Junior Goodwill Games

The Junior Goodwill Games was a U.S. sports program, which helped children from the ages of 8 to 13 take part in sports. The Junior Goodwill Games were made up of three sports: basketball, track and field and swimming. There were two Games in total, in 1998 and 1999.

  1. Age Groups and Performance Levels

    • The participants of the Junior Goodwill Games were split into three separate age groups. The youngest grouping consisted of 8- and 9-year-old children. The next grouping was of 10- and 11-year-old competitors, who were followed by the most senior grouping, the 12 and 13-year-old participants. The Junior Goodwill Games began at a local level. The best performers at the local levels were then given the opportunity to move up to the higher sectional level.

    The Sports

    • There were three track-and-field events in the Junior Goodwill Games, involving the disciplines of running, jumping and throwing. The track and field events in the Games were a 50-yard sprint, a broad jump and throwing a discus substitute in the form of a frisbee. The swimming event consisted of a sprint over 25 meters, up to the final. The sprint for the final was increased to 50 meters. The basketball part of the Games saw individuals compete against each other in a shooting competition.

    1998 Junior Goodwill Games

    • New York, specifically Manhattan and Long Island, was the venue for the 1998 Junior Goodwill Games. The Games began at a local level on May 15, with the main Games being held in the summer of '98. Two former U.S. Olympic champions were spokespersons for the 1998 Junior Goodwill Games. Swimmer Jenny Thompson was the spokeswoman for swimming, and decathlete Dan O'Brien was the Games' overall spokesperson. Steve Smith of the NBA's Atlanta Hawks was the spokesperson for basketball.

    1999 Junior Goodwill Games

    • The 1999 Junior Goodwill Games began with local competitions on May 8. There were more than 1,500 local competitions. Individual winners of the local competitions then took part in the more advanced sectional competitions. Fifty different locations hosted the sectional part of the Games. The top 72 performers at the sectional events then competed in Atlanta, Georgia, in the Junior Goodwill Games national finals from August 5 to August 8.