The Senior Games, which were held on the local level in the spring, completed its last sport, a basketball tournament, in state level competition in early November. In the State Senior Games, multiple Rowan County seniors earned first, second and third place honors.

Formed in 1986, the Rowan County Senior Games continues to attract participants as Jeremy Bates, co-coordinator of the Senior Games and Silver Arts, along with Bayli Cook, said, “we hold our numbers well when you compare us to Mecklenburg or Greensboro,” and added that “the future’s looking good.”  

Seniors, age 50 and older, are eligible to participate in the games with a wide variety of sports to choose from including individual and team sports.

Individual sports range from archery, cornhole and miniature golf to cycling, horseshoes and shuffleboard.

There is also swimming of different styles and distances to choose from including freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly and IM.

Team sports include men’s and women’s basketball and softball.

Bowling, tennis, table tennis and pickleball offer opportunities for seniors to participate in singles, doubles and mixed doubles competition.

“Basically any sport you can think of with the Olympics, we pretty much do,” Bates said, “and we have a lot of participants of various ages” including two that are 102 years old that come and take part in things such as the miniature golf or the softball throw or discus and shot put. 

“Everything we do is scored and gets sent to Raleigh,” Bates said, and “they can qualify to go on to state.” 

Those competing in the local games and claiming a first place finish here will get invited to the state games, where they compete against all other winners in the state. These games are held at various facilities in Raleigh, he said. Then those who compete and win first place at this level can qualify to go on to the nationals.

Nationals are held in a different state and it would be up to the participant to get there as far as their travel, Bates said.

The national games are scheduled to be held July 24-Aug. 4, 2025, in Des Moines, Iowa.

As for the local Rowan County Senior Games, Bates said that seniors come and participate on site at Ellis Park, which is located at 3541 Old Mocksville Road. However, there are limitations and not every sport can be held at that location, so additional facilities are used including Livingstone College for the track and field events, the YMCA for swimming and pickleball and the Salisbury City Park for tennis and different golf courses are used each year.

Another component of the Senior Games, which are dedicated to providing a health and wellness program, are the SilverArts, which, as noted in information provided by the local Parks and Recreations Department, are “a celebration of the creative expression of seniors in North Carolina and is a major component of the traditional athletic competition of Rowan County Senior Games.”

Seniors can participate in a wide range of activities in the SilverArts program including heritage, visual, performing and literary arts, various crafts, models, plants and flowers, sewing/knitting and food.

In addition to the Senior Games and SilverArts, they offer multiple other programs at or through the Parks and Recreation Department, Bates said.

Visits to meal sites such as Rufty-Holmes where they take cornhole boards or play Bingo or doing crafts or other activities at Trinity Living Center plus running Special Olympics are several examples.

Bates said they are part of therapeutic recreation which is also housed in the same building “and they run the therapeutic rec programs for adults with developmental disabilities.”

Cook, who began working there in September, completed her internship at the Parks and Recreation in Winston-Salem and worked with their therapeutic recreation department there along with the Senior Games department. 

She has also worked in both areas locally as well since her arrival and noted that in the TR department, they do arts and crafts, have a movie day, make snacks, exercise and sing.

They offer them things that help them “get out and be able to do and have activity each day or during the week and stuff to enjoy a different aspect of something they might not get to do every day,” Cook said.

The Senior Games Christmas programs will be held on Dec. 12, Bates said, followed by the therapeutic program’s Christmas event the next.

Cook said they had their Halloween dance recently and she got to be a part of that event, which was “pretty neat. They had a great time, it seemed like,” she said.

As for next year’s Senior Games competition, sign-ups will begin the first of the year as Bates said they start mailing out registrations to former participants by the end of January or the beginning of February.

The deadline to have everything turned back in is April 1 for the Senior Games and May 1 for the SilverArts.

Registration forms will be placed at the YMCA and Rufty-Holmes for seniors to get and fill out and return.

To learn more information, seniors can contact the Parks and Recreation at 704-216-7780 or visit the website at www.rowanseniorgames.org. And those wishing to visit the park to practice can do so as he said they have equipment for those wanting to shoot basketball or practice shot put or discus and they have an 18 hole course of disc golf, plus two new pickleball courts.

Ellis Park is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. for those wanting to visit.

Rowan County Senior Games 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winners at the state level:

Softball teams

• First place team, Rowan Roadrunners

Debbie Ballard, Lisa Bame, Ann Barkley, Michele Boone, Sherry Click, Rose Cox, Tina Gaines-Abraham, Daryl Hester, Adrienne James, Roxanne Jordan, Shelia Lingle, Eva McCorkle, Marie Morgan, Renita Ritchie, Peggy Simpson, Lisa Stephens, Mary Anne Sutton and Beverly Whitley.

• Second place team, sponsored by Wallace Realty

Anne Bradshaw, Lisa Emery, Lisa Faggart, Lisa Fink, Ellen Howard, Michelle Kluttz, Miriam Lowery, Heather Palmer, Linda Robinson, Jennifer Skinner, Paula Sloop, Dana Smith, Betsy Snow, Amy Wagoner and Toni Wheeler.

Bowling

• Janet Buck and Jennifer Skinner, bowling doubles, 2nd place

• Joseph Edwards and Sy Ponds, bowling doubles, 3rd place

• Jeff Hege and Dan Rike, bowling doubles, 1st place

• Dan Rike and Tina Stamm, bowling mixed doubles, 3rd place

Cycling

• Barbara Gaylord, cycling recumbent, 1 mile, 1st place; cycling recumbent, 5K, 1st place

• William James cycling, 1 mile, 2nd place

Disc golf

• Randy Kirby, disc golf, 2nd place

Football throw

• Jacquelyn Bancroft, football throw, 3rd place

Golf

• Brian Howell, golf, 1st place

Miniature golf

• Ted Weant, miniature golf, 1st place

Pickleball

• Christi Cranford and Dale Hill, pickleball mixed doubles, 1st place

• Jack Goodman and Bob Terry, pickleball doubles, 3rd place

• David Post, pickleball singles, 2nd place

• David Post and Bob Raymond, pickleball doubles, 2nd place

• David Post and Bonnie Knox, pickleball mixed doubles, 3rd place

• Jon Post and Doug Smith, pickleball doubles, 2nd place

• Doug Smith and Betsy Snow, pickleball mixed doubles, 1st place

• Betsy Snow and Felicia Barlow, pickleball doubles, 2nd place

Softball throw

• Jacquelyn Bancroft, softball throw, 3rd place

Table tennis

• Sarah Butts and Jacqueline Hardin, table tennis doubles, 1st place

• Sarah Butts and Sam Chewning, table tennis mixed doubles,1st place

• John Vo, table tennis singles, 3rd place

• Bobby Walker and Sam Chewning, table tennis doubles, 3rd place