UBCtrack takes to Snapchat to showcase the good of these games
If you’re like me, today is the adult version of Christmas Eve… the Olympic Games are upon us and you’re unable to sleep properly due to the excitement of the unknown stories about to unfold… and this isn’t any regular Olympics for Canadian Track & Field. We don’t just go to the Olympics now, we win medals.
I was lucky enough to get to Beijing and watch Michael Mason represent Canada at the Olympics for the first time — it was so cool seeing your friend and teammate competing on the biggest stage there is. Now, not only is Mike heading to his third Games, he’s also joined by six other UBC Alumni as part of what might be Canada’s most successful Games ever.
This is going to be special.
There’s a bit of frustration with this though. These Games have been overshadowed by issues in our sport and with the organization of the event itself. The media is focusing on the negative instead of showing the positive moments.
One of our Olympians Inaki Gomez summed it up perfectly the other day:
To counter this negativity, the UBC Track & Field team has decided to help focus on the positives by partnering with my Snapchat startup Mish Guru. We’re going to bring daily Snap Stories to tell a more authentic message around what’s happening throughout the athletics program — for UBC and Canada.
The daily highlight reel will be shared on the UBCtrack Snapchat account.
So here’s what you need to do:
Add UBCtrack to your Snapchat: you can do this by:
typing in that username if you’re on Snapchat
taking a photo of the Snapcode below if you’re on Snapchat, or
clicking this hyperlink if you’re reading this on your phone
Send in a photo or video wishing one of our athletes good luck. We’ll share some of those responses this week (FYI: all photos or videos will be screenshot, that’s how we reshare them!)
Tell others who want to be part of the Story to add us.
How can you help:
Follow the account
Send in your snaps (whether you’re in Vancouver, Venezuela or the Athlete’s Village. Help us tell the true story about how special this time is!)
Help us with some graphic design. If you’ve got a couple of hours to spare and you know your way around Photoshop or Indesign. We’d love a it of help! (email me)
This is a historic Olympic Games for both UBC and Athletics in Canada and the UBC Track & Field team is excited to help showcase the positive side of what is soon to unfold.
I’m looking forward to seeing what comes of this little project
and it’s amazing that that UBC will continue to follow Inaki’s example and demonstrate the positive message around these Olympics… what a time to be alive!
And lastly, as wise man once told me …. An than was a Thunder!
Go get ‘em birds!
Will Stewart
Track & Cross Country
BKin ‘09
For more information on how this works here’s a quick video on how this technology is used.
