Holding court
Dot Collie has attended every Golden Oldies festival for the past 30 years – and the 81-year-old netballer sees no reason to stop now.
Dot Collie has attended every Golden Oldies festival for the past 30 years – and the 81-year-old netballer sees no reason to stop now.
Despite not undertaking any formal exercise in her everyday life, the sprightly woman from Waiuku, near Auckland, is one of the sports festival’s oldest players.
She took to the court alongside her four daughters at Christchurch’s Hagley Park on Wednesday to prove her age wouldn’t stop her shooting for gold.
Collie, formerly a keen hockey player who got into netball through her daughters, said she first agreed to attend the 1988 Goldie Oldies event in Brisbane as the team’s manager but the other players convinced her to lace up her own trainers.
This year marks the first time all Golden Oldies events are being held in the same city.
The month-long international event, which began on Sunday, runs cricket, golf, hockey, bowls and rugby tournaments.
Not one to say no to a challenge, Collie took to the court and easily settled into her position as goal shoot – ‘‘it’s a bit of an art if I actually get in because I’m pretty short’’.
She enjoyed the team spirit, the chance to connect with old friends and the opportunity to travel so much that she’d been back to every festival since 1988.
She was the only original member in the team and said she wouldn’t be giving it up any time soon.
A banner made from souvenir pins collected at each tournament formed an impressive display of her commitment to the sport, daughter Marie said.
‘‘[My daughters] said they come to look after me but I think it’s a little bit both ways, I still look after them,’’ Dot Collie said.
Collie lives at home and is kept on her feet looking after her husband.
She doesn’t bother with gyms or organised fitness to prepare, so the festival was a chance to see if she still ‘‘had it’’.
The 1988 festival was also the first time Wellington’s Hutt Hurtz players Judy Walley and Di Gapper took to the court.
Despite being three decades older now, the pair said they had no problem keeping up with the team’s younger players.
Some festival critics had said the price of compulsory add-ons and packages pushed prices too high and made it unattainable for some social groups, but Walley, 75, said keeping a ‘‘netball fund’’ of $25 a week meant she always had a kitty to dip into to cover costs.
The festival would bring an estimated $15 million to Christchurch and the wider region, less than half of what was first expected and the overall number of attendees has been confirmed at 5000, down from an early estimate of about 9000.
Walley said it wouldn’t be fair for the festival to be cheaper for New Zealanders.
‘‘Other people have to come from much further away so it makes sense that we all just pay the same to enter. It’s a fair price for all you get.’’
Hutt Hurtz player Lee-ann Coutts, 47, encouraged younger players to get involved.
‘‘It’s not just for senior citizens, we all love it.’’
The tournament is open to anyone aged 35 or over.