Each year, individuals have the opportunity to sign up to volunteer at the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Final Four. For this year's event, which was held in Kaunas, Lithuania, logistical problems caused headaches for some, but surely nothing was like the experience Mashkur Abdulhamid Isa had in reaching European basketball's showpiece event. A Nigerian who resides in Poland, Mashkur made the trip from the Hungarian capital of Budapest to Kaunas – but with several issues along the way.
"Yeah, that was a bit tricky," a smiling Mashkur stated when asked about how he got from Budapest to Kaunas.
This year, a total of 639 people signed up to be a volunteer at the Final Four, but in the end, 152 made the cut. Of those 152 individuals, there were 80 men and 72 women who were aged between 18 and 60, while there were also 62 international volunteers from 24 countries. Mashkur was one.
Mashkur, like the other volunteers, committed to being a Final Four volunteer at his own expense entirely, paying for his own travel and accommodation. In fact, in the case of many, they are not even in the arena for the game, as their help may be needed at the FanZone or other places.
In the case of Mashkur, his first tasks were set to begin on Thursday, May 18 with a One Team session at 18:00 local time. He had initially planned to make the trip to Kaunas on the 17th, giving him plenty of time to familiarize himself with his surroundings for the coming days.
