Atlanta selects Team ATL volunteers for Super Bowl

ATLANTA - After going through 32,000 applications, organizers for next year's Super Bowl in Atlanta have selected the official Team ATL volunteers.

Lee Henrickson, the vice president of community engagement and volunteer programs, said that the number of Super Bowl applications was a new record.

Around 32,000 people wanted to volunteer for Superbowl 53, but only 10,000 made the cut.

"We've really enjoyed the interview process – the chance to get to know them as individuals," Henrickson said. "This is a massive team but its all about those individual people and their stories – that's gonna make this special."

Part of that interview process included getting in the spirit of Team ATL.

Henrickson said she's been excited about the diversity of the volunteers.

"We've kept an eye and we have every generation represented. We have many languages represented. All kinds of backgrounds and perspective," she said.

For many of the volunteers, this isn't their first rodeo – or Super Bowl.

Beatrice Williams volunteered at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and the last Super Bowl hosted in town.

"I've always had that heart for giving back. I do it now though the USA, Habitat for Humanity," she said. "You name it, I'm volunteering. I'm your girl!"

This year, Williams is leading a team of volunteers who will be at hotels, airports,a nd on the streets of downtown Atlanta welcoming visitors and native Atlantans alike.

"I'm gonna tell my team to just be excited, be yourself, and have fun," Williams said. "That's the biggest thing – just let loose and be there to help people in need whatever's needed."

The volunteers will spend months preparing for the hundreds of thousands of visitors, and Williams says, even though the training will be tough, there's nothing in this world like helping others.

Especially on this level.

"Back in the '96 Olympics when i first volunteered, when you couldn't even walk through the streets because there was so many people, there was that air of excitement that brings people together. That's what football does," she said.