As Olympic fever reaches boiling point in the lead up to the opening ceremony on 4 August, thousands of foreign journalists from every spot on the globe will provide news coverage for the sporting event of the year. Joining the professionals will be a team of 25 journalism students from Sheffield Hallam University.

After a gruelling selection process out of 200 candidates, the final 24 students were hand picked by the Olympic Committee. These students will be heading to Beijing in early July to report on the 2008 Olympic and Paralympic Games for the Olympic News Service (ONS). SkillsActive has engaged with two of the 24 students, David Stevenson and Charlotte Abbott, and they will be writing a weekly blog about their experiences as they live and breathe the Olympic spirit.

Arguably the greatest sporting event on the world stage, this years Olympic and Paralympic Games will continue to unite the world through the power of sport, and SkillsActive invites you to a front row seat and join David and Charlotte on a virtual journey to the other side of the world.

Watch this space as they start blogging here over the next few weeks.

My name is Charlotte Abbott and I am a 20 year old student. I am studying Journalism at Sheffield Hallam University.

Luckily, out of 200 people, myself and 23 other students from the university were given the opportunity to volunteer and work for the Olympic News Service in Beijing this summer. To become part of this project, I had to go through various exams, such as writing an article in 100 words within an hour and writing ‘flash quotes’ from audio and video clips, as well as an interview. Hallam was the only University in Europe to gain this experience, due to its well known establishment of sport culture.

Over the next few weeks, myself and fellow student David Stevenson will be writing blogs about our feelings, experience and the atmosphere at the Beijing Olympics.

It will be interesting to view the Olympics from behind the scenes, as I have only ever witnessed the event on the television. As I will be part of the environment of sport, culture and media all rolled into one, it will be one ride that should not be missed. So I hope you can follow my journey for the next 7 weeks in Beijing!

To start things off I should probably introduce myself, as one of the authors of this Olympics Blog. I am David Stevenson a 20 year old Journalism Student at Sheffield Hallam University and along with 23 colleagues we are off to report on the world’s largest sporting stage. The Olympics.

My colleagues and I are the only European students to have been given this opportunity to report for the Olympic News Service (ONS). Our jobs will entail gathering quotes, reviews, previews, press conference highlights and much more, which will then be distributed to the world’s media.

Our chance to get to the Games only came round in December last year but since then from out of 200 candidates our final 24 were hand picked by the Olympic committee after two exams and an interview. Even after we were picked we have completed over six assignments and we head out a month before the Games start to continue specific ONS training.

I’d like to add that whilst we are over there we are working as volunteers not paid members of staff. But how often is it you get the opportunity to work on the Olympic Games the most prestigious sports event in the World.

While I am there I will be writing a couple of blogs a week detailing my thoughts, feelings and experiences of what it is like working at the games, as well as information about Chinese culture. So along with my close friend and colleague Charlotte Abbott we invite you to join us on a virtual journey that takes us to the other side of the world.

We hope that through our opportunity to work at the 2008 Olympics we will hopefully show how exciting the Olympics are especially with 2012 fast approaching.

Well I best get some packing done as we fly out this week, I’ll be in touch next week so I’ll talk to you then.

I know that there are a lot of youngsters out there that want to get into the sector, but are just not sure how to go about it. Here we’re going to try and keep you informed with what is happening in the sector, and I will be at your service to help pass on the correct advice and get you on the right path to a successful career in the active leisure and learning sector.

There are many different careers pathways available, a handy tip is to check out our interactive sports map that is available on my careers website.  You can also ask me questions and I’ll do my best to help you with your queries, else leave me some comments here!

I’ll be back with some more insight into working in sport, fitness, the outdoors, playwork and caravans over the coming weeks.

Happy days…
Dougie