Show-Me STATE GAMES

Thankful

showmegames — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 16:48:18 +0000

Another year has flown by and it is already time to celebrate Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is a special holiday for the Show-Me State Games. We actually send out Thanksgiving cards to our sponsors and close supporters, instead of Christmas cards. We hope this helps us stand out a little bit, and we also sincerely want to wish all of our supporters a Happy Thanksgiving. We are so appreciative of our sponsors, commissioners, volunteers and of course participants, without you all, there would of course be no Show-Me State Games!

We hope you are able to spend some time with those near and dear to your heart, and enjoy a hearty feast! Just make sure to try to squeeze in a walk or burn some calories raking leaves this weekend. We can’t help it, always have to promote health and fitness! Here’s some more tips from ABC News on burning those extra calories.

Again, a sincere Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours.

MFA Oil Break Time Shootout Lineup Announced

showmegames — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 19:05:42 +0000

This year is the 19th year MFA Oil Break Time is sponsoring a Shootout for the Show-Me STATE GAMES. We have seven exciting games, included one girls, scheduled for January 29, 2012 at Mizzou Arena. It’s a great event for the schools and their fans, but also fun to just come watch some exciting basketball at the home of the Mizzou Tigers! You can get tickets (that are good all day) for as low as $5 at participating schools. They are $7.50 at area Break Times and cost $10 on game day.

And here’s the 2012 lineup:

10:00 a.m. – Southern Boone vs. Blair Oaks
11:40 a.m. – Harrisburg (girls) vs. Marion County (girls)
1:20 p.m. – La Plata vs. Meadville
3:00 p.m. – Fatima vs. Helias
4:40 p.m. – Schuyler Co. vs. Wellington-Napoleon
6:20 p.m. – Macon vs. Salisbury
8:00 p.m. – Fulton vs. Mexico

For more details, visit our website. Hope to see you there!

Just for fun, here’s a few photos from past Shootouts, courtesy of You’ve Been Shot.

What a weekend!

showmegames — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 17:05:41 +0000

Friday: The St. Louis Cardinals won the World Series in seven games, after what will probably be known as the most exciting game six in history!

Saturday: Mizzou Tigers beat Texas A&M in overtime.

Sunday: The St. Louis Rams upset the New Orleans Saints in the Rams first win of the season.

Monday: The Kansas City Chiefs pulled off an exciting overtime victory over the San Diego Chargers.

Today: Let’s all take a break!

Looking forward to another sports-filled weekend coming up… will be cheering on Mizzou, the Rams and the Chiefs in addition to hosting our Fall 3v3 Soccerfest. Good luck to all of the teams competiting. Check out the schedules here – http://smsg.org/other_news_display.php?entrytodisplay=16

Baseball in Missouri

showmegames — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 14:29:53 +0000

We here at the Games like to talk about how 1985 was a great year for sports in Missouri. Not only did the Royals play the Cardinals in the World Series, but the first Show-Me STATE GAMES were held!

The Show-Me STATE GAMES is hosted in Columbia, which as you know is smack-dab in the middle of the state… so we try not to play favorites. But as a general rule, we love to see Missouri teams and athletes succeed, regardless of which side of the state they’re from, so we are rooting for a Cardinals win! Good luck tonight!

(Image from http://www.stlcardinalbaseball.com/)

Well the Tigers may have lost…

showmegames — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 19:58:31 +0000

…but one great thing happened at Faurot Field this past Saturday: The Show-Me STATE GAMES and Missouri Lottery had the opportunity to recognize our Athletes of the Year and Sportsmanship winner.

On the left are the honorees before the presentation on the field: (from left to right) SMSG Exec. Director Ken Ash, SMSG Female Athlete of the Year Whitnee Johnson, SMSG Sportsmanship winner Emma Powell, SMSG Male Athlete of the Year Gavin Bernskoetter and Gary Gonder, Chief Operating Officer of the Missouri Lottery.

The photo on the right is from the field during the presentation. It is always exciting to be able to honor our participants in front of such a large and enthusiastic crowd! We would like to thank the Missouri Lottery for sponsoring our Athlete of the Year and Sportsmanship programs, and also express our appreciation for Mizzou Athletics for helping us honor these athletes and promote the games.

You can check out more photos on our Facebook page.

Just think… this could be you next year!

Sportsmanship is key

showmegames — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 14:33:40 +0000

The Show-Me STATE GAMES is an Olympic-style sports festival, meaning we award gold, silver and bronze medals to first, second and third place finishers. We encourage our athletes to compete to the best of their abilities and recognize achievements with our medals. However, you know as well as we do, that winning is not the most important thing, in sports or in life. Good sportsmanship, helping fellow athletes and having fun are also essential components to the success of the Show-Me STATE GAMES. Because of this, we believe it is extremely important to recognize athletes who excel in sportsmanship.

