Photo Gallery | Results | Games in the News | 30th Anniversary
View photos of the action from today’s competition here.
Alice Carroll Draws on Sports to Live a Full Life
By now, followers of The Games Daily News know about “The Great Eight,” athletes who have competed in all of The Games since the first one in 1987 in St. Louis. One of those eight is Ed True of O’Fallon, Illinois. As it turns out, his current shuffleboard mixed doubles partner, Alice Carroll of Syracuse, New York, only missed making it the Notable Nine by one trip.
“We’re very good friends, even though we only see each other once every two years,” Alice says. She competed in shuffleboard and horseshoes in Birmingham. On this visit, she earned two shuffleboard medals, gold in 85-89 doubles with Ed, and a silver in 85-89 singles. She is also an avid horseshoes competitor.
“I went to an all girls’ convent school that didn’t have any sports, so I didn’t start competing until after I was 50 years old,” Alice says when asked of her athletic history. She was working as a nurse at the Syracuse Veterans Medical Center when she realized she needed to do something for her health.
“I was stationed on a 50-patient ward of an intermediate care and rehab facility. I said to myself, ‘these people are only 10 years older than me. In 10 years am I going to be this sick and helpless?’ Then, on the way home from work, I was listening to the radio and heard, ‘If you’re interested in running or jumping or swimming or any sports, come to the state Senior Games in Cortland, New York.’”
When she qualified for the National Senior Games, she wasn’t sure she could afford to go to St. Louis, but registered anyway. That Mother’s Day, her ten children had a big surprise for her.
“All the kids came home for Mother’s Day and took me to brunch,” she recalls. “They had pooled their money, $700, and my son gave his frequent flyer miles for the plane ticket.” With a big smile, she adds, “They’re such good kids.”
She hasn’t missed The Games since.
“My favorite part of The Games is seeing my friends! I consider them both dear friends and competitors. I only get to see them every other year, so it’s what keeps me coming back.”
In addition to being a seasoned Senior Games athlete, Alice enjoys traveling and visiting museums. One museum, The National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington D.C., inspired her to start drawing. She keeps a sketchbook brimming with drawings of objects and places she visits. She later takes the sketches and turns them into paintings.
During her visit to Birmingham, she says she has drawn several flowers and wants to paint them when she gets home.
Based on her medals in shuffleboard, she knows how to paint lines on a court with a disc as well.
By: Ashley Williams and Del Moon
GAMES DAILY RECAP
Merchandise Store Closes Today at 4 p.m.
If you want to grab that last T- shirt, hat, patch, pin or other 2017 merchandise, your last chance to buy on site will be in The Village Health & Wellness Expo store location today until 4 p.m.
For those who wish to buy items after you get home, please be aware that our vendor will not be processing orders for one week after The Games close to allow time to restock and organize their inventory.
Please visit the NSGA Official Merchandise Store after June 26th to gather more wearable memories of these historic 30th Anniversary Games.
Volunteers: Dedicated, Hard-Working, and Loved!
Staging the 2017 National Senior Games presented by Humana wouldn’t be possible without the help of more than 1,500 dedicated volunteers, most from the host city region.
Sporting blue 2017 volunteer shirts, they are the backbone of The Games, contributing many hours of hard work with various aspects of event operations, including athlete check-in, facility set-up, time and score-keeping and hospitality/tourist information.
“We had over 1,000 sign up in advance using our online registration program, and the rest were walk ups,” says Volunteer Services Coordinator Amy Lutzenkirchen. “Many told us they saw what was going on in the news and wanted to get involved and see what it was all about.”
What did they get out of it? We asked a few of volunteers about their experience:
“I wanted to see the Senior Games,” says Erica Kimbrough. “I’ve never even known that this was something out there, so to be able to be a part of and see it and to see these athletes that are in their 70s and 80s doing these things that I don’t wanna do in my 30s, I think it’s actually pretty cool.”
“I like the National Senior Games because I’ve gotten to meet a lot of people from all around the country. It’s been a cool experience to see how people as old as 96 to 100-year-old are able to participate and do things we thought weren’t possible,” says Britton Stutts.
“We just wanted to support the event and support the city of Birmingham,” says Jim Adams.
“I enjoyed meeting the people that were volunteering as well as the athletes that were coming in,” says Ann McCormack, who also loved hearing athlete’s stories and seeing the connections between them.
The National Senior Games Association is grateful for the support from the citizens of Birmingham who supported the 2017 National Senior Games. Thank you all for your time and dedication to this make this a big success!
Get to Know The Great Eight with Extended Interview Features
Have you read the Personal Best features about each athlete who has been in all of the National Senior Games? You owe it to yourself.
Find out WHO…
- Has her face on a Wheaties box…and on the 1993 Games poster
- Helped get basketball started in the country of Ireland
- Almost ran out of fuel in his private plane and worried about how it would look in the newspaper the next day
- Was a minister for over six decades
- Has battled chronic rheumatoid arthritis just to get out of bed since 1992, and yet has kept a perfect attendance record
- Inspired her granddaughter to run in the Boston Marathon and raise over $10,000 for charity in her name
- Wonders why he is slowing down even though he keeps the same diet and exercise regimen
- Met his wife in 1987 at the very first National Senior Games in St. Louis.
Find these stories, along with other informative and entertaining features here.
Humana Game Changer: Ileana Alvarez-Builla, 65, Miami, FL
As a recreational scuba diver, windsurfer, diver, black belt in karate and competitive table tennis player for the past 40 years, Ileana Alvarez-Builla is a multisport athlete who can do it all.
Ileana’s love for table tennis started at five years old when her father taught her how to play. At the time, Ileana was so small that her father – a baseball player in the 1950s for Aerovias Q, a private club in Cuba – had to make her a racket that she could hold. Ileana competed in a college championship and won a national league championship in 1979 in Cuba and went on to compete at the National Senior Games, among other competitions.
