FYI, the volunteer organizers for ISU Worlds 2009 (Los Angeles, March 22-28, 2009) are looking for adult skaters with competition volunteering experience to help out at Worlds. If you would like to volunteer, please fill out the online volunteer form here: http://www.isuworlds2009.com/
You must be a U.S. citizen, and of course it helps if you have experience volunteering at skating competitions.

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"You don't have to put an age limit on your dreams." - Dara Torres, 41, after her 2nd medal at the 2008 Olympics

Oh bother - we are hoping to come out to LA to watch.... was hoping to be able to volunteer, but if you have to be a US citizen....

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Mrs Redboots
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I love my computer because my friends live in it!
Ice dancers have lovely big curves!

Do you know why there is a U.S. citizen rule? Even for most jobs, you just need a green card.

Perhaps the LOC needs to do background checks on volunteers, per the ISU? I have no idea, just guessing. If so, it's probably a lot easier and cheaper for a U.S-based group to trace U.S. citizens than those of other countries.

I have comp volunteer experience, and it's not a bad way to see the action (since ticket prices are so outrageous), but since I'm going to Nats this year (due to the aforementioned outrageous Worlds prices ), there's no way I can afford flying to L.A. and spending a week at a hotel there just to volunteer.

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Terri C is a Bronze lady!
Gold Moves, here I come!

Their website says that they have to run a background check on you and they require that you give them your social security number- but even someone with a green card would have that. Maybe rather than US citizen the phrase they meant to use was "legally able to work in the USA"- I bet it doesn't get challenged though.

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-Jessi
What I need is a montage...
Visit my skating journal or my Youtube videos (updated with 2 new videos Sept 26, 2009)

I asked about the U.S. citizenship rule for the exact same reasons (i.e., figuring those with a green card and SS# should be fine), but was told that U.S. citizenship was required, and that it has something to do with the background check. If I get a different story about the citizenship thing later down the road, I will post here to let you all know.

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"You don't have to put an age limit on your dreams." - Dara Torres, 41, after her 2nd medal at the 2008 Olympics

I was a volunteer for the 2003 Worlds in DC. It;s LOADs of fun! If I didn't have a newborn, I'd do it for LA.

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Listen to my Figure Skating Podcast!

Rogue Element, Inc

I wish you could, too! Speaking of which, how is that newborn? I want all the details!

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"You don't have to put an age limit on your dreams." - Dara Torres, 41, after her 2nd medal at the 2008 Olympics

Details, please!

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This space has been put on hiatus for retuning....

Sounds intriguing. I just don't want volunteering to conflict with being a spectator since I already plunked down the $$$ for my ticket.

So which are the "good" committees to try and volunteer for: Accredidation? Registration? Hospitality?

You can tell them your time preferences when you volunteer. For example, Practice Ice is probably going to be divided into three shifts: morning (6-12), afternoon (12-6) and evening (6-end).

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"You don't have to put an age limit on your dreams." - Dara Torres, 41, after her 2nd medal at the 2008 Olympics

Details on volunteering: I was on the Music committee, which meant playing music for practice ice and announcing the skaters. So we got to watch all the practices, and learn how to pronounce some of those incredibly difficult names. As a result of being a volunteer, we got some free tickets to some of the events themselves.

On of the best committees I thought was the one where people got to fill in the holes on the ice before each ice cut. They got to watch each event live from the zamboni corner and then walk out on the ice and fill the holes.

It was hard work, long days, but really cool to see how the event functioned from behind the scenes.

As for the newborn: he;s three weeks old tomorrow! Doing well, and I recovered very fast because I did a drug-free delivery. Extremely painful at the time, as one can imagine, but the recovery time is a snap comparitively.

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Listen to my Figure Skating Podcast!

Rogue Element, Inc

Wow. Post a link to baby pictures if you have them!

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"You don't have to put an age limit on your dreams." - Dara Torres, 41, after her 2nd medal at the 2008 Olympics

doubletoe - this sounds like a fun opportunity but I just have a couple of questions -

where is the practice ice going to be? When I was at Nationals in 2002 in LA the practice ice was at a sports arena kind of far from the Staples Center - this might make it difficult to go back and forth between venues, etc. especially if there was time to go and watch the events.

I noticed on the website that the volunteers would be given two free tickets to events - do you know if those tickets would be up in the highest tier in the Staples Center? If so I know that there is no way I could sit there as the height is quite dizzying (and no I'm not one of those types that HAS to sit in the first 10 rows and I have found sitting in the 300-level in most arenas pretty satisfying, especially if there is a Jumbotron).

Will you be assigning the monitors to the practice ice or are you just trying to find the volunteers amongst adult skaters?

One thing about volunteering, if you are the type of person who wants to go to lots of events and expects to volunteer only during times when it is convenient for you, then being a volunteer is not for you - if you are willing to work hard and don't mind being stuck in places where you don't get to see or do anything much then you might find it to be extremely fun and rewarding just to be there.

The reason I state this is because when I volunteered at 2005 Nationals here in Portland, some people tried to get special treatment for one reason or another, which made life at times difficult for the Volunteer Coordinator - a friend of mine had a major meltdown at one of the venues and quit right there - not pretty. Also there were a few people that violated the "rules" of conduct - trying to sneak into "skater-only" areas during non-volunteer times, etc., which was basically a pain in the butt...

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Is Portland the only city with it's own ice-dance website? http://www.pdxicedance.net/

I am helping to recruit volunteers, but specifically for practice ice. Practice ice will be at the Convention center, a 4 minute walk straight down the street (about 2 blocks away). Unfortunately, I don't know anything about the volunteer tickets other than what is stated on the website. Each volunteer gets two box office vouchers for "best-available upper concourse seats for any event (except Ladies Free Skate)"
Yes, the upper concourse seats are the upper level seats. Seating chart is here: http://www.ticketmaster.com/seatingchart/73985/2357

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"You don't have to put an age limit on your dreams." - Dara Torres, 41, after her 2nd medal at the 2008 Olympics

Congratulations, and welcome to him. Are you back on the ice yet?

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Mrs Redboots
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I love my computer because my friends live in it!
Ice dancers have lovely big curves!

It's really a shame it isn't a week or two earlier so it could coincide with my spring break. It would be an awesome experience, but I just don't know if I can take off at that time. I'm still thinking about it though-- is there a deadline of when people have to volunteer?

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"Without a struggle, there can be no progress" ~ Frederick Douglass

I second that too! We want baby pictures!!!

Congratulations and welcome to your brand new baby!!!

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Cheers,
jazzpants

11-04-2006: Shredded "Pre-Bronze FS for Life" Club Membership card!!!
Silver Moves is the next "Mission Impossible"
(Dare I try for Championship Adult Gold someday???)

Thank you for the support, you guys!!!

Hmm. . . I haven't seen or heard of a deadline (none is given on the website), so I guess at this point it's just a matter of first come, first chosen.

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"You don't have to put an age limit on your dreams." - Dara Torres, 41, after her 2nd medal at the 2008 Olympics