More than 30 Special Olympics Yukon athletes from Whitehorse are set to take part in friendly competition Saturday at the first-ever Development Games.

The Development Games will hold an Opening Ceremonies event, which will be held at the Yukon Arts Centre on Friday, beginning at 7 p.m.

Free tickets are available at the Special Olympics Yukon office, which is located in the Sport Yukon Building.

Friday's Opening Ceremonies will feature the parade of athletes, speeches by a few dignitaries and some local entertainment.

"It's an event that provides opportunities to all of our Special Olympics Yukon athletes, not just those that would qualify to go on to out-of-territory competition," said Serge Michaud, executive director for Special Olympics Yukon. "We just really wanted to offer something to all of our athletes."

Competition for the Development Games begins on Saturday at F.H. Collins Secondary School.

The event will be held from 12:30 p.m. to 4 p.m. Athletes will compete on teams in four different sports, which will include athletics, basketball, bocce and soccer.

The purpose of the Development Games is to provide Special Olympics Yukon athletes with the opportunity to explore new sports, restore interest in existing sports and shine light on the skills of the athletes in front of a local audience.

Special Olympics Yukon has been working towards holding the Development Games since February. The idea came as a result of the non-profit organization's strategic plan.

The three main components of the strategic plan involve increasing the number of athletes and volunteers that are relative to the number of athletes. The third aspect is providing additional funding needed to support both the athletes and coaches.

The Games are not a qualifier for anything, but are purely a participation type event that is being offered. There will be no trophies or medals being awarded at the event. The Games are purely an exposure opportunity, an awareness opportunity and a participation opportunity for Special Olympics Yukon athletes.

The event will begin with with athletics, which will feature 25-m and 100-m track events, the standing long-jump and the softball throw.

The next sport that will be played on Saturday will be bocce, which will be followed by soccer. Soccer will consist of two teams that will play two 15 minute halves.

Basketball will conclude the event, which will feature a game of two 10 minute halves.

Bocce is a brand new sport that is being offered by Special Olympics Yukon, while soccer is a great showcase sport for the non-profit organization.

Basketball is currently not offered, but that could change in the future if there is enough interest. Special Olympics Yukon is also hoping to increase the number of participants for athletics, which has gone down this year.

Michaud said the success of the event will be measured by how much the athletes enjoy taking part in it.

"We need to make sure that the needs and wants of our athletes are geared to and making sure that it's a safe and nurturing environment with all of our sport programs and if we can offer events like this," he said. "It's to offer the athlete a chance to just have a blast in a game setting and all of our athletes."

Special Olympics Yukon has been providing sport opportunities for Yukoners with an intellectual disability since 1981. It presently offers 10 community based programs and six school based programs to more than 80 athletes.