Baby's first Olympics

The London 2012 Olympics have come and gone and being Londoners with a big interest in sports, especially volleyball, my partner and I invested in volleyball tickets for the event as soon as these were made available to the British public.  We were fortunate enough to get some in the first round and then again when tickets were made available during resale before and during the Olympics.  We also got some football tickets as an after-thought; these were not selling well, so were relatively easy to come by and we thought it would be nice to watch  a game in Wembley.  

We didn't know when we got the majority of the tickets that we would have a baby by the time the Olympics came to town; we had hoped we would have one but we didn't factor this in when we bought the tickets.  News that Baby might have needed his own ticket to attend the events were unwelcome: how were we going to get tickets in the same area for him?  It would have been expensive and it also seemed strange to have to purchase a ticket for someone who would not actually be using the seat.  We could get a babysitter but I was uneasy about leaving a young baby with someone else for long periods of time.  Besides, some of the sessions would have lasted late into the evening and it would have been complicated to arrange childcare.  Thus, the eventual decision to allow babes in arms to attend events for free at certain venues provided they were in a baby carrier was most welcome, and a sensible one.  With all the talk of inclusiveness and legacy, it is surprising that more thought was not given over this issue before the chaos broke out.  

We didn't go to the football in the end as Wembley was one of the venues where free entry for babes in arms was not available.  I suppose football is such a big sport already that there was no need to worry about attracting people to the sport, despite the fact that ticket sales for football were sluggish.   Volleyball, on the other hand,  is a growing sport in the country and, hopefully, the welcoming attitude of the people behind London 2012's volleyball games at Earl's Court would encourage people to participate in the sport.


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