Special Olympics is coming to Penn State, but there may not be enough volunteers

Next week, approximately 2,000 athletes will arrive in State College for the annual Special Olympics Pennsylvania summer games, which run May 30-June 2 at University Park. Making everything run smoothly requires upward of 1,000 volunteers — or to put it another way, about 800 more bodies than are currently registered.

"We definitely are doing a major push for people to sign up," said Nicole Jones, director of communications for Special Olympics.

Each year, the games bring together athletes of all ages with mental and physical disabilities to compete on the basketball court, in the swimming pool and too many other athletic surfaces to mention.

Jones called the summer games at Penn State their largest event of the year. They need volunteers to help with everything from keeping score to running the timers — especially on Friday, June 1 and Saturday, June 2.

Those interested can register at www.specialolympicspa.org.

"There's a whole host of things that we need help from the community to be able to run these games," Jones said.

This story was originally published May 22, 2018 at 3:07 PM with the headline "Special Olympics is coming to Penn State, but there may not be enough volunteers."