Sports Seniors Can Play

Posted by Donna Mae Scheib on August 05, 2019

Sports Seniors Can Play

Part of aging is understanding that physical activity will become more complicated, but also that there are still plenty of games and sports seniors can play. Sports benefit both physical and mental health, easing loneliness, depression, and memory issues. They provide valuable opportunities to get outside and socialize. This article provides a list of sports and outdoor games seniors can play for effective exercise with minimal strain.

Golf

Golf is a favorite sport of many seniors because the club swinging strengthens your arms, the game’s strategy provides mental stimulation, and the wide-open field provides fresh air, scenery, and a walk with little strain. Seniors often attest that golf gets them exercising without them realizing it. Playing golf involves being part of a group, so it can be a great way to spend time with friends. Of all professional sportspeople play well into retirement, it is arguably golf that requires the most concentration and patience. Getting good at it can be a major accomplishment.

Bocce Ball

Most of us are familiar with bocce ball, a multi-player game of trying to throw your ball (as a single player or in a team) closest to a designated ball in the middle. You can play bocce ball in an indoor court or on even ground outdoors, and it provides low-strain exercise by simply requiring you to throw the ball. Many senior living communities and centers offer bocce ball, a sport is so simple it dates back to ancient civilizations. As such, the game offers opportunities for social interactions, a mental challenge, and improved hand-eye coordination. It also comes in other forms such as lawn bowling, nine pins, and skittles.

Tennis

Tennis is the classic game of passing a ball back and forth to another player with rackets over a net. It is among the more physically rigorous sports seniors play, so it is not recommended for those with joint problems. For others, though, it provides invaluable exercise, time outside, and chances to spend time with and make friends. Tennis allows you to improve your balance, hand-eye coordination, and overall agility. Furthermore, it’s something that many of us will remember fondly from our youth. Many senior centers and senior living communities provide tennis courts either inside or outside.

Swimming

Swimming allows seniors to get a cardiovascular workout without strain on their joints. The water facilitates movement much more smoothly than cardiovascular exercises on land. It’s also remarkably easy to find a swimming pool in activity centers, public pool areas, or gyms near you. Many of these pools will offer water polo, water aerobics, volleyball, and other activities where you can meet people and exercise your muscles, heart, and lungs. Swimming also has a profound ability to make people happy, as many of us will remember from early in life.

Horseshoes

The classic game of throwing horseshoes around posts can be a great way to exercise and spend time with friends. Like bocce ball, it exercises arm strength, hand-eye coordination, and attention. It also allows the same option to play either in teams or as individuals. A few horseshoes and a target are all that is needed for you to play the game anywhere. Compared to some of the sports on this list, a game like horseshoes can be both an exercise and a way to unwind after other exercises.

Badminton

Badminton works much in the same way as tennis does, but with a much lighter object that makes a satisfying sound against the racket. Besides making the game somewhat safer, this lightness can help you exercise arm strength with less resistance from the racket. Badminton also provides many of the same workouts for agility and quick thinking. You can play badminton with two players or whole teams on opposite sides of the net, inside or outside. Similarly, many seniors play ping pong for a scaled-down version of tennis or badminton.

Shuffleboard

Shuffleboard is famously popular among seniors in particular, and for good reason; it is very easy to learn the rules of this game, which simply involves sliding weights around a board into the highest-scoring areas. Despite this simplicity, shuffleboard is very engaging and can improve your cognition in addition to flexibility, muscles, cardiovascular health, and stress management. Many senior living communities and senior centers provide shuffleboard and even whole groups dedicated to it. In any case, it’s easy to set up the game in both indoor and outdoor settings. Shuffleboard offers both an easy introduction for new players and plenty of opportunities to improve skills.

Croquet

Croquet functions similarly to bocce ball in that it uses balls, teams, and outdoor settings, shuffleboard in that it can involve hitting others’ objects to score, and golf in that it involves an outdoor course with a goal at the end. Croquet tends to span an entire backyard, and playing it can particularly improve your cognition due to the mental challenge involved. Plus, croquet is an excellent way to spend time with friends and make conversation without it breaking your concentration. Even setting up the game involves bending and careful attention to where everything should go.

Another exercise

Plenty other sports, games, and exercise opportunities exist for seniors. Many seniors practice walking, yoga, tai chi, dancing, and even bicycling as able, as these activities improve energy, balance, overall physical condition, and stress levels and offer ample opportunities to explore one’s neighborhood and community. These activities will often be available to you in clubs, making them safe and sociable exercises with minimal joint strain. Other popular activities include pickleball, bean bag or ring toss, parachute games, scavenger hunts, fishing, and gardening. These involve many of the same skills and benefits as the games and sports detailed above, so you can feel free to choose them according to preferences and needs.

Whether seniors seek physical or mental exercise, fun, or the opportunity to bond with peers or family members, plenty of games and sports can remind them that play is a lifelong opportunity. Some of our favorite games can stay with us our whole lives, and some we discover later to keep ourselves healthy and active.

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