REDLANDS - It is a bright and beautiful morning, and Plymouth Village activity and fitness coordinator Shannon Roundtree is losing at tennis. Her opponent, Betty Geftakys, swings her arm with the all the experience of her years playing tennis socially. Bill Prigger watches the two women compete next to the pool table, lit by the dim light overhead.
The two women are playing tennis on Wii Sports, a game that comes with Nintendo Wii consoles. Some studies have shown that the Wii game system can help burn calories in children, but it is being noticed that another generation benefits from the social and physical aspects of the unique system.
According to a 2008 survey by the Entertainment Software Association, one out of every four game players are over 50 years old.
"You can enjoy recreational activities right here," said Roundtree, who said the Village has had the system for about a year. The Wii is available for residents to play every day. Roundtree said that on Thursdays a group of people play bowling every week.
The Wii is also used for physical therapy, including the Wii Fit game and the accompanying balance board. Roundtree said the Wii is a good way for residents to socialize. "It's adaptable for everyone," Roundtree said. "Everyone can do it."
Prigger, 90, goes fishing every couple of days on the Wii, although he said he has played almost every game available. "I've done everything - bowled, played tennis, boxed," Prigger said, who said he was a boxing light-heavyweight champ in college. "I think it's a wonderful way to exercise, and to bring back a lot of good memories," Prigger said.
"You can exercise and have the same kinds of fun as you did before," Geftakys said. She said she enjoys playing tennis and bowling the most, and plays often. "This gives me the opportunity to do these kinds of things with the capacity that age has given me," she said. "I always feel better after I do it," she said.
"Especially when she plays and beats me," Roundtree said.
Geftakys said that she enjoys the Wii because she gets exercise playing it, the game also makes her think, in contrast to just exercising on a treadmill. "On here, you're stimulated to do better," she said.
Readers Comnments
Anonymous: The 'playing tennis socially for years' makes me laugh because it is such a blatant lie. She says it as if she played until old age prevented it, when the reality is, any tennis she played was pre-1970.
It's also ironic to me that on this website there all these people who have had struggles, pain, and heartache at the hands of this woman and her husband. She lived for so long in this world where she was the queen bee, and now here she is simply playing Wii in a senior retirement center! Bizarre!
I think that during the Assembly, the power was like a drug addiction for her. I think she desperately craved what was eating her alive. She couldn't walk away from meddling in people's lives because it gave her that rush of power, but she had to balance a complicated facade to do so. I think now the Wii gives her some distraction.
I also think this is how she copes with George. I wonder if she actually has fun. Hmm. Strange thought!
It's humorous, sad, and infuriating. I wish Betty were able to understand how much good she could be doing if she would try to make things right with people.
R.C. commented: Regarding Betty's latest diversion, and the Geftakys' 'Plymouth House' in the land of gracious living, this is our tithe-dollars at work. They are living this dream life compliments of the people they hurt. Is it ever going to end? Their smug attitude is intolerable.