WS Chronicle

Photo by Timothy Ramsey

BY TIMOTHY RAMSEY

THE CHRONICLE

The Piedmont Plus Senior Games & Silver Arts Event will be coming to Winston-Salem in a little over two weeks time.  To create more community awareness Chuck Vestal, Senior Games coordinator, brought together several media outlets to compete against seniors in five Senior Games events.

96.3 WTOB, The Chronicle and the Winston-Salem Journal sent representatives to play against the seniors in a basketball shootout, ping-pong, cornhole, shuffleboard and bocce ball.  The seniors walked away as champions with the Chronicle staff coming in second followed by the Journal and WTOB.

Vestal said his intention for the event was to introduce more journalists to what the Senior Games are all about and the type of athletes that compete in them.

“I learned from our senior gamers that competition is a good thing,” Vestal said.  “I thought if we threw a challenge out there it would bring some more of our media outlets in and one thing led to another and it just developed from there.”

The Chronicle staff played admirably in all events but came up short to place second, topping all other media outlets in the event.

“I enjoyed just coming out here and participating,” said Chronicle reporter, Tevin Stinson.  “I wanted to show that I had a little skill on the ping-pong table.  I didn’t come in first but it was fun.  I expected the seniors to have some skill but I didn’t know I was going against a state champion like I did.  He did surprise me and I lost several times but I had fun.”

Chronicle staff member Samantha Dencher said, “I mostly enjoyed getting a chance to meet people from around Winston-Salem’s media outlets.  I was shocked at how not only athletic but how keen and cunning some of the seniors were.  They came prepared and they were not prepared to lose.”

The seniors who participated were some of the best in the area in their respective events.  Jim Crouch, who participated in the basketball shoot, said he plays basketball three or more times a week.  At the tender age of 74 he says he will play as long as he is able.

“I had a great time and it was very cool to have all of the journalists here,” Crouch said.  “I think my performance was bad because I normally play better than that.  I only expect excellence out of myself and when the games come around, I expect to do better than I did today.”

Vestal says he wants the seniors to know that you don’t have to be a supreme athlete to compete in the games because some of them don’t require much athleticism.  He said having fun is the main thing.