December, 2009, Cheer News & Views

DSO Sports News

By Marion Lisehora mlisehora@mchsi.com

DSO Awards: At the DSO Annual Dinner on November 1, 2009, at the Modern Maturity Center in Dover, awards were presented to four very deserving DSO members.

Outstanding Athlete Award : Bill Dawkins has been involved with Delaware Senior Olympics for more than eight years. He has served on the DSO Board of Directors, helped with the Annual DSO Picnic, served as the racquetball sports coordinator, designed and made the torch used in our first torch run and competed successfully on both the state and national level. Bill earned nine medals at the Delaware Games last fall. He won gold medals in racquetball, long jump, high jump, broad jump, shot put and 100 meter dash and took silver in javelin, discus and swimming. This past summer he traveled to Palo Alto, California to compete in the National Senior Games in racquetball and finished fifth nationally in the 80-84 age bracket. Bill has only one complaint and that is he wishes that there were more competitors in his age group.

Outstanding Athlete Award: Jo Johnson has been a highly successful competitor in cycling for six years on the local, state and national levels. She is the DSO record holder in all four cycling competitions in the 55-59 age group and holds three of the four records in the 60-64 age group. At the National Senior Games in Hampton Roads she placed sixth or seventh in all four races and in Louisville in 2007 she finished 10th in the 5K time trial, 6th in the 10K time trial, 7th in the 20K road race and 6th in the 40K road race. Jo also competes in United States Cycling Federation events and has been successful in state events in Maryland, Arizona, Pennsylvania and Delaware. In 2006 she was first in the Masters category at the Mid Atlantic Time Trial Championships. In 2008 she was the USCF Masters National Champion finishing 1st in the Criterium, 2nd in the road race and 4th in the 20K time trial. These accomplishments are but a few of the many that she has had on both the State and National level.

Charlie Marten Memorial Award: Dave Mills has been diagnosed with the genetic degenerative disorder spinocerebellar ataxia. This disorder causes stiffness in his legs, sudden uncoordinated muscle movements and walking problems. Dave began swimming 17 years ago and swimming helps ease the pain in his legs. It is a good sport for him because he does not have to worry about falling. He swims 2 miles four to five times a week. He also gets physical therapy help for stretching his legs and finds relief by using his hot tub. Dave has been competing in DSO 50, 100 and 200 yard swimming events for the last three years and competed in the 500 yard event his first two years. He also serves as a volunteer instructor for an adaptive swim class at the Brandywine YMCA and represents the Brandywine and Bear/Glasgow YMCA’s.

Outstanding Volunteer Award: Robyn Kirby's interest in Delaware Senior Olympics began when she started playing volleyball and has continued as she has added both pickleball and bowling to her list of activities. She has served on the DSO Board of Directors for the past three years. Her computer skills quickly became evident and she took on the role of DSO Web Master. This past year she has spent over 500 hours redesigning the DSO website, adding new features and posting and soliciting new content. The result is a very attractive and highly informative website for all Senior Olympians and others to enjoy. In addition she has provided technical support for the DSO computers, network and staff. Robyn has served on the Women in the Games Committee, as chairperson for both the Membership Dues Committee and the Fund Raising Committee and represented DSO at Health Fairs.

Senior Group Challenge Award: The Delaware Senior Group Challenge, sponsored by the Delaware Senior Olympics, was won again by the Pelican Cove CHEER Silver Sneakers Fitness Center.  An awards ceremony was held at the Georgia House in Millsboro to present those who are active in the SGC with a championship T-shirt.  Sixty-Eight members of the fitness center participated in the SGC challenge with points totally over 220,000 collectively.  The members also participated in the WALK DE and collectively walked 25,000 miles (the distance of walking "around the world". Seven members of the Pelican Cove CHEER fitness center also participated in the Delaware Senior Olympics: Vito Ingerto-1st place golf; Al Scott- 1st place horseshoes; Ken Purchase- 2nd place horseshoes; Bill Knapp-2nd place horseshoes; Gus Iannacone-2nd place horseshoes; Dave Hudson-1st place in basketball shooting; John Clancy-1st place basketball shooting, honorable mention in horseshoes; Jayne McCleary- three 1st place medals in weight lifting.

Women’s Volleyball Class: An instructional volleyball class for women 45 and over will start January 5, 2010. Watch for the Indian River School District Community Education brochure that will come out in late December with registration information. This beginner’s class will be held at Georgetown Middle School from 7 - 9 p.m. on Tuesday evenings. It will run every Tuesday through the end of May. You may also register online at http://www.irsd-adulted.com/ Phone Marion Lisehora at 302-934-9512 for more information.

The Senior Lo-Del Volleyball League for women’s teams over age 50 will resume play on January 7, 2010. Currently there are six teams in the league. These teams will play every Thursday night at Georgetown Middle School from 7-9 p.m. New players must be on a team to register for Thursday nights. New teams are welcome. These teams also compete in Senior Olympic Tournaments. Teams play in the 5 year age group of the youngest player on the team. Call Marion Lisehora at 302-934-9512 for more information.

The Delaware First Staters 70+ volleyball team was at the Volleyball House in Elkridge, MD, for a tournament on Nov. 7. It was the only 70+ team participating, but won its match against Snap, Crackle and Pop 65s from MD/PA. It also played two 60s teams – one from PA and one from MD, and the First Staters team was very competitive in its losses to the younger teams. Local downstate women on the First Staters team were Mandy Bouvier, Doris Brown, Marion Lisehora, Harriet Mair and Judy Stevenson. Arline Brown from Wilmington also played with them.