Most Iowans will never be able to compete in the Olympics, but with the Iowa Games, they can have the next best thing.

This year’s annual Iowa Games start tomorrow and last through Sunday.

Jim Hallihan, executive director of the Iowa Games, said participants need not have great athletic abilities.

“The Iowa Games are the Olympics for the everyday athlete in Iowa, from the very, very unskilled to the skilled,” he said.

Events vary and encompass a wide range of activities, said Erin O’Tool, intern at the Iowa Games office.

“Our biggest events, where we get the most number of participants, are team basketball and team soccer,” she said. “We also have a lot of unique events: tae kwon do, equestrian, fencing, canoeing and kayaking, judo.”

The torch run is an event where participants run with a torch from Des Moines to Ames for the opening ceremonies, O’Tool said. The 100 runners will leave Des Moines at noon Friday and arrive in Ames at 6 in the evening.

Hallihan said the opening ceremonies begin at 8:00 in the Jack Trice Stadium Friday night. The event is patterned after the Olympics and includes sky divers, a flag ceremony, fireworks and speakers, including Reggie White, former defensive end for the Green Bay Packers, and Johnny Orr, former ISU men’s’ basketball coach.

Finals Fest, including a carnival with games for kids, begins Friday evening in Lot B-6 of the Iowa State Center.

Saturday night is Family Night in the Scheman Building area starting at 7:30. A teen dance will be held at 8 p.m., and the event also will feature a dance and games for adults and Disney movies for children.

Finals Fest and Family Night are both free and open to the public.

Athletic competitions will be held all weekend at locations across Ames and the ISU campus.

Hallihan said the idea for the Iowa Games originated 15 years ago.

“It was a very down time in Iowa, and [then-Gov. Terry Branstad] was looking for some kind of statewide event to perk up the state and have some fun,” he said.

“When he heard about other states hosting state games, he formed a committee of people in central Iowa and sent them out to a couple of states to observe these state games,” he said.

“When those people came back … they just thought it was the greatest thing. They said, ‘We just got to do this in Iowa!'”

Branstad set several goals for the Iowa Games, Hallihan said.

The games were to provide a healthy, fun activity, allow people of all ages to compete and establish a volunteer base in the state.

“When people volunteer, they become better citizens in their community,” he said. “It’s giving of yourself.”

However, this year, finding volunteers has been more difficult, he said.

The 1987 Games involved 7,000 athletes and 1,200 volunteers, while 16,000 athletes and only 700 volunteers have signed up for the upcoming games.

“The problem is we’ve doubled our numbers but halved our volunteers,” Hallihan said.

Jan Williams, volunteer coordinator for the games, said there are several areas in which volunteers are especially needed: check-in and registration, the basketball shooting event and soccer team check-in on Saturday, and track and field on Sunday.

Those interested in volunteering can call 232-4032 through Friday, she said.

They also may choose to help out at the last minute.

“If people decide on Saturday when they get up that they have some free time, they can report to Lot B-6 [of the Iowa State Center] where they will be given an assignment and a T-shirt,” she said.

O’Tool said volunteers are crucial to the Games.

“Without volunteers, the games would not be able to be put on,” she said. “All of our officials and sports commissioners are volunteers; they’re very important to us.”