Volunteers report unique experience at the World University Championchip Beach Volleyball and Triathlon

Behind all the magic of the World University Championchip held in Maceió, between the 6th and 10th of September, there was a lot of dedication from more than 60 volunteers from the areas of sports, social media, and health. Whether they are experienced or beginners, the feeling is unanimous: this World University Championchip will be memorable.

People from all over Brazil volunteered to be part of the team that made the competition a success. Gabriel Ferreira, 27, came from São Paulo on an almost three-day bus trip to work on the competition in the capital of Alagoas. He is experient in volunteer work, even participated in the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. The World University Championchip Beach Volleyball is already the fourth competition promoted by CBDU in which he volunteers. Gabriel highlights the importance of volunteer work.

“It’s an international event with athletes from different countries, so it’s been a fantastic experience. It took almost three days to travel, but every sacrifice for the sport is worth it, and that gives me joy and satisfaction, because no paid job gives me as much pleasure as volunteering”. Despite traveling almost all over the country in volunteer work, for Gabriel, Maceió will forever be in his memories: “I really liked the energy of the city, the warmth of the people, who are very receptive. It is a wonderful city, I even wanted to live here”.

Unlike the experience of Gabriel, this World University Championchip Beach Volleyball was the first experience of Yan Azevedo, 23 years old, from João Pessoa. The Architecture and Urbanism student talks about the motivation of volunteering in the competition: “I always liked Olympic sports and I always imagined myself working as a volunteer in a competition. And knowing that it was an international championship and a sport that I admire, I was immediately interested and applied for it”.

For Yan, the competition will leave eternal lessons: “As I always follow Olympic sports, it was very shocking to see everything so closely, to see the athletes and backstage, in addition to participating in the organization. In fact, I had a lot of contact with foreign languages, English and Spanish and that was very enriching for me”.

Most of the volunteers were, of course, from Maceió. For students, particularly Physical Education students, volunteering at a top-notch, international competition held in their hometown could not be missed. Thamiris Wevilly is a Physical Education student at the Federal University of Alagoas (UFAL) and highlights the opportunity to work in such an important competition at home: “What I take from here is the hard work of the organization, which often, whoever is outside, you don’t see all the dedication behind it. It was very valuable and pleasant to be able to participate in this World Cup in Maceió”.

Former volunteer and now coordinator of CBDU volunteers, Ruan Souza, talks about the importance that this group has for the event’s gear: “CBDU has always given great importance to volunteering, because we usually say that without them we can’t do it. nothing, nor to proceed with what we propose to do. And I speak on my own, because I was able to volunteer in 2018 in Maringá – PR, always doing my best, and today I am in the coordination”.