Seniors Can Move
The Seniors Can Move program is designed to improve the agility, balance, coordination, and strength of adults 65+ years of age. Through games and gentle exercises, we reacquaint seniors with fundamental movement skills they may no longer be practicing due to inactivity, pain, illness, or surgery: walking, marching, throwing, catching, and balancing – even skipping. Using soft, high mats, we teach participants how to fall safely and get back up again.
Classes include stretching routines, as well as exercises designed to develop participants’ spatial awareness, and improve their ability to perform daily activities such as tying shoes, climbing stairs, and reaching for items on high shelves.
Our coaches are experienced at safely adapting the exercises in the program to a range of health conditions and physical limitations, and participants are supported in going at their
own pace.
Why are gymnastics clubs a great fit for seniors?
Gymnastics clubs are a natural fit for seniors’ programs as they are equipped with the knowledge, expertise, and equipment needed to teach fundamental movement skills.
Gymnastics coaches are experts in movement education. Safety is built into the delivery of the classes they are already teaching to participants of all ages and abilities, and the facilities are equipped with a wide range of training tools: thick mats, sprung floors, support bars, and floor-level, padded balance beams.
The clubs offer a safe, indoor environment in which seniors can learn and practice. Equally important, they offer a stimulating intergenerational environment, with children’s programs often running in one section of the gym, while the seniors’ program runs
in another.
Seniors Can Move was developed by the Delta Gymnastics Society (DGS) in 2018 through a pilot program involving 60 South Delta seniors, a geriatric nurse, and physiotherapists. Since 2019, DGS has been expanding the program to gymnastics facilities across the province with the help of a grant from the government of BC.
