June 4, 2015
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.; June 4, 2015 -- Special Olympics Pennsylvania will host the 46th Annual Summer Games Thursday through Saturday, June 4-6 on the Penn State campus for the 28th straight year. Sponsored by Sheetz, Inc., the event brings together more than 2,000 athletes, 750 coaches and 2,500 volunteers from across the commonwealth.
Nearly 40 Penn State student-athletes will be among the 2,500 volunteers at the Summer Games, which will include competition in aquatics, athletics, basketball, bowling, equestrian, golf, gymnastics, softball and tennis.
Penn State student-athletes from women's basketball, field hockey, football, women's soccer, women's swimming and diving and women's volleyball will be represented among the volunteers at Thursday's opening ceremonies, Friday night's SportsFest, basketball and bowling events.
Preliminary Games competition begins on Thursday with the Opening Ceremonies following at 7:15 p.m. at Penn State's Medlar Field at Lubrano Park. Kellie Goodman Shaffer, Executive Director of the Bedford County Chamber of Commerce and former WTAJ-TV Sports Director will emcee the ceremony.
Thursday's ceremonies will end with the Lighting of the Olympic Torch carried by participants of the fifth annual "Be a Fan" Torch Run. The "Be a Fan" Torch Run is a 3-day, 150 mile run from Pittsburgh to Penn State presented by UPMC. Hundreds of runners representing more than 50 law enforcement officers/teams from across the state will participate by carrying the torch from home plate at PNC Park in Pittsburgh on June 2 to home plate at Medlar Field in State College to celebrate and kickoff the 46th Summer Games.
Competition continues on Friday, June 5 starting as early as 8 a.m. at nine venues in individual skills, individual events, relay and team events. Friday will conclude with a Family Ice Cream Social, Sports Fest and Victory Dance on Bigler Field from 7:00-9:30 p.m
Final competitions and awards are scheduled to take place at each venue between 8:00 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. on Saturday, June 6. Closing Ceremonies will be held at 4:30 p.m. at Bigler Field. There is no admission fee for any of the events.
Among the thousands of Summer Games athlete participants will be the 9 athletes chosen to represent Pennsylvania at the Special Olympics 2015 World Summer Games from July 25, 2015 - August 2, 2015 in Los Angeles.
For more information on the Special Olympics Pennsylvania Summer Games or to volunteer at the Games visit www.sopasummergames.org.
About Special Olympics Pennsylvania
Special Olympics Pennsylvania provides year-round training and competition in 21 Olympic-type sports to nearly 20,000 children and adults with intellectual disabilities or closely related developmental disabilities. For more information about how you can help "Reveal the Champion Inside" thousands of Special Olympics athletes, visit www.specialolympicspa.org.