The 24th annual Utah Summer Games (USG) began Thursday at the Southern Utah University J.L. Sorenson physical education building.

As normal to the first day there was a lot of staging banners, booths, back packing, and behind the scenes stuff for the invasion of athletic competitors and fans from all over the West during the next couple of weeks.

This the 24th year of the USG it is just one year away from his 25th anniversary.

Why has it been so successful many ask? The main reason is that the USG has been and always focuses on diversity of amateur athletics and competition.

One great example of the diversity of sports at the USG is pickle ball. It would not be considered one of the most fan grabbing headlines tagged in amateur sports. You can see it being played in neighborhoods all around America.

The women’s pickle ball is just one highlighted today during our summer sun fest.

Just a quick note for those who don’t know the history of pickle ball. Pickle ball is played and coordinated for the 40 to 60 age group.

Pickle ball is a crossover of badminton, racquetball and tennis and is increasing at a very fast pace.

The biggest reason why this sport is expanding at such a fast pace, is that it is played in a relative smaller court about half the size of a singles tennis court. This allows many people the opportunity to get around the court at many different age groups and with many different injuries.

The medal rounds moved indoors to the Sorenson Center where Karen Marchant dominated the women’s singles bracket. Karen, the Canyon view tennis coach used her experience to coaster way to a gold medal.

She defeated Diane Shackling in consecutive matches although the Santa Clara resident did make it easy for Marchant.

This completes the women’s medal rounds with the men playing on Friday.

If you have never watch pickle ball, make it one of your options when watching the Utah Summer games.

I always like to close with something about why amateur sports is on an extremely fast paced growth level.

The USG gives a great showing for amateur sports.

With the likes of such venues you will soon see our sunny southwestern Utah and southeastern Nevada areas as one of the most dominant amateur athletic areas in America.

Check out video from 2007 to get pumped up!

2007 Utah Summer Games 2007 Utah Summer Games Opening Ceremonies Fireworks, This video was posted by swmania

One of the hallmarks of the Games has always been inclusiveness and the overall athlete experience. Many athletes who compete in individual sports like Tennis or Pickleball also play in the doubles or mixed doubles divisions as well. Some athletes find it a challenge to find a partner. To help solve this dilemma, the Games is introducing PartnerFinder.

“We’ve been using TeamFinder for several years to help connect players with teams and vice versa,” said Kyle M Case, CEO, Huntsman World Senior Games. “PartnerFinder will fill in a piece of the puzzle for those athletes who want to enhance their over all play experience at the Games by entering doubles or mixed doubles divisions.”

Like TeamFinder, PartnerFinder is a modified message board found on the Games website (www.seniorgames.net). Athletes looking for partners can easily fill out a simple form with their name, contact information and what they themselves would bring to a partnership. Other athletes can browse the listings and if they find what looks like a good match, a contact could be made and the athletes themselves can work out the details of the arrangement.

Case says in the past Sports Directors for the Games worked hard, often long hours, to put together partners in the doubles divisions. PartnerFinder will make this process much more efficient and effective and won’t overburden the Sport Directors in the process.

Athletes looking to find partners can do so by clicking on the link below to add their name to the list.

The Huntsman World Senior Games continues to take place each October amid the beautiful vermilion cliffs of St. George, Utah, USA, and offers over 26 sports to competitors of all skill levels.

To use Partner Finder go to: http://seniorgames.net/partnerfinder/

For these sports:

• Badminton
• Bowling
• Bridge
• Lawn Bowls
• Pickleball
• Racquetball
• Table Tennis
• Tennis
• Triathlon