WHEN 7,200 young people arrive on Thursday for the greatest youth sports event of the millennium, they'll be guaranteed a big Southampton welcome.

More than 400 volunteers, ranging in age from 16 to 77 years old, will meet and greet the 52 teams from across Britain and Northern Ireland competing in the finals of the BAA Millennium Youth Games.

For months now the local volunteers have been gearing up for their different roles during the three-day event, but all-in-all their task will be to ensure the whole thing goes smoothly.

Volunteers' manager Pippa Baker was overwhelmed at the response to the long-running volunteers appeal which was launched back in February.

She said: We had over 400 volunteers who signed up, which is fantastic.

"They have volunteered for a number of reasons, ranging from students who want some experience for their CVs, to people who just want to put something back into the community, and have had a great start in their lives through sport or have loved sport all their lives.

"But the main reason is that everyone wants to just make this event work for the young people, and they want to see them playing and enjoying sport."

The volunteers have all been given at least one day's training to prepare them for their different roles, while many have taken part in regular sessions funded by games organiser Sport England in areas like motivation and team-building, customer care, leadership and delegation, and working with children.

"Some have led to national qualifications, for example, the Southern Tourist Board's Welcome Host training is a nationally-recognised qualification in the tourist industry which can be used for an NVQ," said Pippa.

"So there were opportunities for volunteers to get a little bit more experience behind them before they started the event, and by volunteering with us some have actually got a proper qualification out of it."

Tomorrow the 104 team host volunteers will meet for a briefing at Southampton's outdoor Sports Centre - the main venue for the games - to find out what their roles will be once the event starts on Friday.

Pippa said: "We have two volunteers assigned to every area team coming down, so when they arrive on site they will be met by their volunteer.

"What's important is these volunteers are local, they know the area and they can tell them about Southampton. There are 12 different volunteer roles altogether, including sports assistants, VIP hosts, venue hosts and media hosts."

Doris Horle, of Eastleigh, who is the oldest volunteer at 77, said she was looking forward to being a venue host at Fleming Park leisure centre in the town.

"I have had so much enjoyment out of sport in my life, and I felt I wanted to give a little help. There are so many jobs to do in something like this," she said.

Nathan Murley, 17, of The Crescent in Netley, will be a sports host for the event.

He said: "When I was at school they were doing the trials for the games and I was too old to compete so I thought I would volunteer. I wanted to do it because it's an opportunity to help, you're still involved, and it's the biggest youth gathering of sport ever."

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