Senior Olympic Competition: Give it a Try!
Posted by Donna Mae Scheib on April 17, 2018
Senior Olympic Competition: Give it a Try!
The world watched the world’s best athletes take the stage in Pyeongchang, South Korea for the 2018 Winter Olympics. Although it is much easier to critique performances from the comfort of our couch, why not join in on the fun? Although alpine skiing and intense figure skating performances may not be first on our list of competitions to try, creating a Senior Olympic challenge with fun activities for your local senior center or senior living community can be a great way to bring some excitement during the last few weeks of winter.
Getting Started
Get the word out in your community and set the event for a duration of time. It could be a winter themed Olympic party or even a week-long event of challenges where individuals or teams keep track of points earned by competing in different events throughout the week. Be sure to include Gold, silver, and bronze prizes! Prizes could be as simple as a certificate, pieces of candy, or a voucher for a free cup of coffee from a local shop. For a bonus, consider a grand prize for a total number of events won like a gift certificate to a favorite local restaurant or a fun tech toy like a smart fitness watch (to encourage participation)!
Choose your Events
Be sure to keep games low key so they are easy to understand and play. You can get creative and stick to Olympic winter themed events or keep it simple with favorite party minute to win it games. Also, it is important to keep in mind the capability level of participants and adjust rules and how to play when necessary. Here are a few ideas to help get you started!
Winter Gear Race: Set the clock for one minute and have individuals see how much winter gear apparel they can get on before the time is up! This can also be a team event by having a specific amount of gear that needs to be put on and taken off and relayed to the next team member. The team that finishes the fastest wins.
Ice Hockey Challenge: Set up a goal on one end of the room and use a hockey stick or broom to see how many ice cubes can be hit and slid across the floor into the goal in one minute, or the first individual or team to a certain amount of goals, wins!
Curling Competition: Tape a target on one end of the room and make for each ring count for different points (the bullseye would have the most points earned). Using a ball, hockey puck, or ice cube, competitors will add up their scores from three different tries at getting their object into the target area. Shuffleboard can also be used for this event instead!
“Ski Jump”: Create a ramp surface and set on the edge of a raised surface, like a table. Each player or team has a bucket of ping pong balls that they try to “jump” off of the ramp into a bucket. This can be simplified into a ping pong toss as well. The player or team with the most ping pong balls in the bucket, win!
Cross Country Ski Course: Design an obstacle course or a race route in a room using tape or cones. Think of different unique challenges to add to the event such as having to keep two pieces of paper under each foot to finish the route or carrying a “snowball” such as a big marshmallow on a paper plate while completing the route!
Train and Compete for the National Senior Games
Maybe winter sports aren’t your thing or perhaps you are still hungry for more competition! Consider training and competing in 2018 to qualify for the 2019 Senior Games held by the National Senior Game Association in Albuquerque, New Mexico for June 2019. Each individual state has dates and events being held this summer of 2018 to qualify for 2019 Nationals in various events like archery, track, and field, tennis, basketball, swimming, etc. Participation age for the senior games starts at age 50 and there are different age groups that determine qualified finishers. Compete as an individual or put together a team. Having fun while staying active makes everyone winners! Visit Senior Living Link for some more great blogs to read and resource to use!