Mar
30
By Diana Draker
Remember the Closing Ceremonies at the 2010 Olympics? Remember all the high school students racing into the stadium with their red and white snow boards? That was me, Diana Draker! In fact, I was at the very center under the Olympic cauldron when we flipped our snowboards to make the countdown numbers! Later, I was the third snowboarder on the left performing directly in front of the roaring spectators.
I wasn't nervous until I realized that the Governor-General was watching us. Then I found out that the Prime Minister was there too! And our Premier! Not to mention more than a billion people watching on TV! Then I got nervous. But I concentrated on the routine and listened to the instructions over the white ear- phones we all wore.
All thousand of us high school performers had watched the Canada men's hockey team win the gold before the performance. We were excited anyway, even before the gold. You can't imagine the tension and excitement as we were told it was time to enter the stadium.
It's not like we hadn't prepared. Boy, did we prepare. We had nine rehearsals over seven weekends starting in December and going on to the day before the Ceremonies. Yes, I live in James Bay, and yes, the rehearsals were in Vancouver. My parents didn't tell me what it cost for all that food, accommodation and transportation. My mom and I usually took the ferry but once we had to fly because the rehearsal was so early in the morning that the ferry wouldn't get me there in time. For me, it also cost missing a few days in school and making up the homework and tests that I missed. Not to mention being tired. Very tired. At the rehearsals, we ran through our routines two, three and even four times a day. If you remember watching the ceremonies, you know that when I say "ran", I mean it.
The organizers were really strict. If you missed any rehearsals, you were out. If you acted up, you were out. If you told anyone about what we were doing, you were out. As you can imagine, not everyone who started, finished. It was frustrating for my family and friends that I couldn't tell them what I was doing. I was told by some friends that I had been inducted into a secret society.
I was often asked if, as a volunteer performer, I got into the athletic events for free. No way. At most, during our eleven hour day before the Ceremonies, we received a box lunch. The sandwiches were kind of plain but the subs were delicious. However, I did receive a number of unexpected gifts. Among my favourites are a commemorative Olympic medal and a hoodie with "Ceremonies 2010" emblazoned on it. Only the volunteer performers got them. And I got to keep my costume and snowboard.
In the end, my family couldn't watch me live. The original plan was that my Dad, Mom and brother David would take me to the stadium and then go and see me perform. (My older two sisters live and work in Toronto, so they couldn't attend, but they did see the ceremonies on TV.) After my part, they would get me, take me to our seats and then we would all watch the rest of the show. The tickets were really expensive but that was the plan. Now that I think of it, I suppose if all the families of the all volunteer performers went to see the ceremonies, they would take up a quarter of the stadium.
Before my parents bought the tickets, though, the organizers said that they didn't want all the parents trying to deliver the highschool performers to the stadium because of the traffic problems and the crowds trying to get to the same place at the same time for the show. Instead, they would bus us from different locations around Vancouver and then, immediately after our performance, would bus us back again. My spot was Oakridge Mall. So my parents couldn't see me live because they had to drop me off at the Mall and then meet me there again right after I performed. Not only did my family not get free tickets, they had to wait until TV reruns to see me perform. That's also how I saw the rest of the Closing Ceremonies.
But I did meet a number of the athletes. I met the speed skater Clara Hughes, who won a bronze medal for the 5,000 metre race. I even met the entire Russian team! Backstage I saw the preparations for the rest of the show including the inflatable Mounties, the giant beavers, the costumes and the Russian giant hamster balls. I also made some new friends.
When my Guides group told me about this opportunity, I jumped at it and was so happy that I was accepted. Right now I'm a grade 11 student at Oak Bay High School and I hope to be a famous actor one day. I'm also trying my hand at writing manga and I'm experimenting with web broadcasting. You can be sure that I'll add my Olympic 2010 Ceremonies experience to my resume.
Of course, I have to credit living in Victoria for this wonderful opportunity. We moved to Victoria from Ottawa in 2003 and my brother and I went to South Park. We're both in Oak Bay High right now. What I like most about Victoria is that it's so nice and I have awesome friends. And James Bay is so close to everything that I could run back to South Park and sing the 'Vancouver' theme song to my old teachers.