Mesa, Arizona — ‘Shuffleboard Bob’ His name says it all.
He’s a legend in the Valley and now a legend in the Citadel Senior Living community, showing his love for the game.
“When I moved here, I was just hoping to be able to play. I thought, ‘If people start coming out, and they want to keep coming out and learning,’ I thought. ..”Maybe we can put together a small team.”
At 85, he moved to The Citadel community just seven months ago and has already made his mark. He helped renovate an old shuffleboard court, and things exploded from there.
“There were shrubs on the court and chips on the court. Together Bob and I made a plan and knocked down all the shrubs. All the residents were excited to see it.” They were into it.” Joel Hareson, Activities Director at The Citadel, said:
Dozens attempted to create a shuffleboard league, eight of which became known as the “Citadel Vikings”, part of the Arizona Shuffleboard Association.
“In 60 years, this is the first facility to bring a team from an assisted/independent living facility into the league. I never dreamed it would happen,” says Bob.
Each player is learning as they go, as most players are new to the sport.
“He taught me some moves, and I had people compliment me like, ‘Oh, I see you were trained by Bob,'” said The says Ryan Bigelow, who works at the Citadel.
Bob says he’s been playing shuffleboard for 35 years and was inducted into the National Shuffleboard Association Hall of Fame.
He has passed on bits and pieces of his knowledge during his tenure.
“They’re trying to score here when they take the first shot. If they shoot too hard, they can lose 10 points,” says Bob.
He may be 85 years old, but his playing days are far from over.
“That’s what people with disabilities and people with canes and stuff can do…they can play this game. That’s the beauty of it because there’s not much that people with disabilities can do,” Bob said. increase.
With two games to go, their goal is just to have fun.
