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Jr. Olympics Come to BYU–Hawaii, EXS Club Steps up to the Plate

For the second year in a row, the Exercise and Sports Science (EXS) Club on campus hosted and staffed the regional Jr. Olympics Skills Competition in Laie, allowing dozens of children to showcase their athletic talents for the chance to compete at the national level of the Jr. Olympics, this year to be held in Chula Vista, Calif.

President of the EXS Club Jada Quigley, a senior in EXS from Utah, organized the members of her club to volunteer, and said she was grateful for the chance to work with the determined 8 to 13-year old junior athletes. "It was a couple of hours of getting involved with community members, and it's good for kids to see people getting involved with things that are important to them, like athletic competitions." Quigley also added that as an EXS major, she is "glad to support any healthy lifestyle activity."

Activities available to the Olympic participants were soccer, track and field (including sprint and long jump), tennis, and basketball. The children were scored a certain amount of points based on their success, and then summed to determine winners from each of the age groups for each event.

Martha Christensen, academic advisor for the College of Human Development, is the person responsible for BYU–Hawaii involvement with the Junior Olympics. The U.S. Tennis Association approached her and asked if she would be involved in helping with the Jr. Olympics for the region. She volunteered and thought BYU–Hawaii would be the perfect place to host the competition. That was four years ago.

Last year, Christensen explained, 19 out of the 24 regional winners for Hawaii were from the Laie area and Hawaii had the most representatives at the national level last year in Chicago. Most of those Hawaii kids, she added, were from Laie.

This year, 48 kids participated and 24 will be advancing to the regional competition, which covers the state of Hawaii, at Tripler Air Force Base. Go to the Jr. Olympic Skills website for more information.