NEWSLINE STORY

published March - April 2017

2017 National Senior Games Conference

I attended the 2017 National Senior Games Conference in Dallas, Texas in January. This trip was not sponsored or financed by the NHPA. I attended to represent Ohio as a Board member of the Ohio Senior Olympics, and as Chairperson of the newly formed Southern Ohio Senior Games. The National Senior Games (NSGA) cannot use the word Olympics in its title as a result of an agreement with the United States Olympic Committee. Ohio can still use the title as they were in existence prior to the agreement.

The NSGA can trace its roots to 1985 in St. Louis, Missouri when a small group organized for the purpose of promoting healthy lifestyles for persons over 50 through education, fitness, and sport. The first NSGA games event was held in St. Louis in 1987 with about 2200 athletes participating. The event has been held every two years since then and participation has grown to over 10,000 athletes competing in nineteen different sports. Horseshoe pitching is one of them. To participate in the National Games, one must qualify at one of the State Games. An athlete can compete in more than one state. The 2015 event was held in Minneapolis, Minnesota and the 2017 event will be in Birmingham, Alabama from June 2^nd through June 15^th.

I became interested in the Senior Games several years ago and I am a participant in the Ohio Senior Olympics in track and field and basketball. I am now very involved in organizational activities of the Ohio Games.

One of my disappointments with the Senior Games is their methodology of conducting the horseshoe event. Because of the structure of the games, there is minimal participation in any of the state games. Very few NHPA members participate. Because of age group restrictions in the state games, a participant throws a very limited number of shoes and competes only against people in the same age group. For example, if one is 70 years old, he or she would only pitch against other participants in the 70 to 74 age group. One might get to throw 50 to 100 shoes.

Because of my complaints to the NSGA officers, I have been asked to propose a written format for a better way to conduct the horseshoe event. I feel that if we can get more NHPA members participating in the games, we might attract new members.

The NSGA horseshoe event in 2017 will be in Birmingham in a venue similar to those that have hosted our World Tournament. In 2013 the NSGA used our Ohio portable courts to conduct the event in Cleveland, Ohio. It is my understanding that the NSGA is constructing their own courts identical to those used at our World Tournament.

One of my goals in participating in the Ohio Senior Olympics and the NSGA is to increase participation in the horseshoe event and to attract new members to the NHPA.