SUCCESS – Third Southeast Queens Junior Olympics gets rave reviews

The Southeast Queens Junior Olympics returned the week of August 5-12 to rave reviews with far more athletes, improved organization and an impressive closing ceremony. The third bi-annual event was by far the most impressive, epitomized by the packed York College gymnasium.
&#8220The closing was great,” said president and founder Allan Pope. &#8220I'm quite pleased with the way things went. And we are going to get better as we go forward.”
Participants took part in heated competition in baseball, basketball, soccer, tennis, track & field and martial arts in parks throughout the area; stepping and double-dutch were lacking directors, so they settled for an exhibition at York. Just as impressive, teams from Brooklyn, northwest and Western Queens joined in on the excitement.
&#8220The outreach is expanding and the knowledge of it is expanding,” said Councilmember Leroy Comrie, a sponsor of the games who was on hand for closing ceremonies. &#8220And as the planning is done for the next two years, I'm sure it will expand even more.”
That the games have not only continued but progressed is an obvious step forward. &#8220The fact that something has lasted another two years is a positive thing,” said vice president and tennis director Bill Briggs. &#8220This just didn't start and die. It started and has continued on.”
While fewer public officials attended this year than in the past, the number of Olympians significantly increased, up to 4,000 athletes from just over 2,000 in 2004. Pope bemoaned the absence of stepping and double-dutch, but also applauded the work of his hard-working directors - JoAnne Arbitello (basketball), Fritz Casimir (soccer), Al Taylor (baseball), Justice Allah (martial arts), Briggs (tennis), and Ron Anderson and James Richardson (track & field) - whose sports ran smoothly with solid play and good sportsmanship.
Pope also suggested he would look into arranging a central location so that many of the sports could be held in the same location (ever since they've begun, the junior Olympics have been spread throughout the borough), which could increase spectator attendance.
The games added an academic component, one of their chief goals when they first started. During the opening, also held at York College, two workshops - one on gang prevention and another centering on fiscal responsibility - were held.
Furthermore, Pope announced five scholarships would be given out by March of 2007, one $1,000 for a college student, a pair of $500 savings bonds to a middle school student, and another two $5000 savings bonds to a pupil in elementary school. All applicants must have been a part of the games, have a grade point average of 3.0 or better with exemplary school attendance, submit a two-part 500-word essay and have some type of community involvement. For more information, call Pope's office at 718-978-2884.