300 Older People From 17 Counties Celebrating Sport On June 7th
300 older people from 17 counties will celebrate sport as part of Age & Opportunity’s annual Go for Life Games this Saturday June 7th at Dublin City University. Now in the third year Go For Life will bring together older participants along with their supporters for a festival of fun sporting activities. Each county will have teams taking part in three games which are based on some of the activities played by Go for Lifegroups around the country – ‘Lobbers’ (a target game adapted from petanque and boules), ‘Flisk’ (adapted from boccia and horseshoe pitching), and ‘Scidils’ (an adaptation of ten pin bowling with one skittle). The emphasis of the Games is on participation and fun and played in a non-competitive way as much as possible.
40,000 people take part in Go for Life activities annually.
The teams represent older people’s groups from 17 Local Sport Partnership areas: Meath, Kildare, Wicklow, Wexford, Waterford, Cork, Kilkenny, Tipperary South, Kerry, Limerick, Clare, Offaly, Laois, Dublin City Dun Laoghaire/Rathdown, South Dublin and Fingal. Teams have been supported locally by their Local Sports Partnership and the HSE.
Mary Harkin, Go For Life Programme Director, says ‘With 300 players from all over the country the Go for Life Games is a great day of energy and enthusiasm. But it is only the tip of the ice-berg. With huge support from local sports partnerships these games are being played locally in groups and communities by hundreds more. It’s a real demonstration of how a little pot of money wisely used can go a very long way’.
Over the next few years, Age & Opportunity plans to build the Games into one of Ireland’s most significant amateur multi-sporting events.
The aim of the Go For Life Games is to involve older people in recreational sport. The games are run in partnership with Local Sports Partnerships and the HSE. Watch the video from the 2013 Games: https://www.youtube.com/watch?
Go for Life is the national programme for sport and physical activity for older people. Over ten years, we have helped more older people to be more active, more often. We now have 40,000 people taking part in Go for Life activities annually.
Go for Life is an Age & Opportunity initiative supported by the Irish Sports Council.
About Age and Opportunity:
Age & Opportunity is the national organisation that works to inspire and to create opportunities so that Irish people can live healthy and fulfilling lives as they age.
They do this by working with other national and local bodies to provide access to a wide range of activities, events and training opportunities in:
- • arts and culture
• sport and physical activity
• education and active citizenship
Age & Opportunity aims to contribute to changes in attitudes and practices in relation to ageing and older people in Ireland such that as people age they can develop their full potential on three levels – the personal, the societal and the civic – to the extent that each individual chooses.
This is informed by international public policy initiatives as well as research showing that participating in society is good for individual health and well-being, and good for communities through the building of social capital.