More than 100 people, including high school athletes, government officials and military representatives, attended the kickoff luncheon at the Doubletree Hotel. The competitions include cheerleading, five-man indoor soccer, archery, volleyball, basketball, gymnastics, wrestling, winter run, trapshooting, swimming, table tennis, racquetball, and bowling. All members of the general public are invited to participate.

"We have kids as young as 5 years old participating in swimming and gymnastics, and guys in their 70s playing racquetball," said Collins. "So there's no age limit. We're anticipating 2,500 athletes competing in 2010."

Just as Collins brought Olympic gold medalist Nastia Liukin to Springfield last year for a gymnastics event, the other best-known gymnast from 2008 in Beijing plans to come to Springfield as one of the special guests at the Winter games. She's Shawn Johnson, who's also gained fame as a champion on "Dancing With the Stars."

After seeing the recent upturn in verbal threats, dirty tactics and unsportsmanlike behavior by athletes, Collins is also launching a nationwide campaign called "Champions Committed to Character" to promote proper conduct.

"There's always somebody who's in trouble for steroids, blood doping, or character issues -- things that are just horrible examples for our young people to see. They think that's just the modern-day culture of the way it's supposed to be but it's not," Collins said. "And so we wait to try and reinstate to these kids what positive character is and what personal honor is. We plan on changing that trend."