Senior honours promise to return to Canada 55 Plus Games

BARRHEAD - When Bessie Stevens returned home from the 2018 Canada 55 Plus Games with a bronze medal in golf, the then Fort Assiniboine resident told her husband John she would be making a return trip to the 2020 games in Kamloops, B.C. — and while it may be a little delayed, she has kept her promise. 

In a little over a month, Stevens will join her bowling team (Glen and Marge Thompson, Wayne Sheran and Vern Kalmbach) in the B.C. city to compete in the team bowling event in the 65-year-old category. Sheran and the Thompsons are from Fort Assiniboine, while Kalmbach and Stevens are from Barrhead. In bowling, the team competes in the age category of its youngest member. 

While Stevens will be competing with her team in bowling, she also had the opportunity to compete in golf after once again qualifying for the games by winning gold in the 85 plus category at the Alberta 55 Plus Summer Games in Peace River last month. Stevens turns 85 in September. 

However, she chose bowling to be with her team, adding as the events take place simultaneously, it was impossible to compete in both. "It has been a bit of a whirlwind, the last few months," she said. 

Due to COVID, the 2020 Canada Games were cancelled or postponed, and as a result, Stevens said, Alberta Sport Connection, the organizers of the Alberta 55 Plus games, had to scramble to host the winter games and the summer games only three months apart, to allow competitors to qualify for the Canada Games in Kamloops. The Alberta 55 Winter Games, where Steven's bowling team qualified for the Canada Games, winning silver, were held in Edmonton in early April. 

"Because if we went back to when the last Canada Games were held, some of those people might not even be with us. That is why they had to put on the (Alberta 55 Plus Winter Games) to ensure there were participants for the (Kamloops) games," Stevens said, adding the Edmonton games might have come close to record attendance. "There were 1,300 people at the closing banquet. It might have been the best games I have ever attended. People just wanted to go out and do stuff again." 

And Stevens has been to a lot of them. She first became involved in the Canada 55 Plus movement starting in 1998, first starting at the regional level before progressing to the provincial level and qualifying to represent Zone 5 in various sports, including golf, bowling, and curling at multiple Alberta 55 Plus Games, starting with the Olds/Didsbury effort in 1999.

In 2014, Stevens got her first taste of competing at the national level after she qualified for the Canada 55 Plus Games hosted by Strathmore County. 

As for how she qualified for the Alberta 55 Summer Games in golf, Stevens did it by winning the Zone 5 Black Gold/Yellowhead qualifying tournament in Westlock in September. 

"It was not a nice day. It was cold and blowing," she said. 
However, she said the weather was much better for the two rounds she played at the Mighty Peace Golf Club.  

"It was warm enough that you did not need a jacket. At times there was a bit of wind, and on the second day, it did rain late in the day, but by then, I was off the course, she said." 

In the evening, between rounds, Stevens said it did rain, leaving the fairway wet but just enough to make players' shoes wet, and did not impact the quality of play on the greens. 

Stevens played in a threesome with a player from Calgary and Rocky Mountain House. 

"They were great to play with. Even though we were competing against each other, everyone was so friendly. Which is to be expected because we are seniors," she joked. 

At the end of the first round, Stevens shot 117, a score she was not happy with — "I knew I could do better." 
The next day she dwindled that down to a 105, "which I was very happy with." 

Asked if Kamloops will be the last Canada 55 Plus Games she will attend, Stevens said she hopes not, adding it will depend on how she does at qualifying meets. 

"The 55 Games Plus (movement) is so wonderful," she said, adding it does not matter if someone did not compete or play a sport when they were younger. "You just have to go out there and do it. There are a lot of activities you can get involved with." 

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