Six Ballarat youngsters are among more than 3150 athletes from 21 nations competing at the six-day event, which has unearthed some of the world's best talents, including Freeman.

Track star Freeman and swimming sensation Ian Thorpe are among those who competed at the school games before they embarked on their sporting careers.

Those from Ballarat-based schools representing Victoria this week are Mt Cear's Josh Platt (track and field) and Jake Wainwright (track and field), Ballarat High School's Rachel Tallent (track and field) and Stephanie Neal

(basketball), Sebastopol College's Zackery Findlay (track and field), and Ballarat and Clarendon's Jarrod Fryar (basketball).

Long-time coach of the Victorian track and field team Mike Kingston said the Pacific School Games was a breeding ground for the starts of the future.

"You would expect some of the kids to go onto bigger and better things. It's certainly the biggest stage they would have been on," he said.

"There are certainly a lot of top sportspeople that have gone through here."

Kingston believed South Africa and New Zealand would be hard to beat in track and field events.

"Four years ago both were starting o develop into really good teams," he said.

The athletes were on parade in the opening ceremony in front of thousands of spectators at Optus Oval on Sunday.

All Australian states and territories are represented.

Competing teams from overseas include China, Canada, Thailand, New Zealand, Fiji, South Africa, and Papua New Guinea.