Calvin College will again host the 2002 Special Olympics Spring Games for Area 11 (Kent County) on Saturday, May 4. The athletes, some 450 total from Kent, Barry, Ottawa, Muskegon and Newaygo counties, will arrive between 8 and 8:30 a.m., the Opening Ceremonies will begin in the Fieldhouse at 9 a.m. and the competition will run from 10 a.m. to about 2 p.m. followed by the Closing Ceremonies.

This year's Olympics will receive a huge boost from the Calvin campus.

Physical education professor James Timmer's

215 class ("Special Populations") runs many of the events and provides coaches to the athletes prior to the games. Calvin's Food Service (Creative Dining) will provide box lunches, the Calvin Pep Band will be out in force to encourage the athletes and the Service Learning Center is recruiting 150 student volunteers to help the athletes make their way around campus.

The athletes will compete in traditional events such as track and field, gymnastics and swimming as well as more novel events like horseshoes and bocce ball. Timmer says more and more participants are coming from school groups, but many also come from group homes and some live independently. Athletes are split up by age group, but people of any age can participate.

Those who perform particularly well at Calvin can qualify for the State competition to be held at Central Michigan University the first week of June. Athletes are selected for the National Competition by recommendation rather than direct qualification. Timmer says he thinks a young golfer who he plans to nominate has a good chance of winning Nationals.

For his Recreation 215 class, helping with Special Olympics is one of the best ways to really get an understanding of what they're studying in the classroom, says Timmer.

The Special Olympians have also benefited. Several years ago an Area 11 soccer team that spent a lot of time with Timmer's class working on skills went on to win a gold medal in International competition.

Calvin first got involved with Special Olympics about a decade ago, when Timmer noticed that the Olympics in the Grand Rapids area didn't have a good venue. "Different events were spread out in different places; it wasn't a community thing," he says. He solved the problem by getting permission to use Calvin's facilities on a day when they weren't booked for any other acticity.

Since then, he says, "The college has really been supportive.