Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, July 9, 1990                   TAG: 9007090033
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Bill Brill
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

BENEATH A GLITCH OR TWO, INAUGURAL GAMES SPARKLE

I am prepared to declare the State Games: (a) a terrific idea and (b) a relative success - with reservations.

This was not - and I suspect will not become - a box-office smash. But the theme here was participation, and there was plenty of that.

Many - most? - of the first-year snafus can be avoided in the future, and given the enthusiasm of State Games Executive Director Doug Fonder and most of his staff, I suspect they will be avoided.

Surely any event that has more than 4,000 participants is good for the Roanoke Valley, even if it's tough to watch more than a few events.

I saw bits and pieces of swimming, golf, girls' basketball, tennis, racquetball, boys' basketball, karate, volleyball, track and field, soccer and bowling.

I also attended the opening ceremonies at Victory Stadium, where almost none of the audience - perhaps 9,000 including the athletes - stuck around to hear a concert by Gary Puckett and the Union Gap.

The opening ceremony should be the focal point for the Games. Indeed, it was, and the turnout was good and the weather perfect. The problems that occurred - nobody should have expected everything to be perfect the first time - can be overcome.

Many of the spectators wondered why the athletes were on the opposite side of the stadium, until they were invited over by Fonder so they could hear what was happening.

Unlike the opening ceremonies at the Olympics, there was no parade, but it was clear that many in the audience expected one.

The worst problem, however, occurred when Artie Levin, who had been talking to me about the benefits of cycling, suddenly appeared bearing the torch.

Lighting the flame should be the highlight of the show, but Roanoke's Mr. Fitness was halfway down the stretch in front of the crowd before anybody realized what was happening. Levin is a geriatric miracle, a 76-year-old Pied Piper who deserved better.

There were other minor difficulties, but that was to be expected. The sound system had an occasional glitch, and the program ended so quickly that the fireworks had to begin at 8:30 p.m., when it wasn't dark enough for them to be appreciated.

Before you think I'm being too critical, let me say that the audience didn't appear to be complaining, and it was legitimately inspiring to see all the bright-eyed youngsters wearing their "Believe in Your Dreams" T-shirts.

There is room for improvement in most of the sports, which, after all, is to be anticipated. Track and field, the marquee sport in many such state games, did not have many of the elite athletes and it scarcely could have been promoted.

There were only nine women and six seniors in the golf tournament, which never felt like a tournament, with the scores posted out back. There were mismatches in basketball, including a girls' game in which the Vogues from Northern Virginia beat a team from Marion 58-2.

But to focus on these difficulties not only would be unfair but a cheap shot.

For a beginning, the Games did very, very well. I spent more than 12 hours touring the various venues, and if there was an unhappy athlete, he or she was not showing it.

The themes here were competition and fun, and surely that spirit was in evidence every place I went. I returned to the soccer site because I wanted to see an honest-to-goodness goal. I have watched portions of the World Cup, but the only goals I have seen were on tape or penalty kicks. My vigil at the River's Edge Sports Complex ultimately was rewarded.

This also was my first visit to the Carter Athletic Center at North Cross School, a marvelous facility that has no peer in the valley and perhaps not in the state at the scholastic level.

Contestants ranged in age from 4 to 84. Overwhelmingly, they were young. Overwhelmingly, they were white. For future State Games, organizers - except in a couple of sports - need to do a better job of getting information to the minority communities.

I was prepared to believe the State Games might be a colossal flop, as a Richmond sportswriter told me a similar event in the capital was the week before. That was not the case in Roanoke. Fonder's idea works, and now, just like a new car awaiting its first tuneup, requires only some minor adjustments.

Believe in your dreams.

Doug Fonder did. What he has brought to the valley can become bigger and better in the years to come. Surely that is not only the idea, but the plan.