Let's talk some Senior Games

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The Pensacola and Jacksonville Local Senior Games qualifiers have kicked off the fall series of Senior Games events leading up to the State Championships in December.  Eight local senior games events will be contested through mid-November and athletes will qualify for competition in Lee County and the City of Cape Coral, December 6-14.  The 17^th Annual Florida Senior Games State Championships are a qualifier for the 2009 National Senior Games, to be held in the San Francisco Bay area.

Here’s what I would like to accomplish at this Growing Bolder space.  Let’s make this the watering hole of the Florida Senior Games State Championships.

It will be a familiar spot where you see all of your old friends you’ve met while showing off your athletic talents at Senior Games events around the state and country.

We can brag about our own performances, congratulate others on their best, make plans to catch up after the Games, or we can just talk some trash amongst ourselves.

But to have that kind of place, we need some input from the Senior athletes of Florida.  Senior athletes to-be are welcome as well.  I’m one myself.

The Florida Senior Games events are open for athletes age 50 and above.  I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been making my rounds, talking to athletes at the State Championships and one will ask, “What are events are you in?”

I always answer with a laugh and say, “None.  I’m not old enough yet.” I’ve still got four years to go to be able to join the “Senior Athlete,” status.   Right now, I’ve got a hard enough time living up to athlete status as a twice-a-week walker/runner and church league softball player.

Given that introduction, let’s check in with the Jacksonville Senior Games and its opening ceremony on Monday, September 22 at the Cecil Commerce Center, a spacious new facility on the west side of Jacksonville featuring the Jacksonville Equestrian Center and Aquatic Center.  The more than 200 athletes and attendees were treated to a horse and rider drill team exhibition, dance groups and their routines and a proclamation by Mayor John Peyton.  The event featured emcee for the festivities, Nikki Preede, a WJXT-Channel Four reporter, whose grandmother is a long-time Senior Games competitor and has amassed more than 20 medals.

The 45,000 square foot Equestrian Complex features a 4,000 seat arena and the Aquatic Center is Jacksonville’s only 50-meter-by-25-meter pool that is indoor and heated, and thus can be used year round. The Olympic-sized pool has drawn interest from senior swimmers from around the state.

“We get a lot of The Villages Swim Team members who make the trip up here and say the pool at the Equestrian Center is nicer than where the train at The Villages,” said Mary Ferrell, a public relations manager for the City of Jacksonville.

The Villages Swimmers know good pools and their home facilities are new and impressive as well.  I’ve been to the Equestrian Center pool myself and was equally impressed.  It looks as if several local high schools use it for competition and besides two pools, competition and warmup, there’s a competition diving area, and the doors along the sides can be raised, in garage door fashion, to open up the area even more. 

Besides swimming, held Friday, September 26, the Jacksonville Senior Games golf competition, always draws a good crowd because of the premier facilities used.  The men’s and women’s golf, held, Wednesday, September 24, is played at the Panther Creek Golf Course.  It has been compared to the TPC Sawgrass Course in Ponte Vedra Beach for its challenging layout.

More than 500 athletes are expected to compete through September 28 at the Jacksonville Senior Games.  Certainly, one of you will write in with your stories of athletic achievement.  We’ll take a minute to listen.

To see photos from the Jacksonville Senior Games click the link that follows and look for the 2008 Jacksonville Senior Games album:

http://www.jacksonville.com/photos/