Competition for Commoners : State games: Athletes from California will take part in Olympic-type event in San Diego.

There are those who go on to glory and a few who return for the pomp, but, for the most part, athletes who compete in the California State Games are merely the children who live next door--or maybe even their parents.

More than 5,000 athletes of all ages will be in San Diego this weekend for the seventh annual State Games, an Olympic-type festival limited to residents of California. The 18 scheduled events mirror those of the summer Olympics, such as basketball, gymnastics, swimming and wrestling. Even Friday night’s opening ceremony, budgeted to cost $20,000, will kick off a sports festival that requires participants to pay to play, though the public can’t complain. Admission to events is free.

“Actually, the entry fees are a lot cheaper for the participants than what [the athletes] would normally pay for a regular state-wide competition�, said Sandi Mabry Hill, executive director who oversees an annual budget of about $200,000.

“All of these athletes are competitive and train real hard year around, but the number of athletes who get to go on to the Olympics is so small. This event is provided as a fun Olympic experience, where athletes can interact with kids training just as hard in their sport and other sports�.

California is one of 39 states that hold the event, which began with the Empire State Games in New York in 1978. Yet unlike the New York games, which receive the majority of a $1.6-million budget from the state, California relies on entry fees, donations and corporate sponsorships. Fees range from $10 for junior badminton to $250 for a basketball team. California competitors also have to pay for travel and housing.

“The entry fees help pay for the cost of the officials and they all get a T-shirt,� Hill said. “We basically have enough left over after expenses until the sponsor dollars come through for the next year.�

This year the event was budgeted to bring in about $191,000 with about $187,000 going out in expenditures. For example, $23,000 is earmarked for T-shirts for athletes and the more than 1,000 sport officials brought in from across the state. More than $13,000 is spent on housing and transportation for the officials and another $17,000 for the venues. Hill, who runs the San Diego-based headquarters, earns a full-time salary of $22,791.

“I don’t think the situation in New York is the same with other states,� said Fred Smith, one of the coordinators for the Empire State Games, which falls under the jurisdiction of New York’s parks and recreation department. “Competitors here can walk out of their house stark naked, we feed them, we clothe them, we house them and we transport them. We have 7,000 athletes who compete in 27 sports and we treat them quite well.�

While the U.S. Olympic Committee neither funds nor sanctions the festival, public information director Mike Moran spoke favorably about it. The National Congress of State Games, the overseer of the events, also has a seat on the USOC’s board of directors.

“It has been very positive,� Moran said. “A long time ago we had hoped that the state games would be the qualification for the Olympic festival, but it didn’t work out.�

The California State Games began in 1988, but skipped a year in 1991 when the USOC’s annual Olympic Festival was held in Los Angeles. Unlike the USOC’s festival, which is a feeder for the Olympics, the state games do not focus on elite athletes, just talented ones. In most sports, participants qualify through some type of regional competition. In others, entry is open. The youngest participant in this year’s California games is a 6-year old sprinter and the oldest a 70-year old badminton player.

Still, the games have gained credibility through its celebrated alumni. Mike Tyson’s last amateur fight before turning professional was at the Empire State Games, it claims. And Nancy Kerrigan won the gold medal at the Bay State Games in Massachusetts in 1985.

“We have been in existence only through one Olympics,� says California’s Hill, “so we really don’t have many Olympians or professionals to name yet.�

The opening ceremony at Mesa Community College begins at 7:30 p.m. Events run through Sunday.