The US Public Health Service (USPHS) Athletics was created in 2014 by the Office of the US Surgeon General to protect, promote, and advance the health of the American people though fitness. The USPHS Athletics serves as a health outreach program to encourage fitness within the community through participation in sporting events such as running, swimming, biking, walking, weightlifting, and other speed, strength, and endurance activities. With the evolution of technology, internet connectivity has become more accessible, leading to the proliferation of smart mobile device users and the ability to connect with people and events virtually. Many large organized athletics events across the nation now have virtual components. To keep up with the virtual world, PHS Athletics added a virtual component for event participation. This increased dramatically during the pandemic when lock downs, and social distancing were enforced. Virtual athletic events offer several benefits: (1) Increases participation opportunities, (2) Access for those at remote sites or locations with few or no USPHS officers, (3) Provides flexibility, (4) Lower overall costs, (5) Fosters connections, promotes inclusivity and (6) Increases exposure to varying events. However, virtual events have limitations: (1) Difficulty verifying participation, (2) Potential disparate intensity/resistance and (3) Reduced in person social interaction. The objective of this study is to examine USPHS Athletics events participation and how virtual events fit within the USPHS Athletics mission. We analyzed data for USPHS Athletics events between 2014 – 2023. The data suggests between 2014-2019, the number of in person events and participants were increasing annually; in contrast, virtual events were few (1 – 2.4% of all events).The highest number of in person events (257) and participants (3076) were for the 2018-2019 period. In the 2020-2021 period, all athletic events were virtual due to the COVID 19 pandemic; there were 3278 participants for 95 qualifying virtual events. After the pandemic, virtual events were still a large contributor, but a gradual decline was noticed in conjunction with an increase of in-person events resuming. However, virtual events still had a higher number of participants (1659 for 2021-2022, and 1673 for 2022-2023) compared to in person events (899 for 2021-2022, and 1220 for 2022-2023). Virtual events trended lower (<50%) for number of qualified events; with possible factors including insufficient event reporting, poor completion accountability or not meeting requirements. The results suggest if properly planned, virtual athletic events have potential to increase community engagement and USPHS outreach in physical fitness. However, there is a need for USPHS Athletics policies and guidelines to ensure efficient planning and execution of virtual events, and the requirements for verification, safety and proper engagement are fulfilled. Additional data and further studies are needed to determine the long-term engagement in virtual events, especially post pandemic.