The Parksville Golden Oldies Sports Association (PGOSA) is a big part of the healthy lifestyle of so many older residents.
“People want to move here, live here, because it’s a well run area with great weather, but when they’re sitting in Manitoba, looking to move here, they look at what’s here for them and they find the PGOSA website,” said president Brian Ball.
The organization has just under 1,300 members today, which Ball said has been a surprisingly stable number throughout their 23 year history.
“It stays pretty steady with new people moving here who want to remain active,” he said, admitting there can be a fair bit of “turnover through attrition,” speaking of older members who stop attending for various reasons.
“This area is unique in Canada, with the highest portion of senior population,” Ball said, adding that it is also an unusually active, healthy older population.
About 15 percent of the B.C. population is age 65 or older, according to Statistics Canada, while the number is closer to 40 percent in Parksville Qualicum Beach.
“People are living longer and staying active into their 80s and 90s,” he said, highlighting awards and recognition events they do for their oldest
members.
PGOSA currently offers more than 20 sports and activities ranging from brunches, RV trips and card games to some pretty serious sport, though Ball stresses it is always just about healthy fun.
“The competition is never so serious that we worry about ages, it’s always very congenial,” he said, pointing out they sometimes have 55 year olds “competing” against 95 year olds.
The most popular single sport is hockey — organized by The Parksville Panters as a
separate branch, with a number of teams of different age-groups — with 50 or 60 people regularly playing on a given day, Ball said.
But hockey is under threat of losing its title as the favourite
senior sport in the region to pickle ball.
A racquet sport combining badminton, tennis and ping pong, pickle ball is exploding, Ball said, going from 25 players two years ago, to 150 now.
Other big PGOSA sports include volleyball and slo-pitch.
PGOSA works with groups like the Newcomers Club and chambers of commerce to make sure new arrivals know they exist.
Visit www.pgosa.org for more information, including a list of contacts for the individual sports.
