In October, I made a quick trip to St. George, Utah to visit my parents who are in their 90's. Part of the reason for the timing of this trip was to check out the 24th annual Huntsman World Senior Games. I had read about this event, and was curious to see if this would be something that we could explore doing in Visalia.
These Senior Games lasted for two weeks, and immediately followed the St. George marathon. The main criteria for qualifying for the Senior Games is that you must be at least 50 years old. You compete against people in your own age range, beginning with the age group 50-54, and every five years thereafter. The top age group was 95-99. I competed in the youngest age group, brought home a medal in the triple jump, and had a great time.
Over ten thousand people signed up for these games, coming from every state in the union and from many foreign countries. Barbados even sent a senior track team fully decked out in athletic garb and who apparently compete regularly on the senior circuit. There were 26 events, both individual and team competitions, including archery, basketball, cycling, golf, soccer, softball, track and field, swimming, and volleyball, along with some less common ones such as badminton, bridge, horseshoes, lawn bowling, square dancing and pickle ball. You might be wondering what pickle ball is. It is similar to tennis, but is played with something that looks like a wiffle ball, and a hard paddle similar to table tennis, but larger. This red-hot senior sport uses a court about 1/4 the size of a tennis court. Today, the sport boasts an estimated 100,000 adult players, more than triple the number in 2003.
The seniors who were attending these games brought not only their spunk, enthusiasm and fun-loving attitude to town, but their tourist dollars as well. As I drove around town, I noted that every hotel parking lot and RV park were filled to capacity, as were area restaurants. These seniors infused $10 million into that community during the two-week time span! I should mention that St. George, along with its adjoining towns, is approximately the size of Visalia. Their athletic facilities are comparable to ours, including their own new sports park with soccer and softball fields.
The entry fee for these games was approximately $100.00 per person. Multiply that by 10,000 entrants, you can do the math. This is in addition to the tourism dollars brought to town. The convention center was decked out with banners, and sales booths hocking all types of wares and goodies geared toward senior citizens. Volleyball teams competed in one of the large rooms at the convention center, and another large room was filled with ping pong tables and players. The city streets were also lined with banners advertising the Senior Games. Overall, it was a festive atmosphere around town. More information about the Huntsman World Senior Games can be found at www.seniorgames.net.
I wonder if this is something that we can promote here in Visalia. We have the physical facilities, beautiful weather (imagine senior games in the springtime), and tourist attractions such as downtown Visalia, national parks, ag tourism etc. We’ve seen the growth and success of the International Ag Show in Tulare. Why not bring such a signature event to Visalia, take advantage of our local resources, promote tourism and jumpstart the local economy? I made a power point presentation to the Visalia City Council on October 18, 2010. Imagine if we got together all the stake holders to begin such an annual event, i.e., the city, chamber of commerce, the hospital and health care professionals, service clubs, parks and recreation, schools, business people and senior citizens/volunteers. Does Visalia have the foresight and the determination to come up with its own signature event, such as senior games?
If you have questions or topics which you would like to have addressed in future articles regarding the city, please email me at wgubler@ci.visalia.ca.us, or call (559) 713-4400 x 3313.
Warren Gubler
Visalia City Council Member
