It's
a wrap for the 2017 Visalia Senior Games, held for five days over the last two
weekends of March. The goal was to
double the attendance from the first senior games held in the fall of 2015,
which had 239 participants. We exceeded
that goal, this time having a total of 513 register and compete. New events that were added included track and
field, swimming, disc golf, and trap shooting.
About 25% of the participants were from Visalia and the Tulare County
area. We had competitors from 90
different California cities, including San Diego to the south, and Sacramento,
Santa Rosa and other towns to the north, and some came from as far away as
Washington and Texas. Some were grizzled,
experienced senior games participants, having competed elsewhere in California
and other states, and some were competing for the first time. In 2017, senior games locations in California
include Pasadena, San Diego, the Bay area, Sonoma and the Inland Empire. Visalia's Senior Games were the earliest of
the year and are the only ones being held in central California.
As
impressive as these statistics are, they only tell part of the story. Let me share with you the personal stories of
three of our gold medal winners, that in my opinion are the true measure of the
success of Visalia's Senior Games.
At
the Saturday evening social put on by our local Lions clubs at the Garden
Street Plaza, we enjoyed appetizers and dancing to a live band. Dan Overstreet came over to introduce himself
to me. Don is a retired local
businessman, and these were his first senior games. He participated in golf. I should add that Don is 90 years old. I was a little startled when he told me that,
because he looked much younger.
Obviously, he lives an active lifestyle and is enjoying good health.
At
the track and field events, I got to meet another young man by the name of Bill
Ferrell. Bill told me that he lives in
Murphys, north of Yosemite, and had driven down with his daughter to
participate in our games. His wife had
passed away a few months prior. He won
gold medals in the 50 meter, 100 meter and 200 meter races. Bill is also 90. He stated that he started running when he was
52, and stopped counting how many miles he had run when he hit 75,000 miles. What an inspiration! Bill indicated that he is a regular
participant in senior games throughout the west.
The
last gentleman I want to mention is Donald Welton of Visalia. Unfortunately I didn't get to meet him, but I
learned from a colleague about how well he did in bowling. You see, Donald is 95 years old. I was told that his children, grandchildren
and others came out to watch him bowl six games and to cheer him on.
These
three gentlemen are representative of the competitive spirit and can-do attitude
of the participants in the 2017 Visalia Senior Games. Our ten oldest competitors were ages 82-95. As more and more Baby Boomers retire, they
are looking for ways to stay fit, stay healthy, and to enjoy a better quality
of life. There's no need to retire to
the rocking chair, and exercise and fitness are a great way to avoid the
never-ending medical care debate emanating from Washington D.C.!
For
me personally, these games were the motivation I needed to drop 10 extra pounds
I've been carrying around, and I even came home from the track meet with a
little bling myself. I want to thank our Parks and Recreation Department, the
many volunteers, the Lions clubs and all those who made our 2017 Senior Games
the best ever. For those of you lucky
enough to be 50 or older, start working out now and getting in shape, select an
event to participate in to prove to yourself what you can do, and plan on
joining us for an even bigger and better Visalia Senior Games in 2018!
Happy
City
According
to the 2016 Community Wellbeing rankings by Gallup.Healthways, the
Visalia-Porterville metro area ranked 25th in the nation (out of 189
metro districts). Their article noted
that "where you live can impact your health and wellbeing. Innovative leaders are transforming their
communities to create improvements in how people socialize, work, eat, play and
move. These changes are empowering citizens to make healthier choices, be more
productive and have better quality of life." The rankings were based on social, financial,
community, and physical indexes. I'd
suggest that our Senior Games are an example of a healthier choice by our
community. While there were two or three
California coastal communities that ranked up there with us, Visalia scored the
highest ranking in the entire San Joaquin Valley.
Warren
Gubler
