From the sounds alone, you may be forgiven for mistaking the hooting, hollering and basic cacophony coming from the Carl Mortensen Manor Auditorium in Burnaby for the merrymaking of youngsters.
You’d be off by about 80 years.
Those cheers — together with frenetic tics and tacs — have been the sounds of an inaugural ping pong tournament that includes residents of 4 Lower Mainland long-term care homes on Tuesday.
Most of the members in Tuesday’s occasion have been over the age of 90.
“I didn’t (like it) at the start, but I am beginning to find it,” Bob Hoggarth, 93, informed Global News.
“You can play ping pong with just about anybody.”
Leslie Torresan, recreation marketing consultant on the Dania Home, stated organizers bought the concept after selecting up a ping pong desk for seniors’ week.
“They were loving it,” she stated.
With the assist of the Dania Home Society, they reached out to different Lower Mainland long-term care homes, 4 of which have been desirous about collaborating.
Torresan stated life for folks dwelling in long-term care can change into slowed down in routine, so the tournament was additionally a option to give residents one thing to stay up for.
“You’re seeing the spirit,” she stated.
“It doesn’t matter your age, you can still have fun, you can still have something you can look forward to, you can still contribute, you can still meet friends, and you can still have a great time.”
Thirty-two members from the 4 homes turned out for the occasion, together with 99-year-old Flemming Christiansen who stated it was essential to strive new issues.
“Some people say, ‘I can’t do that,’ and don’t even try,” he stated. “You never know until you have been into it.”
Torresan stated the Dania Home Society even bought a trophy, which will probably be engraved with the profitable workforce’s title and will probably be despatched with them again to their house. In the top, the crew from the Normanna Care Home got here out on prime.
Given the tournament’s success, she stated she’d prefer to see it change into an annual occasion.
That’s doubtless excellent news to Joan Royale who at age 83 had one message for Global TV viewers: don’t give up on enjoyable.
“Do it, do as much as you can. Be as active as you can,” she stated.
“It’s so easy to stop doing everything and just lay around all the time, but try and be active.”
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