About Us

Senior Games Facts

Purpose

• To organize an annual recreational and sports event for the 55 plus generation in Windsor and Essex County
• To bring together amateur competitors who participate for the sheer joy of competition, and for the camaraderie and social interaction that are an integral and essential part of the Games.
• To connect seniors to other local year-round activities with the focus of enhancing and maintaining physical and mental well-being
• To promote friendship, fellowship and mutual understanding among older adults, and the rest of the community
• To provide local winners with the opportunity to participate in the biennial provincial games – Actifest (during the summer of the even years) and Winterfest (during the winter of the odd years)

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At the Local Level

Windsor-Essex County Senior Games (District 32)

• is a senior, volunteer driven initiative
• holds 26 mentally and physically challenging Winter and Summer events including: skating, skiing, curling, volleyball, badminton, basketball, table tennis, tennis, 9, 18 hole and par 3 golf, lawn bowling, carpet bowling, 5- and 10-pin bowling, swimming, darts, snooker and 8 ball, shuffleboard, horseshoes, walk, scrabble, cribbage, bridge, euchre and pepper
• have some events, such as the walk and the 10 pin bowling, that are adapted to accommodate both the well older adult and persons living in care facilities
• held their first ever winter senior games in 1999- 2000, offering hockey, curling, volleyball, skating, cross-country skiing, and badminton 
  fundraise all dollars required to operate the games through local businesses, service and labour organizations
• in 1998, assisted the City of Windsor Parks and Recreation Department to host the provincial Actifest Summer Games, bringing more than 1,400 people from across the province to Windsor for 3 days of competition and camaraderie
• in Aug. 2005, successfully hosted the Southwest Regional Senior Games event involving more than 650 participants, and volunteers to participate in 15 different tournaments in one day.
• celebrated the 25th Anniversary Year for the District 32 Senior Games in 2006-2007 season.

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At the Provincial Level

Ontario Senior Games

• is a provincial senior, volunteer driven initiative based in Toronto
• coordinates and oversees the Senior Games initiative involving more than 20,000 seniors in 40 Districts across the province
• was initially established as the Ontario Senior Games Committee of the Older Adult Centres Association of Ontario in March of 1984 to develop a format for district competition and a plan for Ontario Senior Games Provincial Championships
• has worked with host cities on a biennial basis since 1986 to put on the provincial levels of competition known as Actifest in the summer of even numbered years and, since 2000, the Winterfest event to be held in odd years
• are working with Oshawa to hold the Actifest summer competition Aug. 10-12, 2010 – www.actifest2010.com - and with Haliburton to hold Winterfest 2011 – www.winterfest2011.com
• supports the Canada Senior Games by sending competitors from Ontario to the Canada Games in the summer of the even years.
• receives core funding from The Ministry of Tourism and Recreation

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History

It was in 1982 when Flo Hartlieb, then assistant to the director of Centres for Seniors Windsor, together with older adults in Senior Centres, and with the support of the Windsor Department of Parks and Recreation, envisioned a program of organized sports for older adults in the Windsor area they called Senior Games. The idea was to allow those 55 and over an opportunity to enhance and maintain their physical and mental fitness.

 The 1982 participants’ enthusiasm was “contagious”, according to Flo, and the number of events and participants grew. Mostly through her efforts, the Older Adults Centres Association of Ontario established a standing working group called the Ontario Senior Games Committee (OSG) and succeeded in pushing for the provincial government support for the Senior Games.
As of now, costs of participation in the Windsor-Essex County Senior Games are minimal. There is a registration fee of $7.50, plus events fees. Additional user fees are required for some events, including 5- and 10-pin-bowling, golf, 9-ball and snooker, and tennis. The OSG has since evolved into the Ontario Senior Games Association, and the Senior Games is now participated in by some 20,000 adults 55 years old and better, in 40 districts throughout the province, established through geography and population.

In the meantime, the Windsor-Essex County Senior Games (District 32) has continued to flourish, thanks to the hundreds of people who register to play and the support of the provincial government, the general community, public service clubs and private industry.

Senior Games Now Played Both In Winter And Summer

 The Senior Games have been expanded. What used to be run only in the summer was extended to winter months. Winter Games are played from November to January and the Summer Games run from April to June.

Eleven events are now offered in the Winter, and 18 in the Summer. Winter events include badminton, 5- and 10-pin bowling; curling; contract and duplicate bridge, ice skating; cross-country skiing; hockey; table-tennis and volleyball. In the Summer, 18 various indoor and outdoor events are scheduled. They are duplicate and contract bridge, cribbage, euchre and pepper; 9-ball and snooker; lawn and carpet bowling; and par 3, 9-hole and 18-hole golf, and snooker. Also offered are darts; horseshoes; scrabble, shuffleboard; swimming; tennis; prediction walk and new in 2010 – pickleball.