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Showing posts from April, 2018

The Middle Aged Spectator goes to the Commonwealth Games

Having entered the lottery for tickets during 2017, we were fortunate enough to secure tickets to five sessions of three different sports over a seven-day period, and had wonderful experiences. We went twice to the Netball, including the opening match of the tournament (Jamaica v Fiji) in the Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre, attended two evening sessions of Athletics at Carrara Stadium, and enjoyed a session of Beach Volleyball on the Coolangatta Beachfront. At each event we were greeted by friendly (and sometimes amusing) ‘Game Shapers’, or volunteers. There were professional ‘comperes’, for lack of a more suitable word, at each event who explained what was going on, entertained us between games, and generally ensured the crowd was involved. We thoroughly enjoyed it all. Before they had even begun, there was a great deal of cynical criticism about the Commonwealth Games. This took several forms, but a few in particular came up regularly: 1.        The Com