WEST POINT, N.Y. – More than 500 athletes from Orange, Rockland, Sullivan and Ulster counties and over 800 cadet and community volunteers will gather for the 2010 Special Olympics Spring Games at West Point, April 24.

The competition kicks off at 10 a.m. with opening ceremonies at Shea Stadium.  Events will continue through 4 p.m., at Arvin Gymnasium, Shea Stadium and the North Athletic Field.  The games will include numerous track and field contests, adaptive games and aquatics.

Lt. Gen. Franklin Buster Hagenbeck will be the grand marshal for the event.

Local school districts sending teams to compete include, Monroe-Woodbury, Newburgh, Washingtonville and West Point.

Omicron Delta Kappa, the Leadership Honor Society at West Point, sponsors the annual games.  The Cadet Sport Parachute Team, U.S. Military Academy Band and the Army mascots are among those scheduled to participate during the day’s activities. 

The event is free and open to the public.  Attendees should enter through Thayer or Stony Lonesome gates.  Proper identification will be required upon entering academy grounds and all vehicles are subject to search.  Concessions will be available throughout the day.

About West Point
Ranked the “Top College in the Country” by Forbes and “Top Public Liberal Arts College” by
US News & World Report, the U.S. Military Academy is a four-year co-educational federal undergraduate liberal arts college located 50 miles north of New York City.  The world's preeminent leader development institution, it was founded in 1802 as America's first college of engineering.  Its mission remains constant—to educate, train, and inspire the Corps of Cadets so that each graduate is a commissioned leader of character committed to the values of Duty, Honor, Country and prepared for a career of professional excellence and service to the Nation as an officer in the United States Army.  For more information, go to www.westpoint.edu.