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Home GAMEPlan Senior Athletes really under- stand what competing is about and what it takes to be able to train and compete at the high- est level, even as they age. —Mike Sophia, NSGA at night, the downtown festival area is close at hand for the athletes and their families." For Gilbert, the event is about sports, the United States Olympic Committee (USOC). Dedicated to motivating senior men and women to lead a healthy lifestyle, the NSGA also governs the bi-annual Summer National Senior Games, the largest multi-sport event in the world for seniors. Only the top 3 or 4 percent of athletes at the state games qualify for nationals. Planning and carrying out these state and national events for seniors is a lot like running a multi-sport event for any age group, said Clay Harris, manager of marketing and sponsor relations for the NSGA. "There's almost no difference between an NSGA event versus an event for, say, teenagers," Harris said. If there is a difference, he said, it's in how his group plans for health and medical situations. "We take the same precau- tions, provide the same level of care, although with people over 50 the heat can become an issue. We're a lot more cautious with that." In 2013, the NSGA, which is based in Baton Rouge, La., will partner with the Greater Cleveland Sports Commission (GCSC) and Positively Cleveland, the city's tourism office, to host its Summer National Senior Games. The NSGA is expecting up to 14,000 athletes at the 10-day event, 22 July 2012 which runs from July 21 to Aug. 1. David Gilbert, president and CEO of both the GCSC and Positively Cleveland, is overseeing organizational efforts in the host city. Like Harris, he said preparing for the games is much "the same as any event in terms of logistics and the actual sports." But Gilbert also agreed that health issues are a concern for the over-50ers. "It's not just the normal orthopedic, trainer-type situations," he said. "We have to worry about coronary problems, things like that. Some of our athletes will be in their 70s, 80s and even 90s, so you have to be more cognizant than you otherwise might be in terms of making sure you have plenty of shade and water and parking close to the event venues." Locating the venues themselves clos- er together was also key for Gilbert, who has secured competition sites at Cleveland State University, Case Western University and the recently unveiled Cleveland Convention Center, which are all within four miles of each other, and linked by the Health Line, a new bus and train service. "Since our venues are clustered so closely together, most of our athletes will stay at one of a dozen downtown hotels or at the dorms at Cleveland State or Case," Gilbert said. "That way, but it's also about showing Cleveland off to its participants. "It's all about the experience you provide for the athletes," he said. "The types of things we have in our festival village will change because of who's attending." And so will the sponsors. National, demographic-appropriate companies such as Humana, AstraZeneca and Zimmer Orthopedic are already on board, as well as local entities like the Cleveland Clinic and University Hospitals. In keeping with the event's health- industry theme, local institutions will offer various medical screenings during the festival, and physicians will give talks on age-appropriate topics. "We want our athletes to leave Cleveland and say, 'That was the best Senior Games I've ever been to,'" Gilbert said. It will be, if the expertise and experi- ence of Mike Sophia, the recently hired CEO of the NSGA, pays off. After working for the Atlanta Olympics, mul- tiple Super Bowls and the Florida Senior Olympics, Sophia took over the NSGA post in January. "The Senior Games have always been my favorite events," Sophia said. "Senior athletes really understand what competing is about and what it takes to be able to train and compete at the highest level, even as they age." ■ www.sportseventsmagazine.com Subscribe Contact S.P.O.R.T.S. 2012 ▼