Track, tennis, basketball and fencing competitions held locallyFor many years, the Garden State Games served as basically New Jersey’s version of the Olympics. Thousands of athletes from all over the state competed in a variety of sports, from archery to gymnastics, from bowling to basketball, at venues throughout the state, especially utilizing the facilities on the campus of Rutgers University.
It was the premier sporting event in the state, with participants from eight to 80, getting involved, shooting for gold medals galore.
However, as quickly as the Garden State Games came into prominence and became a part of the athletic lexicon of New Jersey, it burned, fizzled and faded away. The state-provided funding allotted for the Garden State Games had run dry. The GSG were eliminated from the annual state budget.
Two years ago, Mike Garamella was named the executive director of the Garden State Games. He wanted to make sure that the Garden State Games remained alive and active, even without funding from the state government.
It was Garamella’s quest to turn the Garden State Games into more of a locally based event, looking to local municipalities to serve as hosts for the assorted competitions.
Last year, Garamella contacted James Adams, the former track and field coach at both William Paterson and New Jersey City University, who is currently a grant writer for The Funding Group, which provides a lot of the grant work for Hudson County.
“Mike talked to me about the Garden State Games, how they had a lack of quality facilities,” Adams said. “I asked him if it was possible to take some of the games to Hudson County. It has never been held in the county and we have some great facilities, especially for track and field and tennis, in Lincoln Park in Jersey City.”
Adams then approached Hudson County Executive Tom DeGise about the possibility of hosting the Garden State Games for both track and field and tennis.
“I thought it was a terrific idea,” DeGise said. “We have such nice venues in Lincoln Park and we want to welcome people to the area while highlighting the facility. We want people to feel welcome coming to Hudson County.”
So the track and field and tennis events were held a year ago in Lincoln Park in Jersey City, literally thrown together at the last minute to see if there was any interest. Garamella, Adams and DeGise wanted to make sure that Hudson County and Jersey City would become a permanent home base for the Garden State Games. The first year was going to represent baby steps, just to get the word out that the Games were coming to Jersey City.
The second year would mean even more participants, which would lead to better events and increased name recognition.
It also meant securing more corporate sponsorships, more donations, getting more generous people involved. When you don’t have a state grant to fall back on, you need every penny.
“We’ve been getting all kinds of support,” Adams said. “The County of Hudson has been very supportive and has been from the beginning. We’re getting support from the Jersey City Board of Education, with [health and physical education director] Mike Venutolo stepping forward and providing us hurdles and equipment.”
Adams said that the Garden State Games received local business support from Provident Bank, the Park Foundry, PSE&G, the Jersey City Education Association, Crowne Plaza Hotel, Modell’s, Storage Bins of Fairview and Oak Tree Office Supplies. Private donors like Paul and Eric Silverman of Jersey City also contributed.
“The sponsors have been playing a vital role all along,” Adams said.
So the Garden State Games will return to Hudson County next weekend, with the track and field events scheduled for Lincoln Park July 23-25, as well as the tennis events at the same time in the park.
In addition, a three-on-three basketball competition will take place at Dr. Lena Edwards Park in downtown Jersey City under the supervision of former St. Anthony and Seton Hall hoop great Jerry Walker and his Team Walker organization.
The fencing venue will be held at Stevens Tech in Hoboken this weekend.
But Hudson County is proud to once again serve as a host for the Garden State Games, for this year and for many years to come. Adams said that DeGise was a driving force in bringing New Jersey’s version of the Olympics to Hudson County.
“Tom DeGise has always been concerned about sports, as long as I’ve known him,” Adams said. “He was extremely supportive of the idea and wanted to see it happen.”
Hudson County Parks Director Thomas McCann was equally eager to see the Garden State Games return this year to Lincoln Park.
When it came to running the tennis event, Adams made one call to the United States Tennis Association, where representative Janet Roberts was glad to be of assistance.
“The USTA has been running tennis clinics at Lincoln Park, so when I called, they were more than willing to help,” Adams said. “We’re glad that the USTA plays such a vital role in the Garden State Games.”
In conjunction with the Garden State Games competition, the USTA will host a tennis village at the site, complete with information about private tennis lessons, equipment, sports clinics, health care and other pertinent items. The Lincoln Park Tennis Association and the New Jersey Inner-City Tennis Foundation are also involved with coordinating the event.
The track and field event is open to athletes from ages eight and older, all the way through the Masters (50-and-older) division. The Open Division (ages 18 through 40) will also feature javelin, high jump and shot put events. The younger divisions will strictly be running events (100, 200, 400, 800, 1,500 and 3,000 meters) as well as the long jump.
The younger age divisions are broken up by sub-bantam (age 8), bantam (9-10), midget (11-12), youth (13-14) and high school (14 and up).
“We’re looking for anyone from eight through 80 to enter and participate,” Adams said. “If someone 90 shows up and wants to run, then God bless them, they’ll run.”
In addition to the regular track and field events, there will also be a five-kilometer road race that will begin at 8:30 a.m. Thanks to the efforts of the Jersey City public schools, hurdles events will be included this year in the track and field venue.
Adams said that the number of entrants is up a little since last year, about 20 percent more.
“Last year, we had 50 for the tennis and we’re looking to double that this year,” Adams said. “We had about 120 for the track and field and we’re hoping to get 400 or 500. It should be a substantial jump. We’re hoping for even more registrants between now and the start of the events. We’ve also decided to take the entrants right up until the day of the events this year, to encourage more participation.”
Adams said that he believes the response this year has been better.
“We’ve been able to promote the event more this year,” Adams said. “I think the response has been fairly good from the local track clubs in the state, who have expressed interest in coming to participate. We’re getting the word out now.”
Adams said that the Garden State Games sent out 5,000 post cards and fliers as reminders to people that the Games were indeed coming back to Hudson County and Jersey City.
Adams is also encouraged by the determination of Garamella and DeGise in making the GSG go.
“I know that the tennis community is very excited to have the event at the Lincoln Park courts once again,” DeGise said. “It’s a chance for us to give great recognition to the number of athletes who will participate. It’s great to have such a prestigious event coming to Hudson County. I just hope they get great weather. As a kid growing up, I remember the great track events that were held in the Armory or at Pershing Field, where I was from. They sort of went by the wayside. I think this is our way of helping to bring it back.”
“They’re truly committed to make the Games go,” Adams said. “They want to bring it back to its original status. I think it’s a five-year process. The first year was to get it up and running. Now, we have to make progress.” q
If anyone is interested in participating in the Garden States Games’ track and field events, you can call (973) 618-1111 for more information. For more information on the tennis venue, please contact (914) 698-0414, ext. 10.
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