Cal State Games!!

www.calstategames.org

Over the course of 4 days from July 16th – July 19th, a number of SMBA students worked various positions for the California State Games, which is a statewide amateur sports festival that is a grass roots program of the United States Olympic Committee. The mission of the Games is to promote and nurture the health, education, and well being of residents by managing a high quality amateur sports event that encourages community participation and provides an Olympic experience.

Students worked in a variety of positions, including as directors for Basketball, Soccer, Baseball, and Softball, as well as Junior Lifeguards and Logistics. As directors, the students were given the great responsibility of managing their respective locations. This included setup, coordination of events, managing volunteers, and communication with competitors/spectators. The students also distributed the prizes to the competitors, which included medals (Gold, Silver & Bronze) and Championship Banners to Team Competitors.

Despite the long days, the event was incredibly rewarding. Not only were we able to learn what it takes to run a huge multi-location event, we got to watch kids doing what they love most. Seeing the emotion on the kids’ faces as they played was just awesome. Not only were they focused, you could also see the excitement and enjoyment.

We would like to thank Sandi Hill and the rest of the California State Games staff for giving us the great opportunity to get some great hands-on experience, and for being incredibly nice, professional and helpful throughout the weekend. You guys rock!

Sam Batarseh, SMBA ‘10