These are summer Olympic games which 10,000 adults fifty and older compete in different sports including swimming, tennis, track and field, and basketball. Even though these adults have competed in these Summer National Senior Games every two years since 1987, the newest trend in America, are “active, healthy senior adults”.
The stereotype image of a retired, senior person perhaps is now being replaced. For athletes in these Sports Games, it is not about age, it is about competing.
Marcia Stein, of Stein Consulting, Inc, PHR, and prominent human resource leader in Silicon Valley, wrote in her recent email newsletter:
“In our culture, many older people seem to be tossed aside, sent off to retirement villages or homes, discriminated against in the workforce – even when they’re healthy and want to work, and even though it’s illegal. The average person passing him on the street may just think he’s an old man with time on his hands, and lucky him.
But he doesn’t feel lucky. Maybe people look at him and see the old man without knowing anything about who he is as a man, what he values, what he has endured. It seems to me, we need to reconsider the way we look at people and the stereotypes we have in our own minds.”
It is activities like the Summer National Senior Games which create this new image of fifty and older active, healthy athletes who participate in favorite sports every year, as the state qualifying games are held the year before the National Games.
Summer National Senior Games
The Games Flag will travel south from the Golden Gate Bridge to Palo Alto and the Stanford University Sports Complex, the central hub on August 1. There will be sports activities in nearby towns of Palo Alto, Sunnyvale, and Redwood City with the assistance of 4,000 volunteers throughout this region.
San Jose offers their state-of-the-art bowling center, 300 San Jose. Games extend north to the gymnasium at Treasure Island, hosting the fencing competition, and St. Francis Yacht Club, on the north side of San Francisco, for the sailing competition.
Athletes will stay at the host hotel, Crowne Plaza Cabana, in Palo Alto, a close proximity to Stanford University. Remaining hotel properties in Silicon Valley and in the city of San Francisco will absorb friends and family, coaches, press and general public.
History of National Senior Games Association (NSGA)
The Games are operated by NSGA, a non profit organization, and member of the US Olympic Committee. There is a Local Organizing Committee for San Francisco Bay region which operates with a local staff in planning the 2009 Games.
Seven men and women started the Senior Games in 1985, as National Senior Olympics Organization (NSOO). The first Games in 1987 were held in St. Louis where 100,000 people watched Bob Hope in the opening ceremonies and 2,500 athletes compete at the St. Louis Riverfront Arch.
It was in 1990, an agreement was made with US Olympic Committee to eliminate term “Olympic” and change their name to US National Senior Sports Organization, and known today as National Senior Games Association, with a corporate office in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
18 Medal Team and Individual Sports
Archery, Badminton, Basketball, Bowling, Cycling, Golf, Horseshoes, Race Walk, Racquetball, Road Race, Shuffleboard, Softball, Swimming, Table Tennis, Tennis, Track and Field, Triathlon, and Volleyball
7 Demonstration Sports
Equestrian, Fencing, Lawn Bowling, Rowing, Sailing, Soccer, Water Polo.
Senior Games Go Green
It is common for San Francisco Bay Region to display environment awareness and announce plans to “Go Green” by encouraging athletes and visitors to participate with the following:
- There will be none of the usual plastic bottles, instead hydration stations across the Stanford campus have been installed. Athletes and volunteers will be given a high-quality bottle which may be refilled at these stations and water fountains.
- Recycling of trash – look before tossing containers and assist in recycling of trash items in the correct container.
- Promoting the use of public transportation, to replace automobile traffic by allowing athletes wearing photo identification to ride free on shuttles, buses, trains.
Other Special Events at the Games
Fun is found by everyone throughout the Games with these activities:
- Flame Arrival Ceremony on Sat. Aug. 1, 8:30 p.m.
- Wine & Cheese Tasting & Sampling
- Dine Around Palo Alto
- USO Club & Microbrewery Beer Tasting
- Big Easy New Orleans Style Party
- South of the Border Fiesta
- Sock Hop and Ice Cream Social
- Celebration of Athletes
- Taste of CA & CA Beach Party
- Texas Barbeque
- Farewell Party
Summer National Senior Games 2009 in San Francisco Bay Region is creating this new image trend for fifty and older active, healthy athletes participating in favorite Olympic champion sports.
Resources: Summer National Senior Games Association Local Committee (650) 323-9400
Donna West - Donna West is a Writer with an uncanny ability and passion of finding unusual ideas, off the beaten path, even in everyday occurrences.
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