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UB gears up for Empire State Games
UB is gearing up to serve as a host the Empire State Games for amateur New York athletes next week, with opening ceremonies in UB stadium on Wednesday and four days of events on university grounds.
President John B. Simpson is an honorary chairperson for the games, along with Jack Quinn, president of Erie Community College. Among the games’ executive committee members are Michael Quinn, chief financial officer for UBMD, and James Zielinski, assistant director for summer operations, University Residence Halls and Apartments.
Archery, field hockey and rugby matches will take place on North Campus fields. Tennis players will convene at the Ellicott courts. Track-and-field athletes will meet in UB Stadium. Lake LaSalle will serve as the venue for canoe and kayak races. Alumni Arena will house volleyball, diving and master’s swimming contests. Competitions in other sports will be held at other Western New York institutions, including other local colleges.
UB helped host the games in 2003, and if past experience is any indicator, associated activities are unlikely to disrupt normal campus operations, says Bill Regan, director of special events. With sporting locations off the academic Spine, faculty, staff and students working and attending classes might not notice a thing. Parking should not be a problem; while the university will be lodging participants in North and South Campus residence halls, shuttles will carry athletes to and from housing complexes and scheduled destinations.
Still, next week will be a big week for some members of the university community taking part in the games, biosafety officer Leonard Borzynski, a 68-year-old race walker, and Colleen Benack, a 24-year-old undergraduate studying mechanical and aerospace engineering and playing rugby on the side.
Borzynski, with excellent posture, wire-framed glasses and hair combed neatly back, says he began race walking at the age of 60, hoping to improve his health. At 5 feet, 10 inches tall, he was overweight—topping 200 pounds—with high blood pressure. His brother had just had a heart attack.
For Borzynski, race walking, which requires one foot to be in contact with the ground at all times, seemed like a good, lower-impact alternative to running. He tried the sport and found he enjoyed it: the exercise, the mental challenge of maintaining good form over long distances, and the camaraderie that came with training and competing with fellow walkers. He signed up for the 5-kilometer race in the 2003 Empire State Games and placed first in his age group. He race-walked marathons. And today, he is in good shape, having lost 25 to 35 pounds.
“It’s unique. It’s different,” Borzynski says of his chosen sport. “I tend to go for those things, to do things that are a little stranger than most. The ability to do it at an advanced age is a plus. You also get to enjoy it. It’s just a whole experience. So when you’re training, some of it is trying to understand what your body is doing, but then there’s this aspect of what’s going on around you, what it’s like. I don’t wear earphones, I don’t like that. That’s not me. It’s relaxing. You’re not thinking about work, you’re not thinking about other things.”
Benack, a former high school soccer and track athlete, started playing rugby five years ago at Canisius College, where she finished a bachelor’s degree in anthropology before enrolling at UB. She loved the physical aspects of the sport, as well as the camaraderie among both teammates and between opposing teams. She joined a Canadian summer league, playing for the Niagara Wasps out of Port Colbourne.
In the Empire State Games, Benack is signed up to play a version of rugby called “sevens,” in which teams field seven players instead of the usual 15. This summer will mark her third season competing in the games. Two years ago, her team won the gold medal in double overtime. She is hoping for another first-place victory. But even if that doesn’t happen, she’ll still love the game.
“I've made some of my closest friends and had some of the best times of my life through rugby,” Benack says. “I've also learned a lot about myself as a person and athlete, and learned a few important lessons along the way, too, I'm sure. I couldn't imagine my life without it.”
The Empire State Games opening ceremonies, featuring the band Third Eye Blind, will begin at 7 p.m. July 21 in UB Stadium. For information, tickets and a schedule of events, click here. Tickets also are available at the box office.
The games also are seeking volunteers. All volunteers will receive a T-shirt, hat and ticket to the Volunteer Appreciation Night July 31 at Coca Cola Field.
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