Chef de Mission Rob Waddell is packing his bags for his first Commonwealth Games and says hes looking forward to an outstanding games for the New Zealand team.
Leaving tomorrow night (eds Saturday 5 July pm), Waddell says the first job on arrival in host city Glasgow is to formally register the team with the Commonwealth Games Organising Committee.
Team registration is a significant milestone and means each one of our athletes and support staff are entitled to live, train and compete within the Commonwealth Games environment.
Waddell will be travelling with several members of the operations and planning team which will be tasked with preparing the New Zealand team environment for athletes arrivals.
We have 10,000kg of equipment to bring into the village and set up, said Waddell. We bring in office equipment, set up medical and performance rooms and construct our own social space. We check that each of the more than 350 team members have a clean, tidy and welcoming place to come to on arrival. We check systems and processes and ensure athletes performance plans can be implemented correctly."
We also make sure our space in the village reflects what it means to be a New Zealander and gives our athletes an edge when it comes to competing on the worlds stage.
Athletes from shooting, gymnastics, lawn bowls and boxing are among the first to arrive from the 13th of July.
Waddell says he is expecting to find Glasgow ready to go and athletes will find outstanding facilities in place on their arrival.
Years of planning and preparation have gone into readying our athletes for the Glasgow Commonwealth Games and we are now putting in place the final, critical measures in place to ensure they achieve their goals at the Commonwealth Games.
He also added that while conditions will be tight in the village with most athletes expected to stay in Glasgow throughout the games, the townhouse accommodation is of a high quality innovative measures to expand social and performance preparation spaces.
Waddell departs for Glasgow on the evening of Saturday 5 July.