Irelands'  Scholar  Athlete  Games

Future Youth Games Office, Room 15G09, UUJ, Shore Road, Newtownabbey, Co. Antrim. BT37 OQ8

World Scholar Athlete Games '97 -
Related U.S. Press Clippings

USA TODAY - July 3, 1997

Carolyn White

Scholar-Athlete Games Foster Good Will

They competed daily. But sports might have been the least important aspect of the World Scholar-Athlete Games that ended Wednesday in Kingston, R.I.

The competition for student ages 16-19, attracted more than 2,200 athletes and coaches from 144 countries and all 50 states.

The biggest challenge was breaking down barriers, overcoming prejudice, anger and fear.

The victories were numerous. Basketball player Paul Goodman of Northern Ireland and soccer player Sean Bowler of Ireland, befriended each other on the plane from Ireland and continued their friendship throughout the 12-day festival.

Tennis player Zeljka Prpic of Croatia had a lengthy discussion with a Serbian coach.

Israeli basketball coach Ilan Kowalksky asked all Middle Eastern athletes to join him when he took the podium during a world peace theme day.

"It was unbelievable," he said. "The youth of Jordan, Syria, Egypt and Morocco - all the countries we fight with - came up to stand with me," Kowlasky said.

"Somebody told me a lot of people in the audience, they cry a little bit. You can't see so many children holding hands and not believe in peace," he added.

Organizer Dan Doyle, who staged the first World Scholar-Athlete Games with 1,600 students from 107 countries in 1993, was not surprised.

"I've found no matter who's at war with who, if you mix everybody together - Jewish and Christians, Muslims, Arabs, Israelis, Serb and Croatians, Bosnia - some amazing and wonderful things are going to happen."

The Games, designed to promote scholarship, sportsmanship and camaraderie among the youths worldwide, is patterned after the Olympics, but there are no national teams. Players from different countries compete on the same squads.

While most participants speak some English, it doesn't matter that some are barely fluent. "Here friendship is the universal language," Doyle says.

The next quadrennial event is scheduled for 2001, but contingents from 50 countries in Rhode Island to observe the Games say they'll host a version in their own countries in the interim.

Sports Illustrated - July 7, 1997

Games and Sweet Music

The World Scholar-Athlete Games unfolded over the past two weeks at the University of Rhode Island with a very international, decidedly un-Olympic feel. The nearly 2,000 competitors, student ages 16-19, from 144 countries and all 50 states, played with, as well as against, their counterparts from other countries. "We had kids from Israel and Egypt playing doubles tennis together," says Dan Doyle, the former Trinity College basketball coach who created the Games, which were first held in 1993. "We had kids from Ireland and Northern Ireland on the same basketball team. There were cultural differences, and not everybody loved everybody else. But everyone got along."

Held under the auspices of the Institute for International Sport, the Games featured seven sports and several Division I-A prospects, including seven-foot Ajou Deng of Sudan, who has a basketball scholarship from UConn. Some students eschewed the rough and tumble for such cultural endeavors as dance, theater and music. Paul Fede, a two-sport star at Mount St. Charles Academy in Woonsocket, R.I., opted to play the French horn. "It's a sacrifice not to play sports at the Games," Fede said. "But the idea of people from all over the world coming together to play in an orchestra appealed to me more."

The Providence Journal Bulletin - June 25, 1997 

John Gillooley

Orchestra strikes a chord with athletic side of Fede

He knows that playing it won't get his name in headlines like it does when he scores an important goal in a hockey game.

He knows it will never cause thousands to cheer like they did when he and his teammates won the Rhode Island hockey championship.

But Paul Fede still loves playing the French Horn.

So for 11 days, the Mount St. Charles Academy hockey and baseball star is putting his hockey stick and baseball bat on the shelf so he can participate in the World Scholar-Athlete Games.

He's a high school sports star, but he's here as a Paul Fede, French horn player for the World Scholar-Athlete Games Symphony Orchestra.

This time of year, Fede, a Cranston resident, normally would be splitting his time between summer hockey games and American Legion baseball games. But for the next week his teammates will be touting French horns, violins and trumpets.

"I'm giving up both baseball and hockey for a week and that's a big sacrifice because I love to play," said Fede. But the idea of people from all around the world coming together and playing music like one is special."

He's one of the 53 teenage musicians that make up the Symphony Orchestra. They come from Rhode Island, Texas, Germany, Norway, Belize and several other countries. There are 42 American teenagers and 11 from foreign countries.

Like Fede, some are high school athletes as well as musicians who have decided to spend the week playing music instead of sports. Others are strictly young musicians who have come to Rhode Island to be a part of international music and friendship.

They're called the Scholar-Athlete games, but not every activity is athletic. Music, acting, dancing, singing and art may not be included in the title, but they're all important parts of the idea behind the Games. Nobody knows that better than Fede.

"We come from different cultures, but when we come together and play decent music, we're all like one," said Fede, a 5-foot-10, 210 pound defenseman and third baseman who will enter his senior year at Mount this fall.

"Music reaches out and touches all people. It can give you a great feeling of satisfaction, just like winning a game."

Fede also knows that hitting the right notes might give you the same inner satisfaction as scoring a game-winning goal, but it wouldn't get you much public acclaim.

"Musicians work just as hard athletes, but they don't get the same recognition," Fede said. "But I guess that' just the way it is."

Which is why the Games are especially exciting for Fede's symphony "teammates". For 11 days, their musical talent gives them exposure equal to that of their athletic counterparts.

In fact, at Tuesday's closing ceremonies, the orchestra, choir and dance group will be headline attractions.

It will be one of the few times you'll see high school musicians, dancers and singers in the spotlight when most of the participants are athletes.

And like any good coach, conductor Richard Chiarappa has done his scouting.

"I saw our audience for the closing ceremonies at last night's opening ceremonies," Chiarappa told the orchestra yesterday. "They're a high-energy group and it might be tough to keep their attention so I'm changing some of our selections."

Good coaches always know when to change the gameplan.