Improve your mental health and your physical well-being!
There is strong evidence that by making and maintaining social contacts, not only do you experience enjoyment, there is every indication that you will live a healthier and longer life!!
That is a direct quote from the “old shuffler web site by: Stan and Alf” in 2008.
The phrase is so true, and is never more evident that “seeing is believing”
Ruth Addison in the photo has passed beyond her 93 birthday and still enjoys the game of Shuffleboard. Ruth plays twice a week at the Coldwater Ontario Canada Shuffleboard Club during the summer months and one day a week during the winter months.
Ruth fell in love with the game of Shuffleboard many years ago during her winters in Florida, and that passion has stayed with her with all these years.
The time came when; “like many other Canadians” due to health conditions and the high cost of out of country insurance that Ruth was no longer able to spend her winters in Florida.
When Ruth learned that Shuffleboard was going to start up in Coldwater (back in May 2006), she became all excited about the possibility of playing shuffleboard once again, and according to her daughter, Ruth became a new woman overnight.
Ruth says she may not have the stamina to play as aggressively as she once did, and three games is about all she wants to play in one day now.
However Ruth can still match her skills with the best Coldwater has to offer as can be attested by the Pros such as Peter and Erica Berg or Grace and Ross Pipher and the many others in the club who Ruth may have laid a beating on: “on all in good fun”.
The Coldwater Club where Ruth has been member since the beginning has grown in 5 short years to a membership total of 164 players in 2010.
A new and rewarding experience for the Club this summer was in having a group of special needs adults take part in a separate game of Shuffleboard once a week.
According to the members who helped each week, the enjoyment and gratification received by having these individuals learn and play the game of shuffleboard is one that will not soon be forgotten,and I would recommend other Clubs consider a similar endeavor.
As you can see in the picture of the boy getting ready to shoot, the form and style may not be up to the standards of a “Florida Pro” but I can honestly tell you the same thrill and excitement is there when the shot is made.
As individuals we may find different satisfactions and rewards in life, some by winning and some by helping others.
What ever your choice in life may be, we do know that Shuffleboard can bring these rewards and enjoyment for a “healthier and longer life ” as per the quote from Stan and Alf of the shuffler.
I will always remember Roy Norman’s philosophy and a tribute he made at a banquet to one of his fellow shuffleboard players called:
The Demonstration Way
I would rather see a lesson,than hear one any day. I would rather you walk with me, than merely show the way. The eye a better teacher, and more willing than the ear. Too fast your tongue may go, but example always clear. The best of all the teachers (shufflers) are those who live their creed. For to see good but in action, is what every body needs.
Submitted by Gary Pipher
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