decoration - to show that there is a medical presence but really if anybody would be needed it would be st. johns people and i might get some strapping if i'm lucky. she was so bossy that i just had to get out of the room so i was helping put up signs and stuff. by coincidence i ran into mr and mrs leeder - hunter's parents. they were volunteering and working at the tennis... small world!

anyway cranky st. johns lady left me with 2 cadets who were med students. they didnt know what to do when a lady called J [name removed] came in with a strained left calf muscle. and i was thinking 'so can you get out of the way and let me (decoration) do my job'.

J was about to pull out of doubles cos she didnt know if she would injure herself more. worked on her and then used compression bandage to help support the muscle. she went back on to play. worked on her again after her game and told her what to do overnight to get some of the swelling down.

rushed back to olympic park cos i was rostered on to supervise the students at the volleyball in the arvo. but got a call at 2:30 to let me know that george portelli was wandering around asking to be put somewhere so he took my shift so i could have the arvo off. ended up going to the volleyball anyway cos vic was there with sacha. lachlan's team only lost 1 game and made it into the gold medal playoffs.
ended up playing with sacha most of the arvo. she's so cute but was a little cranky either cos it was past bedtime or she might have been teething. lachlan's team called 'jackie chan' won in 5 tight sets.

15th oct thur - at the tennis again in the morning. J was moving great today and she said she was feeling good. worked on her again after her match where she won a bronze medal. she was so grateful. she actually said to me she knows that we're all volunteers and so she wanted to give me something for helping her and she offered me $100. i told her i couldnt take it and said that it's my pleasure. the st. johns lady (grrrrr) then said 'oh we're all volunteers, i'll take that as a donation to st. johns' @#$@#%@#% it wasnt even offered to her. so unfortunately J was put in a tough position and forced to make a donation to st. johns.
oh yeh forgot to mention that this lady (in addition to calling me decoration) did NOTHING to help and.. she even told me off for doing my job. i think she was making small talk asking me if i had been busy. i told her about the broken wrist which was the worst injury. she then proceeded to tell me that it wasnt my job to attend to those things and that there should have been a st. johns person there. umm when the ref blows the whistle they call for the 'trainer' not 'st johns person'!!!! anyway she had a bee in her bonnet about how they didnt have a st. johns person at every venue. they only had a central hub at the main games centre. if they were needed then they were called by walkie talkie and then drove out to the venue. the minimum medical presence for most of the venues was a sports trainer - trained in first aid and also sports injury management so really more qualified than st. johns.

thur arvo - at the volleyball again. but i was so tired i didnt end up doing much supervising.

17th oct sat - at the tennis again. lucky for me that st johns #$%@%# lady wasnt there that day. but there was another st johns lady who must have been 100 yrs old (ok maybe i'm exaggerating a little). if somebody had a heart attack on court and needed her help i could imagine them dying in the time it would take her to walk over to help... anyway i wont bag her too much... she was nice... useless but nice (and they call me decoration...)
J was going really well and she brought her husband to see me as well as he had a sore shoulder. i strapped it up and later he told me it felt great when he was playing. was a pity that they came up against the top team in the semis but i guess that's the luck of the draw. the mixed doubles pairs in the other semis werent as good. anyway, J and her husband ended up losing the semis but winning the bronze playoff. she invited me over to the brewery but i didnt join. she did end up giving me a metal pin with New Zealand on it and some chocolates. the pin i'll keep sentimentally. was a pleasure to help such lovely people to achieve their best. J ended up getting 3 bronzes - 2 of them whilst i was working with her and she was very grateful.

18th oct sun - the only day i wasnt stationed around SOP. was at the basketball in the hills. absolutely hated it... americans are a bunch of primadonnas. 'i dont care if you used to play nba and i have no idea who you are!!!'
staff at the centre were really rude.
the other sports trainer there was pretty good and i was learning some new strapping methods from him.
anyway, what a bummer of a last day... it spoiled it really cos i was having such a good time...

closing ceremony - tumbalong park. wasnt as grand as the opening. but i just wanted to see. didnt stay for long as i was really tired and had work mon morning...

a successful games and a lot of fun for the most part. i liked working as a sports trainer... it's nice to be paid to sit there and watch sport (well for the most part - not the injury parts).