Commonwealth Games 2014: Inside the Opening Ceremony

So it’s finally here. After years of preparation, months of planning, days of waiting, Glasgow were finally ready to welcome the world and the best part was 20 minutes before the opening when my lovely Team HQ staff gave us the leftover tickets to the Opening Ceremony!

I honestly couldn’t have been more thankful that I was there among 40,000 others watching the opening of this amazing sporting event and the best part was I was seated right at the front where the athletes walk in.

Glasgow did themselves proud, the show was amazing, the dancing, the music was up there with London 2012 for me. Highlights included John Barrowman, Rod Stewart (I’m sure many mothers are jealous of me), being just 10 meters away from the Queen, the roar when Scotland walked on and despite all the dislike over their outfits they looked pretty darn good!

A lovely moment personally was some of the England team and HQ staff spotting their lovely group of volunteers in the audience and giving us a wave.

And not to forget where we were, Celtic Park and the green and white hoops still made an appearance courtesy of Tonga whom carried a shirt into the stadium. Of course there was also the comical moment when the baton wouldn’t open and Chris Hoy had to lend a hand.

The whole night was magical from start to finish, a sea of colours from all the team’s outfits, and of course there was a bit of tartan on show. The team and I screamed clapped and danced our whole way through all the show and all 71 countries. It was the perfect way to show Scotland and Glasgow off at its best.

With all the Opening Ceremony excitement, the week beforehand was just as exciting with the last set of arrivals including women’s hockey and the badminton team whom arrived very hungry after their coach had promised food on the train up and none was provided.

Athletics and cycling also arrived including big names such as Bradley Wiggins and Andy Turner. Seeing the athletes enjoying the village and mingling with each other is a sight that these games are all about.

Personally it’s great seeing the England athletes out in the glorious weather with women’s hockey playing volleyball, the netball team out practicing shooting and the swimming team just sat in the Lion’s Den trying to stay awake as long as possible in order to adjust their body clocks for their late evening competitions.

As part of arriving at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games each country is given a welcome ceremony from the National Youth Theatre.

It was an amazing sight seeing the whole England team which is around 600 people walk down from the lions den through Wales and Australia camps in the area where the welcoming ceremony would take place.

A sea of red and white, it looked amazing. The Youth Theatre did a fantastic job and increased the buzz and the excitement that was already instilled within the athletes, getting them dancing and cheering throughout the show.

It’s safe to say looking back on my Commonwealth Journey so far I have been very lucky to have the opportunities I have had and I now cannot wait for the medals to start rolling in and watch loads of the events.