Ithaca to host Special Olympics NY Summer Games again

For the last two years, Ithaca has been home to one of the biggest events Special Olympics New York puts on: the Summer Games. For the third and final year, the Games are coming back to town.

The opening ceremonies will take place on June 14 at Ithaca College, and the competition begins the following day at multiple venues throughout the city. Stacy Eder, the senior director of programs, engagement and entertainment of Special Olympics NY, is the main organizer for this event. She explained what has made Ithaca the perfect place to host such a major event over the last three years.

“We’ve found that the Ithaca community and the surrounding areas are very civic-minded individuals and want to be able to give back, volunteer, sponsor, donate, do whatever they can to support us,” Eder said. “It’s the venues: Ithaca High School, Cornell, Ithaca College, Midway Lanes. They’re amazing venues for all of our competitions. And these are real, true competitions. We’re not using a field somewhere to run track. We’re using top notch facilities. That, driven with that mindset of the people who live in this community, is a great thing.”

The most significant change for this year’s Games is the addition of Cornell University as a location. This will add some flexibility in case events need to be moved indoors. That was the biggest challenge the competition faced last year due to the smoke caused by the Canadian wildfires. Eder is more than happy for Cornell to be joining the Games.

“Last year, we had some conflict with space just with the dates and alumni weekends and other things,” Eder said. “This year, we’re able to expand into that Cornell campus using Barton Hall for our basketball, using Reis Tennis Center for our tennis, so we’re super excited about that just because it brings a different element and a twist to the Games itself and what we’re providing for the athletes and coaches.”

It’s no surprise to see that this event continues to surge in participation, and that’s certainly the case this time around. More than 1,200 athletes and coaches will take part in this year’s Games, a stark increase from last year’s 820 participants. Eder has been involved with Special Olympics NY for 16 years, so she has a firsthand account of the organization’s growth across the state.

“Watching the program grow has a lot to do with the volunteer management industry,” Eder said. “[We’re] making sure that we’re staying not just included with everyday conversation, but bringing people to learn about the movement to understand our movement, and making sure that the volunteers know why they’re there. That has skyrocketed through the ease of social media, being able to just email 1,000 people at a time and say, ‘Hey, your efforts are needed,’ but more than that, click on our website and use our technology and digital standing to be able to learn more about the movement, understand why you’re there before you get there. I think a lot of it is just staying relevant and necessary to any community that we’re in.”

With more athletes and coaches involved in this year’s Games, that means even more volunteers are needed than in previous editions. Special Olympics NY is aiming for 450 volunteers, and prior sports experience is not a prerequisite.

“We train everybody on site,” Eder said. “There’s no experience needed, and you get to pick from a multitude of different things. You can come as a family and jump from venue to venue and go watch a little of everything because we’re in a close proximity. Or you can volunteer for the day and do scorekeeping or timing or escorting or handing out lunches or deliveries. All of those different things are intertwined with getting our athletes to have the best experiences possible.”

For those who might be hesitant to sign up, Eder assures that there won’t be any regrets for joining in on all the fun.

“My favorite part is watching somebody’s mindset change,” Eder said. “Maybe [it’s] a high school kid with their family and is like, ‘I don’t know what I’m doing here. I feel uncomfortable. I don’t know what’s happening.’ And then at the end of the day, [we’re] watching them high-five the athletes, being totally engaged, just diving straight into that and that shift of mindset, or watching the fans watch our athletes and go, ‘Whoa, did you see how fast that guy was?’ You see all of those different things that happen on the field, and you lose your thought of who and what and how this person is. Sports is just such a strong connector when you can connect with people like that.”

For more information on volunteering for the Games, go to specialolympics-ny.org and click “Volunteer for Summer Games.”

            The host city for the Summer Games from 2025 to 2027 has yet to be announced.