HOORAY FOR THE NATIONAL SENIOR GAMES
Positive, delightful seniors have much to teach about life, aging
“Welcome to New Mexico and to the 2019 National Senior Games! Bowlers, we hope you burn up those bowling lanes, but above all, enjoy the companionship and have a great time!”
This was the site coordinator’s greeting to the senior bowlers (two weekends ago) at the Santa Ana Star Casino bowling lanes at the start of each new round of competitive 2019 Senior Games bowling. I wasn’t bowling, but her greeting captured my experience as a volunteer — I loved the companionship of these senior athletes from the U.S. and Canada, and I had a terrific time meeting and talking with them!
I applaud all those who achieved Albuquerque’s selection as the site for the 2019 National Senior Games, and all those who organized this massive undertaking of multiple sports on multiple days at multiple facilities throughout the metropolitan area, and all who volunteered their services as part of this citywide event. I’m told there were a few glitches along the way — what huge, complex event doesn’t have a few? — though I didn’t witness any, and only one poor sport, at the bowling alley the two afternoons I volunteered. My task was to check in the senior athletes, tell them their lane, and welcome them to New Mexico. Beyond that, their energy and enthusiasm elevated my spirit as though I had bowled a perfect 300 game!
The Senior Games is a serious athletic competition, but what most struck me was its humanity. As I checked in the senior bowlers, I asked their age group — age clusters from 60 to 100-plus — then located their name and lane on my list. After that, there usually was time for a quick conversation: “Have you been to New Mexico before?”— most hadn’t; “Enjoy our state!” — almost everyone commented on its beauty and expansive sky. I’ve lived in several places in the U.S., so I’d ask: “Where are you from?” If I offered a personal experience with their state, invariably what followed was a brief personalized exchange, sharing more about their lives. But even a simple caring comment solicited more. When I asked a bowler from Oklahoma about the severe tornados the state recently endured, she responded stoically, “We Oklahomans are strong. We throw back our shoulders and say, ‘Tomorrow will be a better day.’ ”
I don’t know what the senior bowlers learned from me, but I know I learned much about life and aging just by being in their presence. They approached my check-in table supported by canes and walkers; one was in a wheelchair. Yet the sole 101-year-old male approached unaided and stood perfectly erect, seemingly over 6 feet tall. When I asked one woman her age group, she astonished me by saying “95 to 99”; I exclaimed, astonished, “You look younger than I do!” though I’m younger than her by more than 25 years. Two daughters approached me separately with requests to sit alongside their senior bowler dads at the lanes, something usually not permitted. They explained why: The first has to tell her blind father which pins are still standing after his first ball; the second alerts her father, who suffers from dementia, when it is his turn, handing him his ball. I explained to each one that I was a volunteer without authority, but (they said), “Do it!”
A female senior bowler named Bea presented herself wearing a T-shirt that said, “Happy Birthday! You are never too, too old!” She announced that today was her 90-plus birthday. I applauded her, then later saw a large gathering buzzing around her lane — her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren were there in force, each one wearing a headband with bee antennae attached, and some were adorned with gauze wings, to celebrate GreatGrandma Bea’s birthday event!
Thank you, Albuquerque, for hosting and welcoming this very special event! Thanks to all who made this happen. And thanks especially to the nearly 14,000 senior athletes who graced our city with their skills, energy, enthusiasm and incredible example of what aging is and can be!