For the 36th time and the 10th time in Lynchburg, the Virginia Commonwealth Games have begun.
Opening ceremonies were held tonight at the Liberty University Indoor Football Practice Facility. Athletes and youth teams from across the state of Virginia enjoyed an indoor Parade of Athletes, while the ceremonial torch was lit by the recently crowned Miss Virginia.
Multiple sports such as baseball, archery, basketball and track and field will be played throughout the weekend.
“We are the largest multi-sport festival in Virginia,” Virginia Commonwealth Games Director of Operations and Media Charity Waldron said. “We have throughout the calendar year, we’ll have over 30 sports and around 10,000 or so athletes competing.”
Any athlete can partake in the games, no matter their age.
“It’s open to any resident of the Commonwealth, so anybody can participate,” Waldron said. “Some of our sports have a qualifying standard, but 99% of them are open to any member of the Commonwealth.”
Teams like the Covington Cavaliers and the ACTSports Eagles out of Staunton made the drive out to Lynchburg to take part in the Commonwealth Games.
Both teams are youth basketball teams looking to make some new memories while trying to win as many games as they can.
“A lot of us are here to just try and have fun and to make memories throughout the summer,” Covington basketball coach Marcelino Gonzales said. “We’re also just here to play basketball.”
Joe Turner with ACTSports participated in the games when he was younger as a player. Now, he and his faith-based sports academy are looking to leave their own mark on the Games.
“We do it as an end of the year tournament every year,” Turner said." I’ve actually done it as a player and a coach, and now I’m trying to relive some old memories and some old traditions as a coach.”
The Commonwealth Games also offer alternative games to make athletes with physical and/or mental disability feel included.
“We also offer our able games events for our special needs athletes. We’ve always said we offer something for everybody, but now we feel like we really do.”
This will also be the last year that the Virginia Commonwealth Games will be held in Lynchburg, as they will be moving to Richmond beginning in 2026.
The Lynchburg games will carry on throughout this weekend and end on the 20th.