Cochrane is hosting two more of the Zone 2 qualifers for the Alberta 55 Plus Summer Provncials being held in Calgary this August.

Cochrane has already hosted the euchre qualifer and is home to the horseshoes tournament and 70+ slo-pitch team tryout  to determine who will represent the zone, better known as Big Country. The horseshoe tournament is being held on June 3 for 55+ and 65+ age categories in both men's and women's in four classes, A through D. The slo-pitch qualifer goes June 24.

While Alberta 55 Plus offers friendly competition, the bigger picture is to encourage participation, socializing and to even give people a chance to try sports they haven't attempted before.

Nancy Gibbie, the area 7 director for Zone 2 that includes the Cochrane area, has been active in Alberta 55+ for over five years and she has first-hand experience in trying something different for the fun of it. She was part of the team that represented Alberta in lawn bowling at last summer's Canadian 55+ games hosted by Brampton, ON.

"We'd never lawn bowled before," she explained. " We started learning how to bowl in May and we went to the competition in August. We did it because we wanted to do something different and it would be fun."

"We're going to do it again this year and hopefully next year they'll have it as qualifer and we'll go to New Brunswick."

Never one to back down from trying something different, she entered in badminton in an Alberta games hosted by Lethbridge.

"We tried badminton and I won't do it again, but it was fun, it was something to try."

The summer games are being hosted by Caalgary from Aug. 10 to 13 and the hockey and slo-pitch tournaments will take place in Strathmore on Aug. 12. Qualifers have been held across the zone for the events and some have also been held for the fall games taking place in High Prairie, Sept. 14-17.

Sixteen sports are featured in the summer games: cycling, golf, horseshoes, pickleball, slo-pitch, tennis, track and field, 5-pin bowling, badminton, floor curling, hockey, swimming, euchre, contract bridge, duplicate bridge and carpet bowling. Most are broken into age categories, ranging from 55 plus to 70 plus.

To help rally participation, Zone 2 is holding a picnic on June 17 at the Cochrane Ranche Club House.

"That's one way we're going to get people going again and get them excited and we're making it into a rally for the provincials," says Gibbie. "We're going to have a barbecue, we're going to play some bocce and some horseshoes and get people involved again."

Much has changed in the format of the 55+ games the last few years and it largely has to do with a drastic reduction in government funding.

"We're not getting half the support that we use to before," she says. "There's no subsidies anywhere."

Yet organizers remain enthusiastic about keeping those 55+ plus active and having a little fun along the way.

You can learn more about the other Zone 2 qualifers and Alberta 55 Plus Sports here.