In early mid-September, Kamloops welcomed nearly 3000 athletes from all over B.C. to partake in the annual 55+ B.C. Games. The event brings in seniors from across the province to represent 13 zones in a vast variety of sports from Canada’s national sport of ice hockey, to popular activities like pickleball and soccer. There were even events like horseback riding and cribbage. This event, however, would not have been possible without the help of nearly 900 volunteers from across the province.
Sandra Dever, who was responsible for organizing all the volunteers, has been volunteering for almost her entire life. She keeps a binder on her with a list of all the volunteers, spanning over a dozen pages. It’s meticulously organised, with each page highlighting a different sport, all interested volunteers for that sport, and all their necessary information.
“Each sport has a chair, or co-chairs,” explained Dever. “When people sign up to volunteer and they chose a sport to help with, that came to me.”
Dever says that she would be responsible for anything that came up during a game, but spent the bulk of her time officiating for the track and field event.
One of many rewarding things that comes from volunteering is meeting new people and developing connections, Dever told the Omega.
“There was a gentleman I met at the games in Vernon many years ago,” she said. “He recognized me and I recognized him, so it was really cool to reconnect with him. I coached a fellow for triple jump because he was struggling and I helped him with high jump. I may never see him again, but we had that connection, and he ended up getting a medal.”
Dever described the atmosphere of volunteering as “fun”, noting everyone was always in a good mood, had great sportsmanship and supported and cheered each other on over the years.
Al Franczak, a longtime volunteer for the hockey sport in the B.C games, has a long standing history with hockey, where he began coaching hockey and eventually started running hockey teams. He and his partner Reg Walde had also volunteered in the 55+ B.C. games when they came to Kamloops in 2013 and are both quite familiar with the event.
“We know the system and how tournaments run,” Franczak said. “We thought this was a way to give back to the community. It’s a lot of work.”
In terms of hockey for the 55+ B.C. games, teams are responsible for registering themselves, and part of Franczak’s job is to schedule, collect scorekeepers and referees as well as making sure each arena has some extra volunteers.
“I can’t be at every arena at the same time,” said Franczak. “So we always have volunteers to answer questions.”
Often, being a volunteer means utilizing your connections. Franczak reached out to the president of the city league to get in contact with scorekeepers and referees for the hockey game.
“When you talk to somebody, somebody knows somebody,” he said, adding a referee he was in contact with helped organize referees for each of the hockey games. “It all came together.”
An overlooked sport that has gained traction recently is pickleball. Martha Wilson, a self-proclaimed pickleball enthusiast and chair of the pickleball sport had a lot to say for the event.
“”It’s a mix between ping pong, badminton and tennis all rolled up into one,” said Wilson. “It’s really good for people who don’t have [as] much spring in their steps as they used to.”
On top of being passionate, she also served as the chair for pickleball.
“As the chair, you are responsible for overseeing the pickleball tournament,” Wilson said.
There are many important steps to get volunteers ready for the pickleball tournament, which includes some areas of training, such as the tournament desk. Volunteers use a complex program called Pickleball Brackets for registration They also organise scheduling and divide team levels amongst nearly 16 courts. Wilson emphasises the importance of experts to train their volunteers on what to do and how to handle situations.
“I rely on lots of expertise,” Wilson said. “For the medal presentation we got a little bit of help, but then figured it out ourselves.”
Although the 55+ B.C. Games has come and gone, it serves as a reminder that many seniors are still passionate and active through sports, whether it is ice hockey, or perhaps even 8-ball. Behind it all is a group of chairs who organize the event and volunteers that make it all possible to begin with.
If there is something that all can agree on, it is the memories, sportsmanship and friends that they make along the journey, and they would do it again.
The next 55+ B.C. Games are set to take place in Surrey, and will likely see more athletes in the lower mainland.