Westmeath win at Go For Life Games
A team representing Westmeath won both the overall award and a ‘Spirit of the Games Award’ at the Go for Life Games held in the DCU on Saturday June 10. The team was one of 24 from around the country participating in a day of fun sporting activities.
Now in its sixth year, the Go for Life Games is one of the biggest social sports events for older people in Ireland and this year’s event brought together 300 older players from all over Ireland to compete, to stay healthy and to have fun.
Go for Life is the national physical activity programme for older people, run by Age and Opportunity and funded by Sport Ireland.
“It’s absolutely wonderful to get a day out like this, and its not about winning, it’s about competing, fair play and a bit of fun,” said Joe Dunne of the winning team.
“It’s something we look forward to every year. At the end of the day this is what it should be like for older people.
“I really appreciate the work of our team manager, who brought us together and takes the time to train with us, as only for her we wouldn’t be here today competing.”
The Spirit of the Games awards go to teams or individuals who encourage a spirit of fair play and camaraderie during the final.
The Westmeath team’s supportiveness of other teams and their infectious good humour helped to make the day what it was.
TP O’Gorman shared what winning this special award means to the Westmeath team: “Wonderful day, so surprised to have won. To get the Spirit of the games award is brilliant.
“That’s even more than winning anything in the sense of competition, that’s what its all about. Taking part, having fun, it’s fantastic!”
What began as a one-day event in 2012 is now a year-round phenomenon, older groups training, practising, competing and coming through heats in their counties in order to compete in the finals at DCU.
The event is growing every year and it is hoped that by 2018 teams from every county in Ireland will be competing.
The games are devised specifically for Go for Life. ‘Lobbers’ is a target game adapted from petanque and boules; ‘Scidils’ is a two-sided adaptation of 10 pin bowling but using two skittles; ‘Flisk’ is adapted from boccia and horseshoe pitching.
These games, with clear rules and scoring systems, can be played and practised by everyone, no matter what level of sporting ability.
They are great for developing balance, flexibility and concentration. The social aspect of the games also brings people together for fun social events with a healthy amount of competition to keep things interesting.
Team manager Sarah McManus, from the Westmeath Sports Partnership spoke about the work that has gone into getting to the games: “We came together a few weeks ago, we train once a week, it’s a great way for us to have fun and get together.
“From this we have all become friends from it and we enjoyed a great day today.”
• Contact Age and Opportunity on 01 805 7738 or visit ageandopportunity.ie.