It's a day they've circled on their calendars; a day they've trained for since March.

It's the Special Olympics Summer Games, a three-day event at Joint Base Lewis-McChord that includes a variety of sports for children and adults with mental disabilities.

"It's a very exciting day for them," said Genia Stewart, coach of the JBLM Tigers, an FMWR-sponsored team that competes in Special Olympics events across the state and beyond. "They have a blast with it."        

Beginning May 31, about 2,700 participants from across the state will compete in the 41st annual Washington Special Olympics at JBLM. The opening ceremony of the three-day event begins at 7:30 p.m. Friday, May 30 in JBLM's Hangar 1.

Track competition will be at Cowan Stadium Saturday and Sunday.

"This is the culmination of all their efforts," Stewart said. "They get to compete with everyone else from across the state."

Stewart's track and swim teams have been training twice a week since March. She has seven who have qualified in track and 15 in swimming. First place finishers at regionals in April qualified for this state championship meet.

The mission of Special Olympics Washington is to give kids and adults with special needs sports training and competition throughout the year. Their participation, whether it's in softball, cycling, track, powerlifting, soccer or swimming, has a healthy benefit.

In addition to getting a good workout, the goal of participation in Special Olympics is to improve motor skills, to increase self-confidence and to improve social skills. Another benefit is to promote more independent lives.

Then there's the more immediate satisfaction. That's the gratification of winning.

"There's some fierce competitors out there," Stewart said.

The motto of Special Olympics is "everyone competes, everyone plays and everyone gets a chance."

Stewart's husband, Brian, is a sergeant and has been stationed at JBLM since 2007. Genia Stewart has been coaching Special Olympics since 2010.

"It's a lot of fun. It's very worth it," she said.

Stewart coaches six sports during the year. Besides track and swimming, she coaches golf, softball, bowling and basketball.

Stewart's biggest enjoyment in coaching is seeing improvement and overcoming a challenge.

"I get all these kids with different disabilities," Stewart said. "At the beginning of the season they have the attitude that they can't do that."

But slowly, with hard work at the weekly practice that last about an hour, their can't attitude changes to can.

"By the time tournaments come around and after they've practiced so hard you see that satisfaction that they did it," Stewart said. "It's 'Oh, I can do it.'"

There's a sense of excitement and celebration when they overcome a challenge. It's a joy and excitement just like the able-bodied high schooler winning at the state meet, or a college athlete winning an event.

"For me, the reward in coaching is the joy they get out of realizing that they can succeed and do it," Stewart said.

Friday's opening ceremony will last 60 minutes and will include a parade of athletes, a talk by Steve Kelley, the former Seattle Times sports columnist, and the arrival of the torch carried by police departments from across the state. Policemen carried the "Flame of Hope" from their hometowns across the state to JBLM.

Last year, an all-time high 2,700 competed in the Special Olympics Summer Games at JBLM. Over two days, participants will compete in track, swimming, soccer, cycling and powerlifting. The swimming will be at the King County Aquatics Center in Federal Way.

Competition in track begins at Cowan Stadium Saturday morning at 8 a.m. with the 110-meter hurdles and concludes Sunday afternoon with the 400-meter relay at about 12:30 p.m.

Everyone on Stewart's teams is required to have some affiliation with the military.

"This is their big day," Stewart said. "This is the day they've been looking forward to."