 |
 |
RETIREMENT & LIFESTYLE PLANNING | |
|||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||
| ISSUE - 16 | |
|||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Leeanne Grantham, CEO of the Melbourne 2002 World Masters Games, has been in charge of the biggest games event Melbourne has ever seen. With 24,000 competitors, the World Masters Games was twice the size of the Olympics and the Commonwealth Games combined.
"I have to tell you this is the most rewarding job I’ve ever worked in," she says.
What made it so rewarding was that the event seemed to be good for everyone and for everything. Great for sport: there were 29 sports included, from archery to weightlifting. Wonderful for life skills: these were events for competitors from their 30s to their 90s. Fabulous for tourism: more than 6500 competitors came from 92 countries around the world, and their average stay was nine nights. The remaining competitors were Australian.
The Melbourne Games was the fifth. In previous years the Games have been held in Portland (Oregon), Brisbane, Denmark, and Toronto.
The message of these games is simple. They are about sport for life. One of the oldest competitors, Charlie Booth, from Bendigo in Victoria, turned 91 on October 1, a few days before the Games started.
These Games quite specifically exclude the youngest. The minimum age for most of the sports is 30. The average age of competitors is 45. There is little sense of elitism, because competitors are able to decide at what level they will compete in all the Masters Game. There are Premier divisions, as well as A, B, and C grades. That enables, for example, a high school hockey team to re-form to play again. But there are always lots of former Olympians and Commonwealth Games competitors and champions taking part. Even Leeanne, who represented Australia in basketball in the late 1970s, registered to compete.
The Games were run under the auspices of State sporting associations, and it is those bodies who set the rules, set the programming and schedules. They were held at over 54 venues across metropolitan and greater Melbourne and in the four regional host cities of Ballarat, Bendigo, Geelong and Nagambie.
The World Masters Games represent sports at their best – competitive certainly, but also social and recreational.
"This is a feel-good event," said Leeanne. "It’s about everyday people, health, sport, tourism, goodwill." It is also about how well sponsorship can work. Leeanne was full of praise for sponsors RetireInvest, who she says have been "wonderful", adding value in unexpected ways, such as encouraging staff nationally to become involved.
The Games are not especially about nationalism. Individual competitors may decide to wave their national flags, but the medals are for individuals representing themselves, not their countries.
But as host country, Australia was well and truly involved. Andrew Gaze was a major Ambassador. And there was a group of outstanding ambassadors, all entering into the spirit of the Games - as well as the actual events. Before the Games, Nick Green, one quarter of the "Oarsome Foursome" and dual Olympic gold medallist, was thinking of trying a new sport he could try, like basketball. Michele Timms, Australia’s best ever female basketballer, was cycling at the Games. Dual gold Olympic medallist, Russell Mark, decided to play basketball and shoot. Sue Stanley, fitness guru and three-time world aerobic champion, encouraged beginners to join her in the 10km walk at the Games and Tommy Hafey, AFL legend, gave kayaking a go. Patron of the Games is the Governor of Victoria, John Landy AC MBE, whose own sporting record is one the whole country rejoiced in during the Melbourne Olympics.
The opening ceremony was the last big event after the football Grand Final before the MCG site is redeveloped, and included a rock festival with the Masters of Rock performing songs from all eras, in keeping with the spirit of the Games which provide something for everyone.
It’s not easy being a rower. It’s hard and demanding work, with a great deal of training required for a short event. But for men in their 40s and 50s, there are even greater challenges.
Melbourne architect Peter Williams from the firm of Williams Boag explains it all. He competed in the Melbourne 2002 World Masters Games in the C and D divisions, over 1000 metres. The average age of the D crew was 55, the average for the C crew was 50. There were 48 crews competing in the D division – "baby boomers from round the world". Even the New Zealand squad that did so well in the 1972 Olympic Games was competing in that division.
He and the rest of the team trained early in the morning, around six, so they could get to work as normal. Training in the later afternoon was impossible, he said, because they all had their work, and late afternoon meetings, and family commitments. There were, he said with understatement, "lots of demands on time".
Why did they do it? "Rowing has been a passion," he said. "We all value it. It’s a precious thing, something worthwhile we must do."
They are mutually reliant, mutually supportive, supported also by their families. "It’s a combination of camaraderie, personal goals, and excellence," Peter explained. But there is even more to it, because the training itself involves confidence (having the confidence to be there at early morning training, and in the competitions), and unexpected rewards. One morning, they began their training in the dark, under a full silver moon, with a metre of mist above the river, and were rowing through the transition of moonlight to dawn. "It was aesthetically wonderful," Peter said.
They all came back to rowing about eight years ago. He was with the Melbourne University Rowing Club, but decided it wouldn’t suit them to continue there. He identifies one of the key differences between the elitism of big-time sport and what is represented by the Masters Games – what he calls "the middle of the road who are passionate and committed". But not always the best.
