The Nova Scotia 55+ Games Society was formed in November of 2003 under the initiative of the Nova Scotia Senior Citizen’s Secretariat (now known as the NS Dept. of Seniors). In February of 2004 we were incorporated under the Nova Scotia Societies Act.

Like the Canada Senior Games Association (CSGA),our mission is to bring together individuals from across the province, aged 55+, to an event featuring games of both physical and mental challenges, and at the same time provide a venue emphasizing social interaction. Through bi-annual Nova Scotia 55+ Games, as well as support for any other like games at the Regional, Zone or community levels, the Society encourages a healthier and more active lifestyle for older adults in Nova Scotia

In order to provide a degree of competitiveness into the Nova Scotia 55+ Games, the province has been divided into regions as defined below. Each Region has two or three Directors on the Societies board. These Directors are the coordinators for each of the regions when it comes to organizing their teams for the provincial games and can also be contacted for advice if individual communities need assistance in setting up local games.

It must be emphasized that we are not necessarily looking for the elite athletes in each activity, but there is nothing stopping them from participating as long as they are willing to having a good time – which, after all, is our main objective.

The six regions of Nova Scotia, as mentioned above, are further defined as follows:

All of Cape Breton

Guysborough, Antigonish and Pictou counties

Cumberland and Colchester counties; East Hants district

Halifax Regional municipality and Halifax county

Yarmouth, Shelburne, Queens and Lunenburg counties

Kings, Annapolis and Digby counties; West Hants and Clare districts

Nova Scotia joined the Canadian Senior Games Association (CSGA) in the spring of 2004. The CSGA is a national association which sponsors wellness – that is the spiritual, mental and physical well-being for Canadians 55 years of age or older. These games, regardless of whether they are local, regional, provincial or national, are not to be categorized as only sporting events - they span a wide range of physical and mental activities. The first ever Canada Senior Games was hosted in Regina, SK in 1996, followed by Medicine Hat, AB in 1998, Summerside, PEI  in 2002, Whitehorse, YN in 2004, Portage la Prairie, MB in 2006 and Dieppe, NB in 2008. Although there have been individuals representing Nova Scotia at all of these games, the games in Whitehorse in September of 2004 were the first games attended by an official Nova Scotia contingent. Albeit only 19 strong, they did manage to return with two silver and one bronze medal. Our number of participants at the 2006 Canadian Senior Games in Portage la Prairie, MB was only 18, but our medal count increased to seven, with one gold, two silver and four bronze. However, the 2008 games in Dieppe saw 103 participants bring home a total of 22 medals; six gold, eight silver & eight bronze. The next Canada 55+ Games are being held in Brockville, ON in August, 2010. Although we don’t anticipate quite the numbers that we saw in Dieppe, we are hopeful that there will be sufficient interest that will warrant us to arrange one or two team buses.

Our very 1^st Nova Scotia 55+ Games were held in Cornwallis Park in the Valley Region 28 Sep – 1 Oct, 2005. 154 participants and 14 non-participants from four of our six regions attended. 14 activities in all were held during the days and each evening featured various entertainers. Our second provincial games were held in Truro in the Fundy Region 26 – 30 Sep 2007 and these games attracted 246 participants and 6 non-participants, an increase of 50% from the first games. Our third provincial games were held in Yarmouth in September of 2009 with 333 participants taking part, again a major increase, WE ARE GROWING !!!!! Pictures from the first three sets of games and the medal winners can be found at our web site under "2005", "2007" and "2009" and also at the Canada 55+ Games website.

The 4^th NOVA SCOTIA 55+ GAMES will be held in NEW MINAS during September of 2011. We look forward to a large attendance, possibily in the 500 range. Already the host committee are meeting and planning many enjoyable activities in addition to the games themselves, it will be a great event for our Nova Scotia seniors.

As mentioned, there are a variety of games that are offered to participants, some physically challenging, others mentally challenging and some just plain fun. We are always open to new ideas and thoughts, and host communities like New Minas in 2011 are encouraged to add activities that may be unique to their area but that others can readily & easily learn how to play. At the 2007 games in Truro we added Tarbish in the hope that it would attract some Cape Bretoners. We did attract some, but none decided to play Tarbish! Don’t figure! The following is a list of activities that you will definitely see at the games (core activities) followed by a list of optional activities the organizers may or may not add in. We normally try to run about 20 activities at each of the provincial games.

Washer Toss

UNO

We are aware that there are literally hundreds of various clubs across the province that 55+ people belong to. Some are strictly for Seniors, others for people of all ages. They could be Golf Clubs or Curling Clubs, Bowling Leagues or Bridge Clubs. Our aim is to bring those people together who still have a competitive streak in their body, enjoy a little travel and especially like meeting new and interesting people who have similar interests as they do.

In that context, we are working towards having four levels of competition throughout the province. For ease of explanation, we will start at the top level and work down.

