‘Fun level’ dart players enjoy the camaraderie

Judy Vanka takes aim, ready to throw during a game of darts at the Simcoe Seniors Centre. 

Chris Abbott

Editor

One thing stands out at the Simcoe Seniors’ Centre on a Monday afternoon.

Whether it’s cornhole, darts, bingo, cards, billiards… the seniors love their sports and activities.

“Absolutely, it’s the camaraderie,” said dart player Les Vanka as laughter rings in the background during a round of darts.

“We are not what you would call ‘expert level’ darters,” said Vanka. “We are ‘fun level’ darters. We have lots of fun, that’s the whole thing here. So much fun. We have a good, boisterous group here.

Occasionally, someone scores big. They could point to Phil, who scored a 180 a couple of months ago and received a 180 pin for his accomplishment. But that is uncommon.

“Sometimes you have a good day, other days you don’t want to talk about it,” said Vanka. “The odd time someone will have an amazing day, but that’s not every day. It’s not something you can control.” The group keeps track of scoring on a casual basis. If you score 100+, it’s recorded, and after time, they get a ‘prize.’

“It’s a good group of people, we have a lot of fun. Nobody gets overly serious here. It’s more about getting together with the people that you have fun with than the actual darts. And darts are fun… I enjoy it very much.”

“We’re here to have a good time,” said dart player Guy Myke. “It’s like I tell everyone, if you’re here to play serious darts, this is the wrong place to be.”

The afternoon darts group plays twice a week, Mondays and Fridays. Numbers vary from about a dozen, up to 18-20. Membership at the Seniors Centre is $60/year for anyone 50-and-older. Members are eligible to participate in any activity, as many days as they would like.

“Here, how many changes day to day, people come and go, they might have other things to do,” said Vanka.

“It’s a lot of fun, a lot of fun…” Vanka concluded.