                             THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Sunday, August 11, 1996               TAG: 9608090240
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON   PAGE: 22   EDITION: FINAL 
                                            LENGTH:   25 lines

YMCA GETS IN THE OLYMPIC SPIRIT

Watermelon seed spitting, Lifesaver passing, Jell-O slurping and the milk jug relay were the ``Olympic'' events of the day Thursday when 900 youngsters from eight different YMCA branches in South Hampton Roads swarmed to Mount Trashmore to experience the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat. The children are part of the YMCA summer camps, which wrap up at the end of the month. The idea was to give the kids, aged 4 to 13, a taste of the Olympics of a different sort. They competed in about 20 different events and came from Chesapeake, Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Portsmouth and Suffolk. ILLUSTRATION: Photos by GARY KNAPP

Judges for the YMCA Olympics listen to a group yell. The winners

came from Effingham YMCA in Portsmouth.

ABOVE: Dennis Ocampo, a counselor at Chesapeake South YMCA, shades

his competitors from the sun at Mount Trashmore.

RIGHT: Jessica Lavin, 8, left, and Kristina Scott, 8, participate in

the watermelon seed spitting contest. by CNB