Thousands of athletes travel to Liberty University for annual Commonwealth Games

LYNCHBURG, Va. – The Commonwealth Games are back at Liberty University this weekend.

Four to five thousand athletes and even more spectators are gathering in Lynchburg to have fun and test their skills in over a dozen sports.

“I’ve done pickleball, disc golf, frisbee,” organizer and former athlete Spencer Foley said. “Always just a great time to play against people you don’t get to play against.”

Athletes are coming from all over the state, but some don’t have to travel so far.

“It’s a fun event,” athlete Xavier Scott said. “Lynchburg’s a small town, we don’t do nothing like big down here, so this is like the biggest event of like the year, playing basketball.”

Organizers said the games had an over six million dollar impact on Lynchburg last year, so they hope it’ll bring in just as much money this year.

“It’s truly a privilege to get to do what we do and get to provide the atmosphere that we get to provide for athletes, you know, of all ages,” organizer Charity Waldron said.

New this year, the event is expanding ABLE sports.

“For intellectually and physically disabled athletes, and we grew that to eight sports this year,” Waldron said. “We’re really excited about that and hope to be to continue to grow that in the future.”

The games continue all weekend long. All ages are competing from toddlers to people almost 90 years old.