Our 2011 Sportsmanship award winner is Emma Powell, of Holt, MO. She will be recognized alongside our athletes of the year at the Mizzou football game tomorrow.

Emma is age 5 and participated in the Judo event at the 2011 Show-Me STATE GAMES. When there were no other competitors in her age group, Emma displayed outstanding sportsmanship by agreeing to go up against older and bigger competitors – including an exhibition match against the male heavyweight! Thank you, Emma, for reflecting the spirit and enthusiasm of the GAMES! (Emma is on left in the photo)

Athletes of the Year

showmegames — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 15:33:17 +0000

If you have read posts on our blog, you know naming our athletes of the year is a tough decision as we have such an incredible number of inspiring and talented athletes. However, we had to narrow it down to just one female participant and one male to honor as our Athletes of the Year. We are pleased and proud to honor these athletes at the Mizzou football game this Saturday, Oct. 22 on the field just prior to kickoff. If you’re at the game, make sure to get there early and cheer them on!

Female Athlete of the Year: Whitnee Johnson, 18, from Columbia, MO, has participated in the Show-Me STATE GAMES for the past eight years, winning numerous medals in the gymnastics event. Over the years, Whitnee has won gold medals on each of the four gymnastics apparatus and holds the Show-Me STATE GAMES record for the all-around in the Senior Optionals division. The 2011 Games were special for Whitnee, as they were her final competition in club gymnastics, after 11 years in the sport. She has since departed for Kent State University, where she has earned a full gymnastics scholarship. Show-Me STATE GAMES Gymnastics Commissioner, Kathy Sanford, who is also Whitnee’s club coach, said, “Whitnee is such a great competitor, a great role model for younger gymnasts, and an ambassador for all sports.”

Whitnee was also named the National Female Athlete of the Year by the National Congress of State Games! She was presented this National award at the NCSG Athlete of the Year Banquet in Oklahoma City on September 28.

Male Athlete of the Year: Gavin Bernskoetter, age 10, hails from Jefferson City, MO. Gavin participated in the baseball event with his team, the Mid-Missouri Wildcats, who brought home a bronze medal. As a first year participant in the 2011 Show-Me STATE GAMES, Gavin went 10-15 at bat with 3 doubles, a triple and a home run! He also had 11 stolen bases and made quite a few great defensive plays at shortstop. Show-Me STATE GAMES baseball commissioner Damon Wren said, “As I kept watching Gavin, I got to see the skills he has as a baseball player. He hit the ball very well and his soft, quick hands at shortstop have been developed at a higher level than the age he is. Watching Gavin play baseball for the time that I did gives you hope and confidence in our youth. With all of the games and all of the players I had seen, Gavin represents what the Show-Me STATE GAMES are all about.”

We’re still here!

showmegames — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 17:16:01 +0000

Emily here blogging for the Games! For the past two summers, our interns have done a great job blogging about some of our outstanding summer athletes. However, as you probably know, the Games certainly don’t shut down the rest of the year (in fact, we have more than 10 other events throughout the year), so why should our blog?

So stay tuned as we will be posting about our athletes of the year, volunteer award winners, upcoming events and more. And please let us know if there is anything you would like to see on our blog (or website or facebook or twitter for that matter).

Thanks for helping us make the Games the largest and best in the nation.

Volleyball teams heads from Nationals straight to the Show-Me STATE GAMES

showmegames — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 18:26:04 +0000

“KC Thunder,” an eighth grade girls volleyball team, will play in the Show-Me STATE GAMES volleyball tournament on Sunday, July 24.

The team members should be on top of their game for the Show-Me STATE GAMES, as they are coming straight from their Nationals tournament to the GAMES.

Carlisa May and Kailin Cordes played with the MAVS at the 14-Open Division and their team placed fifth at Nationals in Atlanta.

Leah Nigh and Anna McMullen are playing in the National Doubles Tournament in Chicago on Saturday, July 23, and they will be driving back from Chicago to play in the Show-Me STATE GAMES on Sunday.

Bowler remains dedicated to sport despite a challenging beginning

showmegames — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 18:13:00 +0000

Justin Barron, now 16, took up bowling at age 4 for the “Wednesday Webles,” a bumper-bowling league. He soon joined an older kids league where bumpers were not used and his mother Lisa Barron recalls some trouble he faced with this transition.

“I can remember him bowling a whole game and never getting a pin down, and he would turn around and yell ‘Yeah’ like the real object of the game was to miss all the pins,” Lisa said.

Justin never got discouraged and continues to bowl and work on his skills. He now bowls on a summer scholarship league, a Saturday morning youth league and for his high school’s bowling team.

“He is not the top bowler, but he continues to work on improving his game with a good attitude,” said Lisa.

Justin will bowl this weekend July 23-24 with his cousin Ricky Lupo, 24, who helps Justin with his tournaments and volunteers as a coach for Justin’s high school team.