City Hops On Senior Sports Bandwagon

Last year, a quarter million active older adults competed in preliminary rounds of the U.S. National Senior Sports Classic in hundreds of cities across America.

But not in Spokane.

Last year at the national senior championships held in Tucson, Ariz., among the thousands of outstanding athletes 50 and over vying for top honors, every corner of the country was represented save one - Washington.

But this year is going to be different, organizers vow.

This year, the 20th anniversary of the National Senior Sports Classic (formerly known as the Senior Olympics), Washington state and Spokane are finally climbing aboard the senior sports bandwagon along with the rest of America.

Olympia will host the first annual Washington State Senior Games in August.

Meantime, the Inland Northwest Senior Games will kick off activities in mid-May with a “Parade of Athletes” at the Lilac Festival/Armed Forced Torchlight Parade in Spokane.

Locally, the games organizer is the Senior Assistance Fund of Eastern Washington (SAFE), a not-for-profit organization founded four years ago to help the elderly live independently in their homes as long as possible.

Toni Nersesian, SAFE’s executive director, said she is working with several community organizations to produce the games, with the aim of promoting physical and mental fitness for older adults.

“It’s a collaborative undertaking,” she says. “We have received tremendous planning support and cooperation from sports groups, civic organizations and businesses, especially health care providers.”

MSC Classic Care is overall sponsor for both the regional games in Spokane and the state games in Olympia. Other sponsors locally include KXLY-AM, Mission Ridge Assisted Living, Royal Business Systems, Good Samaritan Village, Cherrywood Place, Brunette’s Sportswear, Home & Garden senior center and the Powerhouse Gym.

A total of 18 athletic competitions and six so-called “lite” games are on tap. Several of these are already established annual events that are piggybacking on the Inland Northwest Senior Games. Others have been newly developed.

The inaugural event, on Saturday, May 16, will be the Cheney Spring Thing, a track and field competition on the Eastern Washington University campus that annually attracts entrants of all ages from young children to octogenarians.

Archery, badminton and pickleball contests on Sunday will round out the opening weekend’s activities.

In June and July, competitions will be held in bowling, swimming and horseshoes.

The games are partnering with the YMCA to involve seniors in a variety of sporting events, including volleyball, basketball, and a “Plunge, Pedal and Plod” triathlon.

Central Park Racquet Club also will host tournament events. Also on the agenda are golfing, shuffleboard, table tennis and softball.

Lite games include such activities as lawn bowling, croquette and fly casting.

Registration fee is $10. Entrants get a games T-shirt and all receive a medal or ribbon. Individual events after the first one cost an additional $4 each.

“This is not a fund-raiser,” says Nersesian, “but as a nonprofit we do hope to break even.”

The Inland Northwest games in Spokane are a warm-up - not a qualifying event - for the state games in Olympia. Anyone 50 and over may enter the state games, Dave Kaynor, president of the Washington State Senior Games, told me. He said the state games will qualify competitors for the 1999 National Games in Orlando, Fla.

Next year, the state games will be held in Spokane in September.

For information, write: Senior Assistance Fund of Eastern Washington, 1101 W. College, Suite 365, Spokane, WA 99201-2096. Phone 509-465-9043.

In Olympia, write: Washington State Senior Games, P.O. Box 7784, Olympia, WA 98507-7784. Phone: Dave Kaynor at 360-357-6609, extension 23.

, DataTimes MEMO: Associate Editor Frank Bartel writes on retirement issues each Sunday. He can be reached with ideas for future columns at 459-5467 or fax 459-5482.

The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Frank Bartel The Spokesman-Review