SEBASTIAN — Laura Jordan has lived her whole life in Florida and, for most of her life, she has enjoyed bowling. In 2005, one of her favorite activities was taken away from her.
“I gave up bowling when I broke my wrist,” said Jordan, who moved to Sebastian in 1984 after growing up and working in Jacksonville. “I still miss it; it was very depressing. I used to bowl at Ercildoune (Bowling Lanes) in Sebastian.”
Jordan and her late husband, William, moved to Sebastian in 1984 due to her husband’s love for fishing at Sebastian Inlet. He also loved to bowl. Jordan, as well as other seniors who can’t bowl anymore for health reasons, and some seniors who have never bowled in the traditional manner have begun participating in Wii bowling each Saturday at the Senior Activity Center of Sebastian.
“This (Wii bowling) is very exciting and the next best thing to real bowling,” Jordan said. “I aim, take my stance and do my follow through as if I was still at the lanes. I can feel my form coming right back.”
Introduced by Nintendo in November 2006, Wii is a home video game console which enables participants to simulate bowling, tennis, baseball, golf and boxing from their living room or other recreational areas through motion-control gaming which uses motion-sensing technology.
The Wii remote helps to duplicate the actions of slinging a ball in an alley, converting a volley on the tennis court, hitting a home run, conquering the rough on a difficult golf course or baffling a boxer with a left hook.
It can detect motion in three dimensions. As the players become more efficient, they see their proficiency in the sport improve.
Jimmy Carlson, who will turn 55 in August, hasn’t given up his weekly trips to the bowling alley. He also has become a Wii bowling standout.
“I like the fun of it; I get challenged with both high games and low games,” said Carlson, who averages better than 200 in the traditional game. “Sometimes, the sport can get frustrating and you’ve got to calm yourself down. There are some good people here and this Senior Center is a nice place.”
Carlson has lived in Sebastian for 33 years after growing up in the Catskills Mountains of upstate New York.
“When I’m at the alley, they sometimes say I throw the ball too fast,” Carlson said. “Here, they don’t let me go too fast. I’m figuring out how to throw with my arm (in Wii bowling). I figure it’s a little off, but it’s close.”
Problems with her arms and her legs prevented Rosemary Bostinto from competing in sports during her life.
Wearing prosthetics isn’t a problem in Wii bowling.
“I’ve never been able to bowl in a real bowling alley,” said Bostinto, a native New Yorker who has lived in Florida for nearly 31 years. “When I play (Wii bowling), I don’t see myself as handicapped. I’m like any other team member. This is something to do on a Saturday, and I’ve made some new friends. It’s an interesting kind of a challenge with more eye and hand coordination.”
Edie Ostendorf, who moved to the United States from Germany in 1952, was a competitive bowler in Florida for several years after leaving Buffalo, N.Y. to move to Melbourne in 1960. She has lived in Sebastian for the past 10 years.
“I was a security guard in Melbourne Beach,” said the 86-year-old Ostendorf. “I slipped and had an accidental fall. They had to put a metal plate in my arm, and I’ve never been able to pick up a bowling ball after that.”
Wii bowling has brought back some of her competitive urges.
“There is a strategy to Wii,” Ostendorf said. “You don’t have a five-step approach; it’s like a walk to the foul line. You learn with your hand how to throw a curve or straight. Everything is in there from the aim coming from the shoulder to the follow through. You just have to get used to the remote.”
The fall and an end to competitive bowling was a sad time for her.
“I was so depressed that I couldn’t bowl,” Ostendorf said. “This has perked up my life. The fellowship and camaraderie that I see here is wonderful. I want to enjoy life. At my age, you never know what’s going to happen tomorrow.”
Life could have been different for Ostendorf, who survived Nazi Germany and won a numerical lottery to come to the United States after World War II.
Others, whose numbers weren’t drawn, were sent to the Soviet Union to rebuild that country as punishment after the war.
Lana Williams, the activity director for the center, was delighted when the equipment for Wii bowling was donated to the center.
“I used to be in a bowling league,” said Williams, who grew up in Cape Cod, Mass., and moved to Florida in 1990. “Most of us are getting old, and we don’t want to fall down. I thought this would be a good activity. This can bring us all together. It’s good for the body, mind and soul. We can spend some time laughing.”
As part of the fun, players can mold their own caricature on the Wii game and, via the internet, they can play against participants in other states or even around the world.
If the enthusiasm continues, the group plans to compete in Wii’s National Senior League.
The Senior Activity Center of Sebastian is located at 1255 Main Street. It is near Sebastian City Hall and behind the Sebastian Art Center at Gibson Street.
Besides Wii bowling, other activities include mahjong, Tai Chi, four-deck and seven-deck canasta, cribbage, pinochle, euchre, bridge, dominoes, scrabble and chess.
“I’ve met so many nice people here (at the center) that I hadn’t met before,” Jordan said.
“Things have been going real nice,” program director Mary McGee said. “We’ve added more games, and people have been willing to step forward. Before, they were a little shy. We want everyone to know that they’re welcome. If anyone wants to start any new games, they can let us know and we’ll schedule it in.”
For information, contact Williams at (772)388-9027 or McGee at (772) 388-9047.