就任の Aurora Games ready to kick off in Albany, NY
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - When former UCLA 体操 coach Valorie Kondos Field was asked to be part of the 就任の Aurora Games, she jumped at the chance. Celebrating the 女性（の） 競技者 is 権利 up her alley.
"The thing that really struck me is that we do celebrate these high-level 競技者s so infrequently - every four years at the オリンピック," Kondos Field said. "To be able to give an audience a glimpse of how impressive these 競技者s are in a little bit more relaxed 環境, to be able to give them an 適切な時期 to get out, to compete and to 成し遂げる and be on TV more than just once every few years was what struck me."
The Aurora Games is an all-women's sports and entertainment festival. 競争 begins Tuesday at the Times Union 中心 in downtown Albany and features Olympic メダル受領者s and 国家の 支持する／優勝者s in 体操, tennis, basketball, 人物／姿／数字 skating, ice ホッケー and beach volleyball. The events will 空気／公表する on ESPNU and ESPN3.
の中で the だいたい 150 競技者s 参加するing on the two teams - Team Americas vs. Team World - are former UCLA 体操教師（選手） Katelyn Ohashi, who gave her sport a 揺さぶる with electric 業績／成果s that went viral on social マスコミ ; 19-year-old tennis player Bianca Andreescu of Canada; beach volleyball players April Ross and Alix Klineman of the U.S. and Melissa Humana-Paredes and Sarah Pavan of Canada; U.S. 人物／姿／数字 スケートをする人s Mirai Nagasu, Alysa Liu and Ashley Wagner, and five-time French 国家の 支持する／優勝者 Mae Berenice Meite; Haley Skarupa, a member of the 2018 U.S. Olympic gold メダル-winning ホッケー team, and Finnish player Susanna Tapani; and Minnesota basketball coach Lindsay Whalen and former WNBA player Barbara Turner, who played at UConn. Olympic 陸上競技 支持する／優勝者 Jackie Joyner-Kersee and Olympic 体操 支持する／優勝者 Nadia Comaneci are serving as 名誉として与えられる team captains.
There will be an 外見 by Michigan 裁判官 Rosemarie Aquilina, who 統括するd over the 宣告，判決ing of former USA 体操 team doctor Larry Nassar. Aquilina will serve as 基本方針 （衆議院の）議長 during a discussion on 競技者s' 権利 to be 保護するd from emotional, physical and 性の 乱用.
Kondos Field coached the Bruins to seven NCAA 体操 肩書を与えるs and along the way discovered the recipe for success was to have fun.
"We won four 選手権s in five years and our fan base did not 増加する," Kondos Field said. "It wasn't until I really switched to understanding that it's about entertainment. You've got to get people excited to come and stay in their seats. Once I 転換d the 生産／産物 value of our 会合，会うs, that's when we started selling out.
"People think your numbers 二塁打 when you 勝利，勝つ a 選手権. We didn't experience that, but when I had an 競技者 take a 妨げる／法廷，弁護士業 dismount, I would 選ぶ up the stanchion and I would have her run up and 負かす／撃墜する the student section high-fiving. That's when the 円形競技場 went electric. I don't think that ticket sales are going to 始める，決める the 晴雨計 for the success of this event. I really feel that it's going to be the 競技者s and TV."
The idea was the brainchild of Jerry Solomon, who is married to former Olympic ice スケートをする人 Nancy Kerrigan. It 攻撃する，衝突するs の近くに to home for them.
"We did a bit of 研究 going into all of this, and one of the things we 設立する is that the history of men's sports is pretty ingrained in the social consciousness," Solomon said. "The history of women's sports is not, and the best example that I have is my 11-year-old daughter who doesn't really follow sports. She knows 正確に／まさに who Babe Ruth is and has no idea who Babe Didrikson Zaharias is. I would say that's pretty 代表者／国会議員 of people out there, and yet I think you could 公正に／かなり easily make the argument that Babe Didrikson Zaharias was a better 競技者 than Babe Ruth."
The Babe Didrikson Zaharias トロフィー will be given to the winning team at the 結論 of the Aurora Games. She was one of the greatest 女性（の） 競技者s of all time, a 星／主役にする in 陸上競技, basketball, baseball and softball, and a 支持する／優勝者 golfer in the 早期に days of the LPGA 小旅行する. Zaharias, a six-time AP 女性（の） 競技者 of the Year, died in 1956.
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