Snooker player Ken McCorquodale is quick to reply when asked about his expectations for the upcoming Senior Summer Games.
“I hope to finish with the gold,” the Fergus resident joked, before offering a more ingenuous answer. “It’s a lot of fun, that’s the main thing.”
McCorquodale, who took up snooker 10 years ago upon his retirement, will be one of about 425 participants, aged 55 and older, taking part in 23 events during the Senior Summer Games in Fergus from May 24 to June 2.
Waterloo-Wellington residents who fare well at the district level – Centre Wellington is part of District 26 of the Ontario Senior Games Association (OSGA) – will move on to the Regional Games in Chatham-Kent this September.
“The people who come out are really competitive,” said Yvonne Day, chairman of the Fergus Games and also the secretary for the OSGA.
But she acknowledges all competitors share the primary goal of having fun. In fact, that’s one of the main reasons she first got involved with the Senior Games almost two decades ago.
“It’s a really worthwhile thing when you see the participants having fun,” said Day, who lives in Goldstone. “It’s kind of fun to provide something they get pleasure from.”
The District 26 games rotate annually between Centre Wellington, Woolwich Township, Guelph, Waterloo, Wilmot Township, Cambridge and Kitchener.
Events in Fergus this year will range from card games such as euchre, bridge and cribbage to darts, snooker, and bowling to more active Sports like slo-pitch, golf, badminton and tennis.
Most of the events will be taking place at either the Centre Wellington Sportsplex or the Victoria Park Seniors Centre in Fergus, while the Belwood Lake Golf Club and the Fergus tennis club will also host events. A few, such as bowling (Guelph) and slo-pitch (St. Mary’s), will take place outside Centre Wellington.
One of the highlights this year is the local debut of pickleball in the Games, which Day describes as a combination of tennis, table tennis, and badminton, played with a wiffle ball.
“I think it’s going to catch on,” Day said.
According to Dorothy Smith, program manager at the Sportsplex, the sport enjoys a loyal following locally.
“The people from Fergus that play it really love it,” she said of the sport, which was invented in 1965 in Washington state.
In fact, Smith said she has been asked by several people if the Sportsplex could host a regular public drop-in period for those interested in a game of pickleball. Those individuals currently travel to Guelph or Kitchener to play, she added.
Twelve participants will take part in pickleball at the Fergus Senior Games.
Like every other event, it will be organized by a convenor and several helpers. Locals also help out with other aspects of the Games, including food preparation.
“Everybody is a volunteer, from the top to the bottom,” Day said, adding close to 100 volunteers ensure everything runs smoothly during the 10-day event.
Joan Coxhead, Jane Watson, and Diane Thompson are counted among that group. All three members of the registration team have logged over 100 volunteer hours in 2011.
“This is a major, major job,” Coxhead relayed.
Added Watson, “And it has to be done correctly.”
The team also organized registration for the 2004 Senior Games in Fergus, but they stopped short of committing to the job in 2018.
“Do you know how old we are?” Watson joked.
But despite the huge commitment, all three women find the work quite rewarding.
“We enjoy doing it,” Watson said. Thompson added, “We wouldn’t be doing it otherwise.”
In the end, all the hard work pays off in the form of smiling faces on competitors like Fergus resident Don Martin, who is competing in the Senior Games for the seventh time.
A dart player for the last 60 years, Martin used to compete in local circuits years ago – “age has limited me,” he says with a laugh – and he is now in charge of the Fergus dart contingent, including six men’s teams, three women’s teams and three mixed teams.
“I think we have one team that should compete pretty good for the gold,” he said. As for himself, Martin hopes his own team will come in second or third.
Whereas McCorquodale, who will be competing in snooker for the second time at the Senior Games, joked his time to win something may well be running out.
“I’m not getting any better,” he said with a chuckle.
For many, predictions on how they’ll finish at the Senior Games are a tricky proposition, but not for Nordic walkers Pat Bell and Donna Wagenaar.
“We expect to finish first and second,” Wagenaar said with a smile, before explaining the two Fergus women are the lone participants in that event.
Each will have to predict how long it will take them to walk 1.6km around the track at Victoria Park, and the closest will take the gold and the other the silver.
This is the first time both Wagenaar and Bell have competed in the Nordic walking event, something they each wanted to do for the enjoyment as well as the obvious physical benefits.
“It’s great exercise,” Bell said of her motivation.
Day said it is that combination of fun and physicality that keeps many seniors coming back to compete in the Senior Games each year.
“It’s the fellowship and the challenge,” she said. “If things are going smoothly, the participants really, really enjoy it.”
Organizers say that in addition to the hard-working volunteers, they are also very grateful for the support of Centre Wellington Parks and Recreation Director Andy Goldie and his staff, as well as the team at Victoria Park Seniors Centre.
While it’s too late to join this year, officials welcome more senior participants of all ages for future years, as there are up to three age categories in the various events.
Day said spectators will be welcomed with open arms at all events in Fergus from May 24 to June 2.
Organizers are also looking for corporate sponsors for the Senior Games, both at the district and regional levels.
For details on the Fergus Games, including a schedule and list of events, visit centrewellington.ca, click “parks and recreation” (under departments) and then click “2011 Senior Summer Games.”
For information on the OSGA, visit ontarioseniorgames.ca.
