WOBURN – After a one-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Bay State Summer Games held nearly two dozen events in the months of June and July. Due to the support of hundreds of volunteer coaches and officials, the Bay State Games successfully executed competitive events for the 2021 Summer Games, hosting nearly 5,000 athletes.
Despite facing many challenges related to the pandemic, there was record growth in numerous sports, including softball, figure skating, archery, pickleball, and track and field. Unfortunately, some sports such as wrestling and judo were not able to take place this summer but the Bay State Games remains hopeful these sports will return in the future.
“When the Bay State Games received word in May that state regulations would allow for youth sport events to proceed, our goal was to provide participants in as many sports as possible the opportunity to compete in those sports they may have not been able to for over a year,” said Executive Director Kevin Cummings. “While in many cases, the event format may have been different than athletes had experienced in the past, participants expressed their appreciation for the opportunity to get back out onto the field of play.”
In an untraditional start to the Summer Games, the first event was figure skating, which is typically held in the Winter Games. The competition was held in mid-June at Nashoba Valley Olympia Rink in Boxborough and attracted more skaters than the 2020 competition held prior to the pandemic.
Events continued in July with seven team sports – baseball, ice hockey, lacrosse, soccer, field hockey, softball and volleyball – which were held over a 10-day span. The following three weekends in July featured basketball, weightlifting, pickleball, 6v6 field hockey, footgolf, archery, rugby and swimming.
The Bay State Games has two final events scheduled for August. Fencing, with more than 150 participants, will take place Saturday and Sunday, August 21-22 at the Boston Fencing Club in Brighton. Badminton will take place with over 200 participants Friday, Saturday and Sunday, August 27-29 at Boston Badminton in Westborough.
Complete results of all 2021 sports can be found at www.baystategames.org/2021-results.
All athletes who competed in the 2021 Summer Games who are a member of the high school class of 2022 are eligible to apply for a Future Leaders Scholarship. The deadline to apply is Thursday, October 14. For more details visit www.baystategames.org/future-leaders-scholarship.
The Bay State Games looks forward to celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Summer Games in 2022. Plans are being developed to mark this milestone throughout the upcoming year.
The Massachusetts Amateur Sports Foundation is a non-profit organization with the primary function of organizing both the Bay State Summer and Winter Games. These programs attract more than 7,000 athletes from the commonwealth of Massachusetts who compete in over 30 different sports.
The Summer Games traditionally begin with statewide tryouts in June and conclude with sports competitions held in Eastern and Central Massachusetts throughout July. The Bay State Winter Games are annually held in the Berkshire region of Massachusetts and attract athletes in figure skating, ice hockey and curling.
In addition to the Summer and Winter Games, the Bay State Games also organizes a number of enrichment programs such as the Future Leaders Scholarship program, the Kristian Rose Memorial Scholarship, the Adopt an Athlete Program, the High School Ambassador Program, a Sports Medicine Symposium, the Athlete of the Year Award, and the Bay State Games Hall of Fame.
