Wentworth soccer team offers fitness and wellness for seniors
Elderly residents, 60 years and older, have the opportunity to join the Wentworth Women’s Football Club and improve fitness levels.
THE Wentworth Women’s Football Club’s Over 60s Team offers a platform for players to attain physical and mental wellness as well as a social life.
Irene Taylor, the team’s coach, said that after being dormant for the past three years, they recently started up again and are encouraging the elderly women of the community to join them.
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“The team was initially formed in 2010 and had played for a long time, taking on other over-60s teams from across the province. However, as it is a senior team, there were players who had to stop because of age-related health issues and injuries, and there were also deaths. We were then hit with the Covid-19 Pandemic, and all sporting activities came to a stop.
“When I first met some of the women, I was playing for the club’s over-35 team, so I was quite familiar with everyone and had built relationships with the women. So, when I was approached by some of the women recently to start up the team again and to coach them, I was more than excited to do so, and now we are aiming to have our first match soon,” she said.
Taylor said that along with fitness, the sport has many other great benefits.
“I have had one of the women tell me that she used to have joint pain, but it has eased up a lot since she started playing. However, apart from fitness, it is also an opportunity for them to have a social life. Many have been left alone, and this is a platform for them to meet and interact with other women and build relationships that extend off the field. It is great for their mental health,” she said.
Taylor encouraged all senior women to join them.
“The resilience that is shown by the women, especially when they are out on the field, is amazing. Don’t feel as if you are too old to play a sport. Our oldest team member is 75, and you would never say that when you watch her out on the field. You are only as old as you allow yourself to feel,” she said.
The team trains at the Ogle Road grounds in Wentworth on Mondays at 12:00 and on Fridays at 14:00.
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