Campus, News

CSULB to extend contract with Special Olympics through 2017

After a one-year break, the Southern California Special Olympics Summer Games are returning to California State University, Long Beach this weekend.

This year’s games will utilize several of the campus’ athletics facilities, including the Walter Pyramid and the Jack Rose Track. The event, which is free and open to the public, is the largest Special Olympics Southern California competition of the year and will be the first one held on the university’s newly renovated track.

The Games will feature competitions in six sports – aquatics, athletics (track & field), basketball, bocce, golf and gymnastics.

“The Summer Games is such a unique and wonderful event that has been embraced by so many members of the Long Beach community each year, and we are thrilled that it will continue to take place at The Beach,” CSULB President Jane Close Conoley said in a press release. “We look forward to welcoming the thousands of athletes, their families and guests who truly embody the university’s ‘can do’ attitude.”

More than 1,100 athletes and coaches travel from all over Southern California to participate in the competition, which involves more than 2,000 volunteers and 5,000 local dignitaries, sponsors and spectators, according to the press release.

“I think that it’s a great thing for the community to raise awareness and give disabled people the opportunity to compete fairly,” said Giancarlo Casimiro, a film production major at CSULB who has scoliosis.

The Special Olympics have been partnered with CSULB for almost two decades, and the Summer Games were held at CSULB consecutively from 1998 – 2013. In 2014, they were held at USC; this year marks their return to CSULB, which will serve as the host site through 2017, officials announced last Thursday.

As many as 57 students or alumni from CSULB’s sports management program have gone on to internships or full time employment with the Special Olympics.

“The Summer Games is a tremendous community event that allows us to showcase our campus to people who might not necessarily come to CSULB,” Michael Uhlenkamp, the executive director of media and digital news for CSULB, said. “It’s also a great opportunity to work with an organization like Special Olympics of Southern California that does so much good for the community.”

Uhlenkamp also emphasized how the Special Olympics attracts attendees from all over Southern California, and while not that many students attend, there are several students who volunteer or intern with the organization.

“I can’t think of a better and more hospitable environment to host the Summer Games than at Cal State Long Beach,” said Bill Shumard, the president and CEO of Special Olympics Southern California and an alumnus of CSULB, said in a press release. “The university has been an incredible partner for almost twenty years, and we look forward to an even stronger relationship over the next several years.”

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