Blueberry Hill, Not Over the Hill…STL Senior Olympics
Blueberry Hill, Not Over the Hill…STL Senior Olympics
By Chris Stone, ADA Rep
As an employee of the American Darters Association, I get to occasionally travel to places and help run or throw at great dart events. Each event is a collection of meeting new people, saying hello to those not seen in a while, and having fun with an excellent community of dart friends out there. Once a year though; I get the opportunity to make a 30-minute drive east to the famous Blueberry Hill, in the St. Louis area, for one of my favorite events to work…The Saint Louis Senior Olympics!
The St. Louis Senior Olympics promotes the health and wellness of men and women 50 years of age and better by providing them opportunities to participate in competitive sports and social events. These participants are able to choose which events they would like to compete in, and register within different age groups. Some do as many as they can, others just do their favorites. There is quite an array of competitions for the Seniors including swimming, football kicking, tennis, relays, basketball, and so many more. The event I helped with? Darts, of course!
I met the Senior Olympics representatives, Tyler and Chloe, at Blueberry Hill at 10:30am in the main dart room upstairs. Following introductions, we quickly discussed the format for the day one more time. After checking in, each Senior participant would first choose their tool of the trade; steel tip darts. They then would be allowed 3 darts to warm up, throw seven rounds (51 darts) of high score, and I would be helping them total the scores written on the chalkboard at the end.
Soon after participants started strolling in. All seemed eager to compete and selected their darts right away. A few enjoyed taking their time before checking in, to spectate their fellow Senior Olympians. After all, not every competitor chooses to play in the dart event. It is quite common to see new faces each year; many of which have never even thrown a dart in decades, if ever. One such newcomer, Gordon, even hit a hat trick! Gordon drove out from St. Charles County to participate, and went back with a new hat from us!
While helping one senior out with their scoring, I noticed a familiar face from last year on another board; he goes by Cannon. This is one of those guys that loves to compete, but always remains a good sportsman. I’ve quickly learned in the last few years, that Cannon is quite the ambassador to the games. He always has a big smile for everyone he meets (and boy does he love to meet people), he enters as many events his 80+ year old body will let him, and wins quite a bit actually! He has numerous medals, many gold, for kicking butt in his age group! Many of these come from swimming and track events, but he almost always stops in for darts too. It was great to see him again!
All in all, there were a wide range of scores for the day. It was a great turnout across all age groups and both genders. I would say nearly everyone highly enjoyed themselves; I certainly did! I take pride in being a part of something so great. Really, it didn’t take much to help; but it was easy to see the appreciation from everyone. These wonderful people deserve and love having such a cool day for themselves. As a society, I think we tend to overlook what older generations are still capable of. It seems that these senior citizens know exactly their capabilities though, and don’t let us forget it! They are out to prove you are only as young as you feel, and staying active does wonders. Maybe it’s just playing darts though!
Thanks again to Event Director of the 2016 Saint Louis Senior Olympics, Phil Ruben, for inviting out the ADA once again. See you next year!
