Jackie Whelan sits near one of the Groton Senior Center’s wide projector screens March 24 instructing participating seniors how to bowl. The senior center’s lanes are a bit smaller than most, and Whelan’s instructions include the bowling-unorthodox “Press A.” For program supervisor Whelan, it’s just another day of Wii Sports play at the Groton Senior Center. With another swing of her arm, a new Wii user sends the ball rolling down the on-screen alley. Quiet talk quickly escalates into cheers as everyone witnesses the player’s strike.
“They love it,” Whelan later said with a smile. “People that thought they couldn’t do it are really enjoying it.”
Whelan said the idea to bring Wii to Groton came to her when she saw a senior center in Meriden hosting a Wii demonstration on television.
“[The station] said that because they had a demonstration, Health Net provided them a free Wii machine,” Whelan said, “so I wrote to [Health Net] and asked if we can do a demonstration and get a Wii machine, too. He [agreed], and...we set it up.”
Thus far, she says the gaming system has been great, getting seniors in the center up and active. Back in the game room, Groton resident Darrell Haynes concentrates as he battles Mystic resident Alfred Bradley. Haynes bowls in a traditional league but he also has played Wii Sports with his son-in-law and nephew.
“My score’s about the same as it is at the bowling alley!” Haynes says. “I think [Wii Sports] is great for everybody because you can actually do this sitting, you don’t have to stand up, and a lot of people that couldn’t go bowling can now bowl, play tennis, or whatever they want to.”
He doesn’t know if the program is going to bring more people to the center, but he continues to call the senior center the best-kept secret in Groton.
Life-long Groton resident Diane Haines rolled a strike in her first Wii Sports game.
“I think it’s wonderful,” Haines said. “I’ve never had a strike before, so it’s great. My first strike!”
She has already signed up for the senior citizens’ league and is thinking about inviting her brothers and sister who live in Ledyard to join.
“We’re going to just start with the bowling, because eventually Health Net would like for us to have a regional competition and a state competition,” Whelan noted.
“The hardest thing that we have is finding it,” said Bob Beckwith, community events planner of Health Net in Shelton, referring to Wiis.
It’s no secret that the Wii is a hot commodity. According to wikipedia.org, Wii is the fifth home video game console released by Nintendo, which targets a broader demographic than most and is Nintendo’s smallest home console to date. Even after the holiday season, crowds of people are still lining up at stores in search of Wii consoles.
“We have to go like everybody else does. We can only get them one at a time wherever we can find them,” Beckwith continued. “[Stores] won’t sell us any more than one at a time.”
He said it probably took Health Net about 30 days to acquire a Wii for Groton, since he received Whelan’s request. But he knows it’s worth the wait.
“It’s great because of the exercise factor; it brings people together, gets people motivated, and it’s a good time,” Beckwith said. “We’re looking forward to the state challenge.”
Beckwith said Groton is the only town in the southeastern Connecticut area that has received a Wii from Health Net so far, but he imagines that more local towns such as New London and East Lyme soon will join the movement.
“We have them going up to Enfield, Danbury, Greenwich…we’ve probably given out about 40 so far,” Beckwith noted.
He added that he’s hoping area senior citizen centers will start local challenges in May that will ideally grow into regional challenges.
“What senior centers have to do to commit to this is have 30 people for a demo,” Beckwith explained. “In other words, we can’t just go out and give every senior center a free Wii game. They have to bring people in, show people how to use it, and actually get them involved with the challenge. But it’s working out very well. It’s working out better than I thought,” he said, laughing.
For more information, visit the Groton Senior Center, 52 Newtown Road, Groton, or call 441-6785.