I can't believe this is happening!
I'm fairly certain that I can put quotations around that, I've certainly said it enough recently. This has now become a regular part of my vocabulary. Thank you Petro-Canada once again for this tremendous opportunity!
My brother Daniel and I happened upon this Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games contest on Facebook, put together a video and were fortunate enough to be selected as Family Correspondents. But it did require a little assistance from a few others along the way, and in thanking them we found our focus and direction heading down the path to Vancouver.
With a little help from our friends
Our filming took us to the Glen Eden Ski Hill in Milton, Ontario where we rounded up some extras in the form of a ski class. We went to a bar in our hometown of Dundas, Ontario, named The Thirsty Cactus, and were able to snag some people during a World Juniors game. And we also recruited some family and neighbours as well.
That family and neighbours bit was actually pretty funny, we wanted them to react like Canada just did something amazing but it was during a Canada World Juniors game. The score was already 11-0 Canada and we just decided to let the tape run: 25 seconds later Canada scores again! When they turned to us and said 'alright we're ready' we were already done.
We also received help from Toronto indie group Make Your Exit, who granted us permission to use their song "Leave This Town" for our video which was a great help.
We had told everyone that if we won we would come back, thank them and let them know where to follow the coverage. When we did return the excitement that everyone had for us was amazing, you would think they were going themselves!
Media Day the First
And that helped to truly cement everything. This past Friday, our first media encounter, my brother and I made an appearance on the CHML 900 morning show in Hamilton. All the well wishes heading in, all the feedback afterward, we knew we would be in charge of bringing the news of the families of our Canadian athletes to Canadians nationwide but had not yet stopped to realize that nation was listening!
Our first meeting with the press, our first step on the road to the 2010 Winter Games, went over quite well (you can find our interview attached below).
Thanks to everyone out there who is following us, it's your support that will make this Family Correspondent program a true success. Don't hesitate to give us feedback, send us requests or comments and enjoy the posts, tweets, and videos to come.
Thanks for following the Petro-Canada Family Correspondents!
Mike Radoslav
Excellent kick off, Rad!!!!
p
Posted by: Pat Newson | January 21, 2010 at 02:50 PM