Gordon Woodworth (2021)
Special Olympics CEO Stacey Hengsterman, front row center, with athletes at a media event before the New York Special Olympics fall games in Glens Falls, N.Y., October 2021.
The 2021 New York Special Olympics Fall Games open tonight in Glens Falls City Park, with competitions in seven sports on Saturday throughout the region.
This is the first Fall Games in six years, and the first statewide Special Olympics competition in almost two years after COVID kept athletes from competing in 2020 and most of 2021.
“These games are the kickoff of our new normal,” said Special Olympics CEO Stacey Hengsterman said Thursday at a kickoff media event at the Park Theater on Park Street in downtown Glens Falls.
“We are so excited to be in Glens Falls again!” she said.
The last Fall Games were in 2015 in Glens Falls.
Opening Ceremonies are 7 p.m. Friday evening in City Park. The Queensbury Hotel serves as headquarters for the games. Close to 500 athletes from across New York will compete Saturday in bocce, cross country running, cycling, equestrian, golf, soccer and softball.
Spectators are welcome at all events:
- Cross country running, Cole’s Woods in Glens Falls from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
- Bocce, the Dome off Sherman Avenue in Queensbury from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
- Cycling, SUNY Adirondack from 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
- Golf, Brookhaven in Porter Corners from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
- Soccer, Morse Athletic Complex in Queensbury from 8:45 a.m. to 4 p.m.
- Softball, the Dome and Morse Athletic Complex from 8:45 a.m. to 4 p.m.
- Equestrian is at Skidmore College’s Van Lennep Riding Center in Saratoga Springs from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Ms. Hengsterman said the economic impact of the games is considerable. She said a $50,000 grant from Warren County occupancy tax revenues helps pay for transportation, hotel rooms and food for the athletes and more than 150 coaches and support personnel.
“The fall games are the culminating event for the athletes,” she said. “Not having it meant that they didn’t get the opportunity to compete for a statewide championship. Before this weekend (back to 2015), competition would end at the regional level. So this means the world to us.”
Cross country athlete Jacob Babcock said, “We are so glad to be back in Glens Falls. I have been working so hard to get this gold medal. My whole family will be here. So thank you so much everyone! I can’t wait!”
Athlete Kevin Brown, a 47-year-old athlete who has worked in the FBI office mail room in Albany for 25 years, said, “Make sure you meet the athletes, and I guarantee they will be your friends for life.”
Athlete Maddie Csont spoke emotionally about being picked on and shunned in high school and feeling like she had no friends.
Amy Collins, Glens Falls’ director of tourism and business development, responded from the audience: “Maddie, you have so many friends here you don’t have any idea! Thank you all for being here and we look forward to cheering you on as you go for the gold!”
For more information, go to specialolympicsny.org.