The wellness of Wii

"Several residents at the Yorkview Lifecare Centre in North York gathered near a large flat-screen television yesterday morning, as a petite, smiling woman with her dark hair pulled into a tight ponytail swung a Nintendo Wii video game controller, making a bowling motion along the side of her wheelchair, and watched as a bowling ball cut across the television screen and knocked all 10 pins down with a resounding crash."

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"I did it," Catherine Mole exclaimed, throwing her hands in the air as five competitors, all wearing matching blue T-shirts, joined in the celebration.

Ms. Mole finished her game of Wii Bowling with a score of 134. A personal best, but not quite enough to make the top of the standings in the Wii Senior's Olympics, an event being held this week in care homes across the Greater Toronto Area.

Yorkview Lifecare Centre is one of 10 Lifecare Group retirement centres and long-term care facilities participating in the event, touted as the first-ever video game competition for seniors. More than 500 residents and visitors from the community will participate in the week-long event, testing their skills at Wii bowling, tennis and golf and competing for the unofficial title of Wiilympic Champion.

Since its release in 2006, the Nintendo Wii has become a favourite of seniors and those in need of light physical therapy due to its reliance on lifelike motion to play a variety of games.

"The Wii has become a really new and unique thing for seniors to get involved with, and it is really because of the simplicity of use," said Chris Brockington, senior marketing consultant for the Lifecare Group. "It's hand-eye co-ordination, visual stimulation and works as various forms of therapy. If they are in their wheelchair, it gets them excited, gets them enthralled into something that maybe they didn't do before. They are not just sitting there watching something; they are actually engaged."

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