post worlds - volunteer review

So I went to worlds to volunteer and watch some really high quality ultimate. Also, I was there cheering for the australians that I had known from studying abroad.

First the volunteering - I quite enjoyed it. It is really a worthwhile way to go, because you can get free food and housing for volunteering at least 1 shift per day. There were a ton of volunteers, which was definitely a good thing. It made for a nice community. The volunteer central area was very nice, with food/coffee/massages. I think it's a sign of a good event that they take care of the volunteers well.

My job was general field services. I also did the line painting for the end zones and brick marks at the main field site. It was interesting to see that every team that was warming up would watch me as I went across the field, and inspect the straightness of the line. Jim Parinella did say the lines were getting fairly worn by the end of the week. Not sure what field site he was referring to, but I think we did pretty well at the main site. I repainted those lines at the beginning of each day of play. I don't think it's very reasonable to repaint them more often than that, considering the time and resource constraints. My criteria for repainting was whether the line was solidly visible from one sideline to the other when standing at one sideline. Crowd control lines were painted less often. I also had other glorious jobs such as making sure the porta-potties were fully stocked with toilet paper, and making sure field tents didn't blow over.

The port-a-fields were definitely a great thing to use. They were made of slightly stretchy poly/plastic material, with rings for stakes at each corner. Pull the sides tight and, presto, instant field outline! And fairly consistent too because each field used the same system. They also had marks on each side for the end zone and the brick marks. They have a big advantage in flexibility over painted lines, if you need to move a field a few meters one way. Only one broke during the week, during the Australia-USA open showcase game. Others were showing signs of wear such as holes and fraying, but I patched them with duct tape, and I like to think that made a difference in preventing more breakages.