The Games are back.

Yes, the Granite State Games, after having to skip a 2020 version due to the pandemic, will return for their seventh rendition beginning this coming Monday at various venues in the region.

The Games, which feature high school athletes beginning with incoming freshmen through graduating seniors, will be somewhat reduced this year due to venue availability and lingering pandemic concerns, keeping things a bit simpler. There will be archery, baseball, softball, field hockey, girls volleyball and soccer.

“Obviously we’re really excited to be able to run the games this year after we had to cancel last year due to COVID,” said the Games founder, former Bishop Guertin girls soccer coach Pat Mulcahy, who now works/coaches at the prestigious IMG Academy in Florida. “We’re excited for the organization but more imortantly we’re excited for the kids. They can be back on the field doing what they love doing.”

Mulcahy said the organization tried to hold the Games last year, but just couldn’t get it done thanks to the pandemic.

“We tried to wait until the last minute to do it because we just wanted these kids to play because they were missing out on so many of those opportunities,” Mulcahy said. “We really tried to wait til the 12th hour to pull the plug. We went into 2021 saying we’re going to do the events; we’re not cancelling … We’ve been full steam ahead since Day One. If we had to pivot, then we pivot. But we had the mindset we’d get this going for the players’ sake.”

Some venues that the Games have used in the past, such as Southern New Hampshire University, simply weren’t available. That also cut down on the number of sports. Two local venues will be used: Souhegan High School for field hockey, and Westwood YMCA in Nashua (Northwest Blvd).

“We decided not to do basketball,” Mulcalhy said, “and we’re not doing golf and tennis. We had some venue issues. But we’ll do those six sports which is great. Those have been our longstanding sports anyway.”

Lacrosse has been done in the first year but there was a lack of competition after year one because the Southern Region team was head and shoulders above the rest. So that was subtracted.

There won’t be any opening ceremonies, as in the past the athletes would gather inside and then walk in a parade outside. “Gathering a lot of people inside is probably not the smartest thing to do,” Mulcahy said. “So we’ll just go right at it. We’ll just have our players show up to the field and compete. That’s what they want to do anyway.”

Tryouts weren’t held due to COVID, “and the other issue was these kids are just so busy with all the other teams they have, club teams and so forth,” Mulcahy said.

Instead, teams for the regions – Southern , Coastal, Monadnock and Lakes – were formed in a couple of ways: A student athlete would hear about the Games and reach out to the organization, or coaches would reach out, plus the regional coaches would hand pick the players.

A big coup was to be able to get Northeast Dental Stadium in Manchester fo rthe baseball medal rounds. “We were supposed to be there last year. Tom Raffio, the CEO of Northeast Dental Dental is a good friend of mine so we were fortunate enough to get it.”

Mulcahy said organizing things from Florida wasn’t an issue thanks to technology, and planning, meetings, etc. had been done remotely in past years anyway.

The only limit on crowd attendance will be for volleyball at the Westwood YMCA, the only indoor sport/venue. At those games, only two family members per athlete will be allowed in.

But for the other sports, the Games are a good chance to allow college coaches to get a look at athletes in person. For much of the year they couldn’t, due to schools’ spectator restrictions.

Otherwise, the organization’s COVID policy is on its website. Masks are not mandatory but encouraged for spectators, Fans are asked to stay on their respective team’s side where the bench is, Mulcahy said.

It’s not easy to bring back an event like this after missing a year, but the Games must go on was the thinking.

“Hopefully we’ll be able to add more sports and more participation,” Mulcahy said of the Games future. “But to be back, after a year not being able to do it, we’re incredibly excited.”

Here’s the general schedule and where sports will be played; the daily schedule for each sport can be found at the Games website, www.granitestategames.org.

Archery – Next Saturday and Sunday at Pioneer Sportsmen in Dunbarton.

Baseball – The tournament starts Monday through Thursday at NHTI in Concord, with the medal games on Monday, June 21, at Northeast Delta Dental Stadium in Manchester.

Field Hockey – Next Thursday through Sunday, June 17-20, at Souhegan High School.

Soccer – Next Tuesday through Friday, June 15-18, at NHTI in Concord.

Softball – Monday through Thursday (June 14-17) at NHTI in Concord.

Volleyball – Next Thursday through Saturday (June 17-19) at Westwood YMCA in Nashua.