ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, July 7, 1996 TAG: 9607080042
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RALPH BERRIER JR. STAFF WRITER
MOMENTUM IS BUILDING to hold a national competition for winners of state games.
With one week remaining before the seventh edition of the Commonwealth Games begin in the Roanoke Valley, organizers are finding themselves asking the same question many of the Games winners have asked for years:
Where do we go from here?
This year, like every year since the Games began in 1990, winners will have to satisfy themselves with the medals they take home. In the future, though, Commonwealth Games champions may get the chance to compete on a national stage.
That is the hope of Pete Lampman, the president of Virginia Amateur Sports Inc., the Roanoke enterprise that organizes the Commonwealth Games. Lampman has chaired a committee for the National Congress of State Games that is looking into the feasibility of a national championship for winners of state games. More than 500,000 athletes will participate in state games this year.
``I think eventually the committee's philosophy is becoming receptive to supporting a national competition,'' Lampman said.
A national competition could lend more prestige to a Commonwealth Games medal. Although participation in the Commonwealth Games has more than doubled (from 4,500 athletes in 1990 to an expected 9,500 when they're held Friday through July 14), there has been an overriding feeling that the Games are mostly a recreational activity for weekend warriors rather than a full-fledged Olympic-style festival that attracts the best athletes in the state.
The chance to compete for a national championship could raise the competition level at the Commonwealth Games and attract more quality participants.
Last year, former William Fleming High School star Dominick Millner gave a dazzling display of talent in winning three gold medals in track and field, but the competition for the most part was less than threatening.
``I suppose some of our athletes say, `I beat everybody here, where do I go now?''' Lampman said. ``A national championship would definitely give us another level of competition.''
While the talk of a national meet is encouraging to supporters of the Commonwealth Games, there still is no timetable for such a competition. Ideas for a national championship have been bantered about for several years. Lampman says he thinks a small-scale national competition could be held as soon as 1997 or 1998.
There are logistical questions that must be answered before a national event can be held: Who will be the host? Where will funding come from? How many states would be willing to support the idea?
Lampman says he thinks members of the committee are warming to the idea of a national meet.
``I think we could have a small meet, like an invitational, with four or five sports,'' he said. ``Maybe chambers of commerce could help [with funding]. I think if we start small, we can do this.''
Even without a national event to attract stiffer competition, the Commonwealth Games still is on solid footing. The Games, which have seen no decrease in state funding even in an era of cutbacks, receive $75,000 in state money and could get more in the future. Entries are at an all-time high and probably are at the limit of what the region can accommodate. It is possible some Commonwealth Games sports next year will hold regional qualifying events at sites around the state.
Although there is a similar event called the State Games held in Richmond and Virginia Beach on a rotating basis, the Commonwealth Games are the only Games sanctioned by the National Congress of State Games.
Those are the strongest selling points. A chance to offer a berth in a national competition would be stronger, especially to athletes in heavily populated Northern Virginia, an area that is sparsely represented at the Commonwealth Games.
Lampman said, ``A national championship would take us to the next level.''
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