They now base themselves at the Wesley College rowing sheds on the Yarra River and attach themselves to the Alan Mitchell Club. The Club is a support group for the private school’s rowing efforts. Some of the dozen-strong squad have been parents of children at the school, some are old boys, some are simply keen rowers. Peter says the older rowers are also aware they are providing an example to the rowers within the College, showing them that sporting involvement does not end with final year of school - and that men in their 50s with solid careers and busy lives can still find time for rowing.
As a squad, they have had considerable success, including winning the international regatta in Adelaide in 1997, in the C7 and C8 divisions. They also competed in the international regatta in Seville in Spain a couple of years later. That was particularly challenging because they had been training in mid-winter and competed in a ferocious summer, where commentators noted their pale Australian winter complexions.
The trip to Seville turned out to be invaluable for the other part of Peter’s life, his architectural life. John Mitchell (son of Alan Mitchell) is a member of the squad, and had bought a vineyard on the Mornington Peninsula, which he called Montalto. Peter Williams was the architect to design the cellar door and restaurant. He and John found much of their inspiration in Seville, in the Moorish-influenced buildings and courtyards and in the way they interact with the landscape.
Like the moonlight training, the experiences of Seville provided unexpected rewards. A considerable bonus for someone who says: "Being able to get the Games and compete is reward enough."
Anthony Senserrick, 57, runs market gardens in Keilor and specialises in growing artichokes. His family has run the gardens for three generations now, with his grandfather setting them up soon after his arrival from Spain in the 1920s. He and his wife, Margaret, have five children, aged between 15 and 34.
Spanish passion and determination are traits common to Anthony and his eldest daughter, Carmen, 33. These qualities held them in good stead when they competed in the Masters Games recently, in the shooting and the swimming respectively. They are both devotees of all sports, pretty much ?sports mad’. "Dad and I never lose interest in sport," Carmen says. "To enter a competition with people of all levels - including ex-Olympians - was amazing," she said. The Senserricks’ love of competition is also strong.
"Everyone who competed at the Games was trying like hell to win. We were on the line; trying to live up to our previous boasts," said Anthony.
Carmen has been passionate about sport for as long as she can remember: "I was obsessed by the Olympics from a very early age." She argues the Masters Games are particularly important for women.
"It’s very positive for women to stay in sport and there are so many ways you can but women often don’t," she said. Carmen says the older women competing acted as role models for young women. "The times they do are very competitive – scarily competitive," she laughed.
Originally, Anthony was entering the Games solo but he bought the entry form home and noticed several sports Carmen was interested in were also on offer.
"I said to her, "Carmen, this is a great opportunity, they’ll never be in Melbourne again, not in my lifetime,’" he recalls. Carmen was quickly convinced and decided to compete in the swimming. "Dad’s enthusiasm rubbed off on me," she said.
Anthony started shooting when he was 16. He says his introduction to the sport was something of a necessity: "If Mum wanted a rabbit for dinner, we would go out and shoot it." His father was also a shooter.
Carmen traditionally swims recreationally, but to train for the Games she joined a local swimming squad. "It was a more formal way of swimming," she said. "It worked me three or four times harder than I would have otherwise."
She says it pushed her to achieve times she had not realised she could swim and a significantly higher fitness level. "It’s different when you’re motivated by a short-term goal."
Anthony saw the Masters Games as a brilliant opportunity for Melbourne. "They’re open and accessible to all people," he said. "Australia is attractive to overseas visitors on many levels. People feel safe here."
Having shot competitively in Spain, Anthony enjoyed the opportunity to meet shooters from around the world. The social element of the Games for him was as important as the competitive: "The camaraderie between shooters is very strong - if you need anything, they’re there for you."
|
|
|
Your Life, Your Retirement. PO Box 1150N Armadale North Victoria 3143 Australia
Phone: 613 9824 6901 - Fax: 613 9824 6362
Email: publisher@yourlifechoices.com.auIS PUBLISHED BY
Copyright Retirement Publishing Pty Ltd 2001 -- ISSN 1031-6620 ACN 088 049 218
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED No parts of this publication may be printed, reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the permission in writing from the publishers, with the exception of short extracts for review purposes.
PUBLISHERS NOTE While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the information given in the publication, the publishers do not, in any way accept liability for inaccuracies or for loss of any kind, whether caused through editorial matter or in the form of claims made in advertisements.
Your Retirement is published by Retirement Publishing Pty. Ltd.
IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER No person should rely on contents of this publication or website without first obtaining advice from a qualified professional person. This publication is sold on the terms and understanding that (1) the publisher, authors, consultants and editors are not responsible for the results of any actions taken on the basis of information in this publication, nor for any omission from this publication; and (2) the publisher is not engaged in rendering legal accounting, professional or other advice or services. The publisher and the authors, consultants and editors expressly disclaim all and any liability and responsibility to any person, whether a purchaser or reader of this publication or not, in respect of anything, and of the consequences of anything done or omitted to be done by any such person in reliance, whether wholly or partially, upon the whole of any part of the contents of this publication. Without limiting the generality of the above no publisher, author, consultant or editor shall have any responsibility for any act or omission of any author, consultant or editor.
Financial
Security
