Six Weeks and 50,000 Kilometres

By Ryan Pelley SportWORKS officer,  Saint Helena on August 7, 2013

I arrived back to St Helena a week ago, after a month and a half on the road, in the air and on the sea. Since being back on the island, I have had a chance to reminisce about what was a tremendous six weeks. The next best thing to travelling is sharing these experiences with other people who are willing to listen; hopefully you are one of those people.

So, here we go:

As it is not easy logistically to leave St Helena, when one does leave it usually helps to accomplish as many things as possible. Fortunately, many of the responsibilities I needed to travel for fell around the same time period. The reason I was on the go over the past weeks consisted of various activities in many different destinations, but the main placement-related activity included a Capacity Support Program Midterm Session in Glasgow, Scotland with my fellow Canadian SportWORKS Officers (CSOs). I also had an opportunity to act as a Team Manager for Team St Helena during the Bermuda Island Games, which conveniently took place just after our Midterm.

Glasgow, Scotland

During my time in Glasgow, I had a chance to reflect on my past months in St Helena and to hear about the placements of other CSOs stationed in Africa and the Caribbean. The time spent with other CSOs and program staff during our Midterm offered an opportunity to understand more about the progress and challenges I have faced during my placement from the perspective of peers sharing a paralleled experience. As it was plain to see that we were all invested in the progress of each Commonwealth Games Association (CGA) or National Olympic Committee (NOC) we were offering our support to, I believe meeting up during the midpoint of our eleven month term refreshed us for the final run.

As our Midterm took place at the Glasgow 2014 Organising Committee (OC) Head Offices, we also had a chance to get an inside look into what goes on leading up to the delivery of a Games from an OC’s perspective. With a staff of hundreds and an office spanning a city block, we felt the energy and magnitude of what surrounded us. It was wonderful to meet so many like-minded people working in sport, and the office really had a global feel to it, with employees from around the world—from Australia, India, Canada and, of course, Scotland. Although only spending a brief time period in Scotland, I know it will definitely be a destination I will have to visit again. The Scots are a truly friendly bunch and quite welcoming.

Bermuda

After Scotland, I was off to Bermuda to meet up with Team St Helena for the Island Games, which turned out to be a unique experience. It all started off with a race through JFK airport and its fifty-seven security check points in hope of catching the same connecting flight which Team St Helena was on. I was the final passenger to check in and knew I had made it when I crawled onto the plane and was welcomed by ten Saints donning their yellow team outfits, waving at me from the middle of the cabin. When we arrived in Bermuda later that night, we were transported by our team attaché to the guest house we would be located at during our stay in Bermuda.  On that note, I cannot think of a better way to get to know your team than by living with them in a house for ten days, it was quite an experience and surely could have made for a good episode of Big Brother. The week that was the Island Games kept everyone busy. Alongside the two other Team Officials, we had much to organise, from scheduling, transportation, meals, etc. to attending sport technical meetings and competitions in support of athletes taking part in badminton, golf and shooting. It was definitely an eventful week and with the games resulting in St Helena picking up their first medals in over fourteen years, their first gold and silver medals, and their first multi-medal experience at an international games, I would say it was all worth it. I am now excited to see how such a positive games experience will translate into the future progress of sport on St Helena.

The Island Games also provided an opportunity to meet people from many different islands located around the world. To be honest, many people at the games came from a few places I have never heard of before, like Åland, Frøya and Saaremaa, to name a few. These are indeed places—very nice places—and very nice people live in each of these very nice places if you were ever inclined to visit somewhere off the beaten path.

Something I came to realise during the Island Games was that, although most teams came from islands that geographically could not be farther apart from each other, everyone shared a camaraderie as islanders. There was an understanding of what it was to live and grow on an island, and they all seemed to identify with that notion and each other in a mutual way.

So from minor issues, such as varying climates, the cloudiness of jetlag and more airplane food than one should consume in a given year, I would say I gained a lot of knowledge while enjoying my last month and a half. All in all, I had the opportunity to travel up, down and around much of this world and for a guy with a serious case of wanderlust, it does not get much better than that. What made the whole experience really great though was the fact that most of this travel was the result of getting involved in something I value and enjoy. We all make decisions in our life, some are a learning experience and some work out tremendously well, both usually altering the journey we are on for the better. As mentioned in previous posts, identifying and following something that I value and enjoy has worked out quite well, so far. I did not fathom back in November of last year, after accepting my current placement as a CSO, that I would have so many great experiences in 2013. What I decided to do though, before I left for my placement, was make a decision to really try and embrace the unknown, really take a chance and walk into situations with an open mind and a positive attitude, knowing that likely I was going to experience things I have never experienced before. One of the most gratifying things I have  learned is that there is beauty in every person and place wherever you go in this world. For me, choosing to believe that beauty is there, always, in some measure or another, surely makes the journey into the unknown much easier to step into.

“[...] there ain’t no journey what don’t change you some.” – David Mitchell, Cloud Atlas

Cheers from the South Atlantic,

Ryan