Western Diocese of the Armenian Church

On Memorial Day weekend, May 28-31, 2010, Armenian youth from all over the Western diocese gathered to participate in the 2010 Armenian Summer Games in Fresno, CA, hosted by the Western Armenian Athletics Association and ACYO-WD.

The weekend kicked off with an opening ceremony which introduced athletes from over 10 different ACYO chapters, as well as one Homenetmen group. For the main 7 sports that were played, such as dodge ball, volleyball, basketball, and ping pong, there were over 75 participants. During the ceremony, Surpazan Hovnan Derderian gave his blessing and the weekends festivities were announced.  Saturday, a delicious kebab lunch was served in between tournaments and the evening Youth Mixer gave everyone a break from the competitive sports and focused on fun and fellowship amongst the youth. After Badarak on Sunday morning, everyone came out to support the final championship games held at Clovis High School. The evening awards banquet, which announced all winners from the weekend, had over 200 people in attendance, making it a very successful event filled with great food and music. 

Whether it was watching encouraging parents cheering their teams on or seeing competitors help one another out, the weekend had an overall great atmosphere. Some of the results from Armenian Summer Games were:

Tavloo: 1^st - Kevin Kestekyan: 2^nd - Nathan: 3^rd - Aleksan Giragosian

Ping pong: 1^st - Mark Prior : 2^nd - Greg Keledjian : 3^rd - Thomas Seraydarian

Boys tennis: 1^st - Zhoro Poghosyan: 2^nd - Sarkis Nalian
Girls tennis: 1^st - Alexis Abdulian: 2^nd - Vartouhy Nalian

Dodge ball: 1^st - St. John Garabed, San Diego: 2^nd - St. Gregory, Fowler: 3^rd - St. Mary , Costa Mesa
Volleyball: 1^st - St. Peter, Van Nuys: 2^nd -St. John Garabed, San Diego: 3^rd - St. Mary, Costa Mesa
Junior basketball: 1^st - St. John Garabed, San Diego: 2^nd - St. Mary, Costa Mesa : 3rd- St. Vartan, Oakland 
Senior basketball: 1^st - St. Gregory, Pasadena : 2^nd - St. Peter, Van Nuys: 3^rd - St. Gregory, Fowler

On behalf of the WAAA and ACYO-WD Central Council, we would like to thank all of the volunteers and participants who helped make this event successful and hope that next year's Armenian Summer Games will be even bigger and better!