The province of B.C. has provided a $150,000 grant to a seniors鈥� gymnastics program in the city of Delta, encouraging local seniors to socialize, work on their mobility and boost their daily activities.
鈥淲e鈥檙e super excited that we are able to expand this program through this provincial grant,鈥� said Ana Arciniega, director of the Delta Gymnastics Society, on 麻豆传媒 Channel Wednesday.
Arciniega said her organization had piloted the program a couple of years ago through a federal grant initiative, but said the expansion answers 鈥渢hat always fun question, 鈥榃hat if?鈥� -- what if we have seniors doing gymnastics?鈥�
Different from the sport of gymnastics famous for the tumbling, flexibility and high-flying feats of human elasticity, Arciniega and her team offer 鈥渢he activity of gymnastics,鈥� which is 鈥渢he foundation for all sports.鈥�
鈥淲e teach the ABC鈥檚 of sports 鈥� agility, balance, co-ordination and strength,鈥� she said.
Arciniega said that the program has 鈥減roved to have more benefits than we initially expected,鈥� saying that participating seniors experience 鈥渃amaraderie and laughter鈥� while 鈥渆ncouraging each other.鈥�
鈥淲e鈥檙e not only building confidence in movement and the competence in regaining those [mobility] skills but the motivation to continue to come,鈥� Arciniega said. 鈥淲e鈥檝e had seniors come who were lonely and now they come every week and they love it.鈥�
The next steps for the program are twofold -- create a course manual to provide to other gymnastic facilities who want to replicate the program, and the roll-out of other pilot programs in other B.C. communities.
