Striking Gold

By David Maurer

Published: August 17, 2008

The Olympians, some steadying themselves on canes and walkers, marched beneath a large American flag suspended from the dining room ceiling at Our Lady of Peace retirement community in Albemarle County.

As Joe Giovanelli played George M. Cohan’s spirited march, “You’re a Grand Old Flag,” on the piano, the aged athletes smiled and waved to their applauding friends and neighbors assembled in the DePiro Room. Although these competitors moved with slow steps, their eyes shone as brightly and their heads were held as high as their much younger counterparts half a world away.

The opening ceremony kicked off the Wii Bowling Olympics at Our Lady of Peace. The recent event, as well as the ensuing games, coincide with the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China.

Wii, pronounced “we,” is a video game console made by Nintendo that allows users to simulate playing sports, such as tennis, fishing, baseball, golf, boxing and bowling. The local retirement community got its first Wii several weeks ago, and it’s proving to be wildly popular with many of the residents.

“Wii has been taking our little community here by storm,” said Mache Wells, community relations coordinator at Our Lady of Peace. “It has a wonderful way of allowing people to perform the same actions they would while playing the actual sport.

“It’s a great way to provide fun for our seniors while keeping them physically active and limber. We’ve been noticing that a lot of retirement communities are implementing Wii into their activity programs.

“The other night I was here to almost 9 o’clock bowling with some of the residents. We were having so much fun.”

Wells said the Wii Bowling Olympics was an ideal way to foster the Olympic spirit of togetherness among the residents and provide them with a feeling of unity with our faraway athletes. The competition will include about 125 residents from 10 retirement communities throughout Virginia that, like our Lady of Peace, are managed by Coordinated Services Management.

Each community will have teams in four categories — independent living, assisted living, nursing care and Alzheimer’s and dementia care. All participants will be awarded medals, with the three top scorers receiving gold, silver and bronze medals.

“The only Olympic game we’re playing is bowling, because that’s the easiest game for

everybody to play,” Wells said. “All the people involved will be participating throughout the Olympics.

“At one point, we will tally up the scores of our top players and form our main teams. We’ll do that so the folks who have the highest scores will compete against a team with comparable scores. This will make it fair.

“All the participants are volunteers. Some of them have experience bowling, and they’re helping the others. It’s all really simple, because you don’t have a whole series of buttons to push.”

Only two buttons come into play in the Wii bowling scenario. That’s not to say the game is without its challenges. No one at Our Lady of Peace has bowled a perfect 300 game yet.

“It’s been fun, but I still have trouble coordinating the buttons,” said June Moon-Gaedecke, who is on the Charlottesville Rockettes team. “There’s a button on the top of the thing you hold and a release button on the bottom.

“You press the button at the top and then you bring your arm back just like you do when you’re bowling. When you get the ball where you want to release it you push the lower button.

“I bowl regularly on a team, and the best game I’ve ever bowled was 209. The best I’ve done at Wii bowling is 161. It’s actually easier for me to bowl the regular way, because I don’t have to use buttons. I just need to let the ball go.”

James Bremner rolled his first ball down a bowling alley about the same time he started grade school. A passion for the game quickly developed and, in later life, his two favorite bowling companions were his sons.

About eight years ago, when the New York native was 80, he retired his ball and bowling shoes to the closet, where they have remained ever since. Now, with the new Wii technology, he has been able to again play the sport he loves.

“Oh, this Wii thing is terrific,” said Bremner, who once bowled a 252 the traditional way. “You have to have a good swing and release the ball right.

“I think my experience with real bowling helps me, because I know where to place the ball. Using the Wii you can actually make the ball curve into the strike zone and adjust the speed of the ball.

“You should see some of the young kids who come here play. They really heave the ball down there. I think it’s great for everybody, and it lets me again play a sport I’ve played and enjoyed most of my life.” Sue Corney has never rolled a bowling ball down a regulation hardwood lane. But after playing a few games the Wii way, she has become an enthusiast.

“This is nice because you don’t use a heavy ball,” Corney said. “Once you get coordinated with the gadget we use, it gets easier.

“After that, it’s just a matter of lining it up and throwing the ball down the lane [on the screen]. I’ve always liked athletics, but I’m too old to do most of it.

“So this is really right up my alley, so to speak. My granddaughter, who is seven, told me, ‘Come on, Grandma, I can take you on.’ She really knows how to do it, so kids love it too.

“Being part of the Wii Olympics is very exciting. I love the Olympics anyway, so it’s fun to be feeling like we’re a part of it.”

Mark Bernardino, head swimming and diving coach at the University of Virginia, was the guest speaking at the opening ceremony at Our Lady of Peace. During his own swimming career at UVa he set six program records and was the recipient of the 1974 UVa Male Athlete of the Year Award.

Bernardino qualified for three NCAA championships and the 1972 U.S. Olympic Trials. As a coach he has trained several swimmers who went on to compete in the Olympics. Two of his former swimmers are competing in Beijing — one is representing Croatia and the other Colombia.

“I think the Olympic movement involves more than the Olympic athletes themselves,” said Bernardino, who has guided both the men’s and women’s swimming and diving programs at the university for 30 years.

“As a movement it encompasses people of all ages and all abilities. Obviously, we glorify those athletes who have reached the highest level of success and excellence in their chosen sport.

“But without all the people throughout the world who take such pride in their country and in the sports of their choosing, there would be no Olympic movement. And this is really the only opportunity the world has to get together.

“And it’s a time when the world is supposed to be, if you go back to the original Greek ideals, at peace.”

Before the opening ceremony, Bernardino was introduced to the Wii Olympians. Later, he spoke about the experience.

“The thought that grabbed me when I looked into the eyes of these Olympians is that they are still enjoying life with the same active and energetic spirit they had when they were 18, 20 or 30 years old,” Bernardino said.

“But before today, the only thing I knew about Wii was that when my kids asked for it for Christmas, I shot them down.”

Bernardino’s four children may want to run that request by Dad one more time. Some parents who balk at getting their kids passive video games are seeing the benefits in one that at least makes the user move more than his thumbs.

“If I were to get my son a gaming system, I’d get him a Wii,” Wells said. “It satisfies the urge to play a video game, but it keeps the person active.

“But when something new comes along and it has to do with technology, many older people are uneasy about it. So we held an opening day of Wii and invited the residents to come and try it.

“Rose Levski, who recently passed away shortly after her 103rd birthday, was our first volunteer to try the Wii. Everybody followed her, and once they learned how simple it was, all the anxiety about the Wii went out the window.

“We were all very sad when Rose left us. She was a real gem, a treasure box of wisdom, and she never lost that old-school sense of confidence.”

During the recent opening ceremony, Ernest Mark Nease carried the festively wrapped flashlight-torch the last several feet. From his wheelchair he handed it to Bernardino, who in turn used it to ignite the Olympic flame.

“Let the games begin,” Bernardino said.

The opening ceremony concluded with Giovanelli playing “God Bless America.”

Until the closing ceremony on Friday, the Olympic flame will help brighten up the community at our Lady of Peace.

Theirs is a simple paper flame made to flutter by a small fan at its base. And even though its color comes from two tiny amber lights, it serves as a fitting symbol for unity and the human spirit.

After everyone had finished their milkshakes and gone off to do other things, June Moon-Gaedecke went outside to enjoy the beautiful weather. As she sat on a bench in the entrance breezeway she smiled and commented about the ceremony to a visitor.

“That was quite nice, wasn’t it?” she said.

“Yes,” the visitor replied. “It really was.”