A mind-blowing experience

A mind-blowing experience

Wow! I was in Delhi and on TV! When I came back to Scotland, and everyone had seen me on the telly, I felt like a superstar!

When we first landed in Delhi, we were greeted by people who were really nice to us, saying hello and welcoming us as they took us through the airport to get our things. As we moved to the hotel we saw some beautiful buildings and sights and we went past the stadium where we would be performing.

As I got into Delhi, I got to the hotel, put my luggage into my room, got some lunch and went to the stadium. It was non-stop - we were constantly moving from place to place. We were in the stadium and looking at our entrance and exit, mentally running the show in our minds. We then got split into groups and taken to the places where we would be before, during and after the show, so we know were to be at the right time.

As I look back to the beginning of Bootcamp, even back to Orientation, to think that I would actually end up in India, to take part in a performance that would showcase Glasgow and Scotland to the world, is absolutely mind blowing!

I still didn’t know exactly how the 8 minutes of the show would be put together. My section took up 30 seconds. The whole 8 minutes of the show were pieced together by the great performance team, who knew exactly what to do.

I now have a greater understanding of team work, as really, this project was all about working together for one another. If I, just one person, got it wrong, it looked bad on everyone else. This made you really work hard for your team, to make your team look the best it could, as the rest of the team did for you in return. 

As we walked around the JLN Stadium in Delhi, there was a real sense of this between us all. We were almost there. It was just one more day to go and we would be lined up and ready to perform in India.

Most of all, we knew this was going to be challenging in the hot conditions, we expected a long wait, but we had been prepared for this and we had practiced and rehearsed and rehearsed and we knew our performance inside out.

The performance - what an incredible day

When we were in full swing nothing would have stopped us as we were on a mission to do the performance, from start to finish. I remember looking at every person around me, as the official speeches were going on, everyone taking deep breaths with their hands behind their back waiting for the video to start which signalled that we had 1 minute 30 seconds until show time. 

As I marched into position for the Highland Charge, the only thing going through my mind was DO NOT FALL OVER and that I needed to be at the plank first, so I could lift it. Once that happened, it was just a case of supporting the planks to create the walkway for the Hero Piper, Jonathan Graham, and then carrying the giant inflatable.

When I was in the stadium, I felt really up for the performance as the people that went out just before us were jumping and cheering. I just thought that’ll be us very soon and we clapped them off, waved and cheered. Everyone in our group then got even more happy and ready to get out on the field after that.

I could hear lots of cheering as we did the performance and I was so focused - I wasn’t nervous during the show at all. As we exited the stadium we danced our way out but it wasn’t until our team got the last inflatable out of the stadium that there was a mass of celebratory hugs, as though we had just won a major game or passed all of our exams at once. There’s a really strong bond between all of the cast members and, during this incredible time, we’ve formed some great friendships too.

After Delhi, Would I volunteer again? In a heartbeat! To go through the entire experience again - God yes.

It was such good fun and I have now said, to so many people, that if they ever got offered the chance, do not turn it down.

It is a once in a life time opportunity that you will remember for years to come.

One thing that really sticks out for me, on the journey home, was when I was talking to some of the other cast members and we discussed what it will be like when the Games come to Glasgow. I said that we will just have to wait and see but, in my heart of hearts, I know that Glasgow will make it one of the best Games ever.

As I am now in Glasgow, back home, back to college, back with family and friends, back to reality, I miss not going to Bootcamp and rehearsing the performance. But, I especially miss all the people that were involved, from Cast to Crew to the Coordinators. It was all the personalities involved that made this such an incredible experience.