Olympics come to Brooksby

By Dani Baldasarre
THE ERICKSON TRIBUNE

“People have been asking us for years to hold an Olympics at Brooksby Village,” says Rick DiScipio, wellness coordinator at Brooksby. “We held the events throughout the week and then gave out awards to the top three men and top three women in each event. Each received a gold, silver, or bronze medal. A large number of people competed in the events this year so it was a very exciting week!”

Events
The first annual Brooksby Olympics were recently held. People who live at the campus competed in a number of events including kickboard racing, bocce, horseshoes, billiards, shuffleboard, putting challenge, water volleyball, and table tennis.

First Olympic games
Historians differ on the date of the first Olympic Games—some say as early as 776 BC. Approximately 1700 years later, the Brooksby Olympic Games were held with nearly 100 people participating.

The event got started simply because the residents and staff wanted it to happen. “We though it would be another way to improve the healthy lifestyle here,” says Rick. “One of our objectives was to get more people involved, people who don’t normally do a lot of activities. There were a lot of people out there that I’ve never even seen before which was great.”

‘A great place to live’
One of those people involved was Dianne Schueler who moved to Brooksby from Melrose. Dianne is already very active in the Brooksby community so it made perfect sense for her to come out and participate. “They do a great job here at Brooksby. It’s a great place to live,” says Dianne.

Dianne won two gold medals in horseshoes and in billiards. And, when Dianne isn’t winning gold medals she’s out having fun doing the things she wants to do. “I play table tennis and billiards, swim in the pool, and do tai chi,” says Dianne. “There are not enough hours in the day to do everything that is offered here.”