Louth team compete in Go For Life Games
A team of older people from Louth recently participated in the annual Go for Life Games for the first time.
This is the sixth annual year of the event with over 300 participants.
The Go for Life Games is a celebration of physical activity where older people demonstrate that it is never too late to take part in team sports.
Twenty four teams from around the country participated in a festival of fun and sporting activities at Dublin City University on Saturday June 10th.
This year a team of older people from Louth competed in the Go for Life Games event for the first time.
They joined 20 other counties from across the country in a day of fun, competition and fitness. This was the 6th annual Go for Life Games in DCU, and the event has grown year on year since the first games event in 2012, where 7 teams competed.
‘ The Go for Life Games are a real festival of physical activity, a celebration of sport,’ says Go for Life’s Programme Manager Mary Harkin.
Go for Life is the national physical activity programme for older people, and the programme demonstrates that sports are for everyone, not matter what age you are.
The games played are based on what over 1,000 Go for Life groups do across Ireland.
‘Lobbers’ is an adaptation of petanque or boules that you might see played on the continent.
‘Scidil’ is a type of ten pin bowling or skittles but more difficult as it is played with one skittle.
The third game, ‘Flisk’, is a cross between Frisbee and the fairground favourite, horseshoe pitching. There are separate teams for each game from each county.
Teams are made up of four and the games are played in a ‘round robin’ style so that most people are competing most of the time. Each team scores a point for their county.
The overall scores are added up to find the winning county.
The emphasis on fair play is also important and ‘Spirit of the Games’ awards are given to individuals who show sportsmanship and fair play.