Sunshine State Games Returns “Home,” this Weekend with Four Sports in Action

The Sunshine State Games returns to the original stomping grounds of Florida’s only Olympic-style Sports Festival for athletes of all ages this weekend.

Now in its 44th year, the Sunshine State Games got its start in Gainesville in 1980. Four sports will be contested at the Alachua County Festival beginning Friday.

The Sunshine State Games were the brainchild of former Florida Gators and U.S. Olympic Team Track and Field Coach, Jimmy Carnes. It’s only fitting the same weekend the Sunshine State Games will be held in Gainesville, the Alachua County Sports and Events Center at Celebration Pointe, home of the Jimmy Carnes Indoor Track and Field Invitational meet, is celebrating its grand opening on Saturday.

Through the years, Alachua County and Gainesville have been strong supporters of the Sunshine State Games, hosting the Olympic-style Sports Festival events for a combined 20 years. Over 45% of Sunshine State Games events have been held in Alachua County since 1980, more than any other Florida community.

“The Gainesville Sports Commission is proud to have been involved since the inaugural Sunshine State Games and in our current partnership with the Florida Sports Foundation,” said Gainesville Sports Commission Executive Director Joleen Cacciatorre. “The community looks forward to it each year and we look forward to growing in the future with the Games with our new venues.”

In June of 1980, the Sunshine State Games debuted with 21 sports. Three of those sports will be contested this weekend. Artistic Swimming, formerly known as Synchronized Swimming, will be held Friday through Sunday at the H. Spurgeon Cherry Northside Pool. Archery will be held at the Gator Bowmen Range and Fencing will be contested at the Legacy Park Multipurpose Center in Alachua on Saturday and Sunday.

Throw in Swimming that was in the water at the Dwight H. Hunter Northeast Pool, with almost 400 swimmers diving off the blocks and it brings the total to four.

All three of those sports are sports of the Olympic Games. The Sunshine State Games were created to develop Olympic athletes from Florida.

Over the years, athletes who got their start in the pool in Artistic Swimming events in the Sunshine State Games have advanced to compete for college athletic programs, advanced to national and international competitions, and advanced to the Olympic Games.

Tammy McGregor, of Sanford, competed in the Sunshine State Games from 1981-85 and was a gold medal winner in the 1996 Olympic Games and competed in the 2000 Games. Katie Norris, of Tallahassee, was a Sunshine State Games gold medal winner in the 1990s and was a 2004 Olympic Training Squad member and won the solo title at the 2005 National Synchronized Swimming Championships.

Most recently, Kenny Gaudet, a member of the Lakeland YMCA Flamingos team, grew up competing in the Sunshine State Games. He was a fifth-place finisher in the 2022 FINA World Champion in, Budapest, Hungary, in two Mixed Duet events.

“I started synchro when I was about five or six to follow my oldest sister,” Gaudet said in an Inside Synchro article in November, 2022. “She was taught in elementary school by Lorraine Valerino (the Sunshine State Games Artistic Swimming Sport Director), who then became my club coach. I swam all my life for the Lakeland YMCA Flamingos until I moved to California in the summer of 2021 to pursue my goals on the national team.”

Alachua County is home to the Easton Newberry Sports Complex, one of the nation’s top archery training facilities. It’s not unusual for Olympic athletes to show up for Sunshine State Games events in Alachua County. Vic Wunderle, a three-time Olympian and two-time Olympic medalist competed in the 2014 Sunshine State Games.

Wunderle’s influence on Sunshine State Games athletes continues as he coached the Mount Marty University Archery team in Yankton, South Dakota. A 2022 Sunshine State Games gold medalist Alicia Aviles, of Tamarac, is a member of the team recruited by Wunderle.

The June Sunshine State Games Fencing Championships have been a training opportunity for the U.S. Fencing National Championships in July.

Lawrence “Lance” Tan used the Sunshine State Games as a stepping stone to national competitions and a college scholarship, beginning in 2014. He is now involved with the IOC Young Leaders Program, an initiative that provides budding social entrepreneurs with mentorship, learning opportunities and funding to launch projects that leverage the power of sport to make a positive difference in their communities. Tan is currently developing a program in the Philippines that will use fencing to help underprivileged young people to earn college scholarships.

Tan is currently combining his work on the IOC Young Leaders project with his studies at Sacred Heart University in Connecticut. He is still competing and competed in the 2022 FISU World University Games in Chengdu, China. Beyond that he has a goal of making it to the 2024 Paris Olympic Games to become the first fencer from the Philippines to compete in the Games since 1992.

From that first seed planted in Gainesville, FL over 40 years ago, the SSG have grown and branched out to Australia, China, Hungary, South Dakota and many more sports locations throughout the U.S. and the world. We look forward to seeing where the 600 athletes in action this weekend may end up through their hard work and dedication that began with the Sunshine State Games.

Sunshine State Games Schedule, June 9-11 – Subject to change
Friday, June 9
7:15 a.m. – Artistic Swimming Begins, H. Spurgeon Cherry Northside Pool, Gainesville

Saturday, June 10
7:15 a.m. – Artistic Swimming Begins, H. Spurgeon Cherry Northside Pool, Gainesville
8:30 a.m. – Fencing Begins, Legacy Park Multipurpose Center, Alachua (Onsite Registration is Available beginning at 7:30 a.m)
9:00 a.m. – Archery Begins, Gator Bowmen, Gainesville (Onsite Registration is available beginning at 8:00 a.m.)
9:00 a.m. – Ultimate Begins, Jonesville Sports Complex, Gainesville

Sunday, June 11
7:15 a.m. – Artistic Swimming Begins, H. Spurgeon Cherry Northside Pool, Gainesville
8:30 a.m. – Fencing Begins, Legacy Park Multipurpose Center, Alachua (Onsite Registration is Available beginning at 7:30 a.m)
9:00 a.m. – Archery Begins, Gator Bowmen, Gainesville (Onsite Registration is available beginning at 8:00 a.m.)
9:00 a.m. – Ultimate Begins, Jonesville Sports Complex, Gainesville

All Sunshine State Games events are free of charge and spectators are encouraged to attend.