As stated, these games have been in existence since 1996. As of now, seven provinces and two territories are members of the Canada Senior Games Association. The three missing provinces are Newfoundland & Labrador, Quebec and British Columbia and the territory is Nunavut; however, both BC & Nunavut have had participants at some of the games as non- members. These games last five days, are held bi-annually on even numbered years and participants can only participate in one activity. The 2006 games in Portage la Prairie attracted over 1400 participants. Basic cost of participation is $110 per participant, but some activities like golf, curling and hockey have additional costs to cover facility and/or cost of officials.

First games in 2005, these games pit participants from the six regions as previously discussed. These games last four days and most activities are scheduled as one day or half day events; therefore participants can normally participate in at least two or three different activities. Exceptions to this are hockey, curling and slo-pitch which in all likelihood require the full time to conduct a proper round-robin tournament. These games are held bi-annually on odd numbered years and to date we have not had to set a limit on the number of participants per region. As the popularity of the games grow, this may be necessary, but not for a few years yet. Basic cost of participation is $25 and again additional fees are required for some activities. These games are the primary determining factor in deciding who will represent Nova Scotia at the Canada 55+ Games.

Only two regions presently have such games, Fundy & Valley, and in fact have been doing so since the late 1980’s. They have divided their regions into Zones. Fundy hold their regional games annually each June, Valley hold theirs bi-annually, normally in June of odd numbered years. Participation is unlimited for both. Due to the time of these games, sports such as hockey and curling are not included. In the Valley, there is no basic fee, but a $2 charge is levied for each activity a participant plays in. The Valley games last three days, the Fundy games last two. The directors for the other regions are in the process or getting similar games set-up, but they cannot do it alone. If you would like to see these games come to your region and community, contact your regional director as indicated on this website.

Presently, only the Valley hold Zone games, which they do annually, and not all zones within the Valley have these games. In the Western Annapolis Valley Zone, their games are held over approximately a two month period, from mid April to mid June, and one or two activities are played each week. The Digby Zone normally has a week long event in May. Cost again is normally $2 per event, with surcharges for activities such as golf & bowling.

At our 2007 games in Truro, we tried to reach out to those with disabilities. We did end up with two blind cribbage players. It is a start, and we are hopeful that we can get many more involved in the 2009 games in Yarmouth.

The answer to our biggest challenge was answered when Yarmouth stepped forward and offered to host the 2009 games, as it had looked for awhile that people just expected the Society to do all the work. Also the fact that other communities have expressed interest in hosting future games, now allows the Society to concentrate on some other pressing issues.

The first of these is to try and develop the Regional & Zone games across the province. First of all, Directors will have to break their regions into zones. Then, each Directors will have to get together with existing clubs and organizations that have 55+ people involved and try to get them to “cross pollinate”, for lack of a better term. Get these clubs to hold invitational tournaments in their areas of interest, and perhaps get associations such as Legions & Lion’s Clubs to host multiple events such as 8-Ball, Darts & various card games, either on one day or perhaps a weekend. Encourage these clubs to end their events with a dance or a social, which not only will increase the goodwill, but will also increase revenue for the host club. Once the Zone games get going, then the Directors can look at getting the Zones together for Regional games. Directors from the Valley & Fundy area who have been involved in doing this type of thing for several years are more than happy to come to your area to assist in setting up & running the first few if deemed necessary.

One of the biggest complaints we have received from several want-a-be participants is travel. They are not comfortable driving long distances, especially to the provincial games and the cost of gasoline now is making this even more prohibitive. We are looking at trying to provide some form of subsidized team bus travel to provincial games and this may also be necessary in some instances at the Regional level.

The biggest complaint by far is the cost of the games both at the national and the provincial levels. Unfortunately, neither the CSGA nor the NS 55+ Games Society has been very successful in obtaining corporate sponsorship, although we continue to search and ask at both levels. We in fact have been quite fortunate here in Nova Scotia, as the Dept. of Seniors and the NS Office of Health Promotion & Protection have been very generous to us in the past four years, as has the Federal Dept. of Human Resources “New Horizons for Seniors”; program. Each of our two games to date have cost in the vicinity of $35,000 to $40,000, with these agencies covering approximately 75% of the costs. The remainder is collected from the Registration fees and a couple of small fund raisers that the Societies small Board of Directors has gotten involved in.

These two problems make it very difficult to make these games available to all 55+ people. Shut-ins and people with small pensions just can’t afford them, which thus makes it difficult for us to advertise that these games are for everyone, age 55 or better. That is just not the case, and until we can find some funding from outside sources, I’m not sure how we can meet that aim.

In short, our goal is to provide the ‘seasoned’ citizens of this province, who still have that competitive spirit – and most of us do, a reason and a venue to remain active. It goes without saying that the more active you are, the healthier you will be. And as the CSGA states, “One does not stop playing because they get old – they get old because they stop playing”.