What the Mini Games logo means

The organizing committee of the 7th South Pacific Mini Games in Palau has left no stone unturned in preparations for the quadrennial spectacle that unfolds from July 25 to Aug. 4, 2005.

The smallest details from the logo, to athletes’ village, transportation, to the venues, to the much-anticipated opening ceremony have all been well thought out.

In fact, the organizing committee really went out of its way and even held a nationwide design contest for the Games’ logo.

According to the inaugural issue of the 2005 South Pacific Mini Games Bulletin, a national logo competition was launched in 2003. The winning design—which depicts a sailboat with the words Palau 2005 and VII South Pacific Mini Games running across—was finally selected at the end of year.

“The final logo was based on concepts derived from all the entries received by the organizing committee. The logo is a design of a sail—yars in Palauan—with the color of brown outline, a symbol of the navigation traditions of the Pacific Islands with the yellow moon representing the cycle of seasons throughout the Pacific, prominently traditional life cycle for the host country, the Republic of Palau,” according to the bulletin.

It further stated that green moving motion represents the Pacific Island nations moving together for the South Pacific Mini Games 2005, with the blue moving motion representing the Pacific Ocean that “brings the uniqueness of our islands when we are united at the 2005 South Pacific Mini Games in Palau.”

Moreover, the bulletin stated that the, “logo can also be visualized with the sail across the Pacific representing unity and advancement together as one region. These games represent the cooperation of the islands, the individualism and equality of the Pacific in the Games.”

The 2005 Mini Games will have a total of 12 sporting events—four compulsory and seven optional sports—as determined by the host country, in this case Palau.

The compulsory sports are athletics, basketball, tennis, and swimming, while the optional sports are baseball, beach volleyball, canoe, softball, table tennis, triathlon, weightlifting, and wrestling.

The Northern Marianas Amateur Sports Association, the governing sports body of the CNMI will be sending athletes in 11 of the 12 sporting events.

The Commonwealth was supposed to enter all the sports events but the Basketball Association of the Northern Mariana Islands decided not to participate in the Games during their board meeting earlier this month.