COOKEVILLE – Three Middle Tennessee senior center teams, including one from the Upper Cumberland region, will compete in a Senior Brain Games competition at 10 a.m. Friday, Sept. 18, at the Cookeville Senior Center. The winner will advance to the state championships of the trivia-based competition.
The Smith County Whipper Snappers – Greta Kirby, Zary Shealy and Jane McCall – will represent the UC as they go head-to-head in a semi-final round against two other Middle Tennessee teams: the Ashland City Acers from the greater Nashville region and the Lewis County Hole in the Wall Gang from south central Tennessee.
The Smith County Whipper Snappers advanced to the semi-finals after competing against the Cookeville Elite Seniors and the Baxter Busy Bees in a regional competition hosted by the Upper Cumberland Area Agency on Aging and Disability in August. If the Whipper Snappers win the semi-final competition, they will represent Middle Tennessee in the Senior Brain Games State Championship to be held in Morristown Oct. 9.
Sponsored by the Tennessee Commission on Aging and Disability in partnership with the Upper Cumberland Area Agency on Aging and Disability, the competition is designed to help keep seniors mentally active, provide an opportunity for social interaction – and foster healthy competition among senior communities throughout the state.
Under the adopted format, teams of three players work together to answer the questions presented, pooling their knowledge base. There’s also the added element of risk, as the team bases point values on the confidence of their answers in specific categories. The Brain Games competition is therefore both strategy-based and knowledge-based.
Nashville Public Television will film the semi-final competition to include on NPT’s Aging Matters segments, which focus on healthy aging. The public is invited. The Cookeville Senior Center is located at 186 S Walnut Ave., