Ray Texeira
The Senior Games trophy wants to come home to one of the communities, either Sun Lakes Country Club, Cottonwood Palo Verde, IronOaks, or Robson Reserve. The games will be played at various locations within these communities. The events are currently being finalized. There is a game for anyone to play, regardless of age, gender, or talent, and you can compete as a single or as a couple. Target golf as well as chip and putt golf, short court and round robin tennis, social couples and individual pickleball, bocce ball, cornhole, Mexican train, Mah Jongg, silly putt putt, and water balloon toss are all being planned.
Individual awards and prizes will be given out for each event, with the main goal of accumulating the most total points for your community in order to win the grand trophy for display in your HOA clubhouse. Scoring will be equally tabulated across all games.
We have a number of game hosts, and this month we will highlight four of them:
1. The Sun Lakes Country Club Pickleball Club will host the doubles pickleball.
2. Robson Reserve will host Mah Jongg and Mexican train.
3. The Cottonwood Tennis Club will host short court tennis.
4. IronOaks will host target golf and chip and putt.
We also want to thank the community management teams, including Sharon at Sun Lakes Country Club; David and Lynda at Cottonwood Palo Verde; John, Stephanie, Eddy, and Jeffrey at IronOaks; and Lori and Lance at Robson Reserve.
There are still a few openings for your club to host one of the games. By doing so, working with our planning team, you will develop the rules, location of play, and help with officiating at the games. In return, your club will get exposure in our marketing campaign.
The intent is to make this an annual event. We expect to learn from our mistakes and make corrections as needed. To be honest, there are a lot of moving parts, and we are sure to goof up somewhere. To that end, we are starting a couple of focus groups to hang out, have a beer or wine, and discuss the tournament to identify possible “bumps in the road.” If you would like to be part of the focus group discussion, let us know, as we’ll be happy to have your input. Our motto is Get up, Get Active, Have Fun.
For more information, contact us at Sun Lakes Games Team One at [email protected].
Mission Statement: The Senior Games at Sun Lakes is designed to inspire residents of Sun Lakes, Ariz., to actively engage in events that encourage physical, emotional, social, and mental health, regardless of age, gender, or skill level. More broadly, the games aim to forge stronger social connections within and between Sun Lakes’ neighborhoods and to foster a community that supports shared values and collaboratively builds systems that support healthy, lifestyle-building activities.