Senior Olympics

The National Senior Games are also referred to as the Senior Olympics. Athletes from Canada and the U.S. assemble to participate in a number of events. To qualify, participants must be a minimum of 50 years of age or older. Some of the oldest participants are over 100 years of age!

Senior athletes are recognized for their achievements.

Spectators at the Senior Olympics can watch athletes participating in these events:

• Archery
• Badminton
• Basketball
• Bowling
• Cycling
• Golf
• Horse shoes
• Race walking
• Racquetball
• Shuffleboard
• Softball
• Swimming
• Table tennis
• Tennis
• Track and field events
• Triathlon
• Volleyball

In addition to these official sports, the Senior Olympics are also adding the following demonstration sports to its roster of events:

• Equestrian
• Fencing
• Lawn bowling
• Rowing
• Sailing
• Soccer
• Water polo

The Senior Olympics is sponsored by the National Senior Games Association (NSGA), which is a non-profit organization that is a member of the U.S. Olympic Committee. The goal of the organization is to encourage seniors to be physically fit by participating in the senior games. It is responsible for organizing the Summer National Senior Games, which is the largest sporting event featuring multiple sports for seniors, and other athletic events for those over 50.

The NSGA works in conjunction with a number of organization across the U.S. that run senior games. The organization provides support to these organizations so that senior athletes can participate in activities all year. The idea is to encourage older citizens to have a greater quality of life and better health with regular exercise. This organization is also involved with agencies operating at the federal and state levels responsible for implementing and administering initiatives dealing with healthy aging issues for seniors.

Along with its other activities, the NSGA also provides information for seniors who want to learn about staying healthy as they go through the aging process.

Any athlete interested in participating in the Senior Olympics in 2009, which are being held in the San Francisco Bay area, must be at least 50 years old on December 31, 2008. They must also qualify for the Olympics by first participating in a qualifying event at the state or provincial level.

Athletes have the choice of qualifying at an event held in their home state or province or another one, if it allows participants from outside the area. The qualifying standards for athletes are set for each sport individually.

In the Senior Olympics, athletes participate in different events but each one is further divided by age group. Five-year intervals are used to make different classes for each sport.

For most of the sports that are part of the senior games, the top three finalists in each class qualify to participate at the national level. Tennis and cycling are the exceptions to this rule; the top two participants in these sports are able to advance to the Nationals. In the case of team sports, two teams from each state in each age group can advance to the national level.

You can also qualify to go to the National Senior Games by meeting or exceeding the minimum performance standards for your sport. For more information about NSGA's Minimum Performance Standards, please visit the NSGA web site.

For the Summer 2009 games, the top four finishers in all individual sports, except for tennis and cycling, are eligible to participate in the 2009 Summer Games.

In addition to the Summer Games, senior athletes can also participate in the Championship Festival. The Winter Games offer the following sports:

• Bowling
• Billiards
• Ice hockey
• Pickleball
• Weightlifting

These are all considered to be open events, and therefore athletes don't need to qualify in order to participate. In 2009, the Championship Festival is being held in Ft. Lauderdale, FL in early October.

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