John Noone, 23, Dublin City University DCU graduate (first class honours in BSc. Sports Science and Health) was given the exciting opportunity to become the Irish representative on the Graduate Excellence Programme at the inaugural European Games in Baku, Azerbaijan, which will take place between the 12th and 28th of June 2015.
Noone was chosen by the Olympic Council of Ireland to be part of this prestigious programme in April 2014. Noone has been in Baku since the 27th of September, beginning his training as part of the programme on the 29th. The training aides learning about the different functions and roles in an organising committee and ran for three weeks in collaboration with both Azerbaijani and international colleagues from Italy, Belgium, Netherlands, UK, Belarus and Serbia.
Following training, the graduates were then assigned our roles and responsibilities in the Baku European Games Operations Committee (BEGOC). Noone was selected to be the Sport Specialist of the Western Cluster in Baku in the Sport Competitions department. His role at BEGOC is to work alongside the sports of Canoe Sprint, Triathlon, Shooting and Archery (primarily Canoe Sprint and Triathlon), creating daily competition activity schedules for Games time, promoting the sports in Azerbaijan, while also working alongside the national and international federations of each specific sport.
He has just finished on an extremely exciting project for Canoe Sprint in Mingachevir, a district in western Azerbaijan which will host Canoe Sprint for the European Games. This project was designed to promote the sport throughout the district while also gaining more volunteers for both the Games and the test events beforehand. On the 13th of November they presented the sport, the volunteer programme and the Baku 2015 European Games to approximately 250 students and locals at Mingachevir University, alongside a representative from Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Youth and Sport, the President of the University, and the Director of Communications at BEGOC. Noone presented information on Canoe Sprint, along with the impact the Games can have on the city by helping to create a lasting legacy for Canoe Sprint in Mingachevir and Azerbaijan.
Alongside this, they also organised the training of Technical Officials during a set of competitive international canoe sprint events which occurred in Mingachevir on the Kur River. These competitive games also gave us the opportunity to host an open day for the sport where he gave a tour to approximately 70 locals promoting the sport, describing the field of play and introducing them to some up-and-coming talented athletes who were competing. This is a lasting project aimed to create a legacy in Canoe Sprint after the Games, ideally making Mingachevir and Azerbaijan a hotspot for the sport in the coming years.
Noone said” So far the opportunity extended to me by the Olympic Council of Ireland and the Baku Organising Committee has helped me understand the interlinked connection that each function and directorate has with each other in order to make the first European Games come to life in partnership with the complex nature of an organising committee.”
Below: John Noone presenting at the recent Baku 2015 European Games seminar at Mingachevir University.
