Dufferin Villa Olympics goes over the top with enjoyment

Dufferin Villa in Portage la Prairie held its Olympics over the entire second week of February. Activities Coordinator Lucy van Dongen says 13 different events took place with residents enjoying a great time together.

Van Dongen outlines the activities.

"Most of them were self-led," says Van Dongen. "Tenants could go around to the different events and participate as often as they wanted to. There were also some events that were scheduled for different times throughout the week -- things like the shuffleboard tournament and balloon badminton."

She explains participation was great, and a team competition was involved, based on which of the three floors on which the residents live.

"At the end of the week, we had a winner," she says. "We had gold, silver, and bronze medal winners. Every floor got a medal and a prize. People were doing things like golf putting, archery, a bean bag game, and Nerf gun target shooting. We had a brain teaser competition, Valentine card making, cookie baking contest, and Frisbee obstacle course. The shuffleboard tournament I mentioned was a curling game on the shuffleboard, and we had two teams from each floor competing."

Medals displayed by Walter Hargest, Marion Switzer and Lucy van Dongen

Van Dongen says this wound up with a championship game. She adds the games room was packed with both spectators and players, making for plenty of fun.

"People really participated, got to know other people, and do some activities together. So, I think it was a really good success," notes van Dongen.

Marion Switzer was part of the competition and adds what she saw as one of the best outcomes was to see people who live alone at the Villa join everyone and take part.

"They come out and they join us for meals, and that's wonderful. But then we don't see them," says Switzer. "The games brought them out and they had so much fun."

She explains balloon badminton was especially enjoyable.

"We all sat in a circle in our team and I had to sit because there are people in wheelchairs," continues Switzer. "So, to be fair, we're sitting and she tossed the balloon up in the air, but before she did that, she said. 'Well, here's what you're going to hit the balloon with.' And we each received a fly swatter. So, you had to hit the balloon as many times as you could before it hit the floor. Well, the laughs. . . and it's just truly enjoyable. Those are my two highlights of the games. The third thing is she did a really good job of getting it all set up and ready, and we appreciate that very, very much."

Walter Hargest was another of the athletes, and agrees with Switzer about the camaraderie the event brought to the residents.

"We met people we've seen for a month but didn't who they were, and it was good," says Hargest. "They did a great job of organizing it, too. It was really good. It was good for everybody."