“Being part of the Olympics was something that I always wanted to do,” says Earlham senior Nabil Parkar, who is among only 1,000 persons selected from nearly 300,000 applications for a volunteer position as an Olympic Games Maker at next year’s summer games.

When Parkar heard that London had been selected as the site for the 2012 Olympics, he knew he wanted to be more than a spectator.

“I will be assigned an Olympic team. I will meet them at the airport in London and be responsible for acclimating them to London. This might include driving them back and forth, providing directions and information and making sure they have what they need.”

Parkar, who is from Bedford, England, says he hopes to be placed with one of the larger groups, either from the United States or Great Britain.

“Either way I will be right in the thick of things,” he says. “I will be based in the Olympic Village and will have a pass that lets me go where a regular spectator cannot go. I am looking forward to being that close to teams from all over the world. I will be helping them get around in London, which is a big city that they may have never been to. I will be able to give them tips and advice that I know from being in and out of London while growing up.”

About a year ago, Parkar completed a lengthy online application process and was thrilled when he was called for an interview in August. 

“Résumé and availability played a big part in being selected,” says the business and non-profit management major. “Not everyone is available for a temporary position, plus my résumé showed my background in health and fitness.” 

Parkar, who was a member of Earlham’s tennis team that advanced to the NCAA tournament last season, says he fell in love with tennis when he was about six years old.

He attended a tennis academy through high school, and at age 17 he qualified as a Level 1 tennis instructor. Earlham Tennis Coach Adam VanZee recruited Parkar after working with him at the elite Windridge Summer Tennis camp in Vermont.

In addition, Parkar is a certified fitness instructor and has started the process of qualifying as a personal trainer.

“Fitness is something I’ve enjoyed for a long time,” he says. “I am interested in the different types of training methods that athletes use to prepare for the playing field.”

An internship in product management this past summer with Peter Nagy ‘88 at Valplast International Corp. also looked impressive on his résumé.  

“And thanks to the Bonner Center I had already worked on my résumé, and I knew how to prepare for an interview,” he says.

After his Valplast internship experience, Parkar says he hopes to pursue a master’s in business administration and begin a career in sports management after the Olympics come to an end. 

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