Members of Team Chesterfield traveled to San Francisco last week to compete in the 42nd annual International Children’s Games.

While national and international athletes prepare to converge in the Far East in August, a group of Chesterfield athletes recently converged in the Far West to showcase their athletic abilities.

The West Coast, that is.

Last week, Team Chesterfield competed in the International Children’s Games in San Francisco. Held from July 10-15, the event features over 1,200 competitors from over 40 countries competing in eight different events: track and field, baseball, swimming, tennis, volleyball, soccer, golf, and table tennis.

“This is something that you have to experience at least once,” says Barron Cheatham, Carver Middle School and Team Chesterfield track coach. “It’s like the Olympics, but for younger athletes.”

Bringing a delegation of 14 athletes, members of Team Chesterfield competed in swimming, golf, track, and tennis.

“Overall, everyone did very well,” says Cheatham. “The level of competition with some of the European and Asian athletes was just intense. Most of these athletes practice year-round, so you have to get on the bandwagon and do the same if you want to win any medals.”

Though Team Chesterfield was not able to secure any medals, several athletes had standout performances. Tennis player Connor Garyotis did exceptionally well, climbing into the semi-finals before losing to Steven Galerkin, 8-2. Fellow tennis player Tyler Carey did just as well, defeating Tarun Chopra and Christopher Jou before falling to Warit Sornbutnark in the fourth round.

On the track and field side, Andre Moore finished sixth in the preliminary round of the boys 400-meter dash, later placing 10th in the semi-final round. Moore later finished 10th out of 27 athletes during the final round of the boys’ long jump.

“Everyone had a personal best even if they weren’t in contention,” says Cheatham. “Some of our more competitive athletes who didn’t place said that they were going to go home and train all year so that they could compete in Greece next year.”

Though the competition is a large part of the games, many of the participating athletes enjoyed the socialization aspect just as much as the events themselves.

“From what I heard from the kids, their favorite part was mingling with the other athletes,” says Cheatham. “There were no language barriers. Even the kids who didn’t speak English were able to find a way to connect with them and laugh. Hopefully, they will stay in touch.”

Trading also made up a huge part of the week.

“The trading was just unbelievable. Every competitor brought pins of their hometown, and those pins were like hotcakes. They would get 20 to 30 of those from other countries and would be trading T-shirts for different items. The group from Holland had even brought clogs; everyone wanted one of those,” says Cheatham.

As a first time participant in the International Children’s Games, Cheatham is looking forward to next year’s games, set to be held in Athens, Greece.

“I want to continue working with Team Chesterfield for as long as I can and do my part to promote them in the community,” says Cheatham. “Having our youth experience athletics on that level is unbelievable; we need to get the word out there so more parents know about it and want their kids to participate. Every serious athlete should want to do this so that they can see where they stand. It’s a wonderful opportunity.”

This was the 42nd annual International Children’s Games; Team Chesterfield had previously participated in the 2006 games in Bangkok and the 2007 games in Iceland. This year’s athletes included Noah Moore (Track), Ryan Dickerson (Track), Moore, Jennifer Moore (Swimming), Garrett Simard (Swimming), Tim Roble (Golf), Zachary Portyrata (Golf),  Garyotis, Dean Landes (Track), Dylan Landes (Track), Lexie Stavac (Swimming), Lauren Simard (Swimming), Michaela Conway (Golf), and Carey.

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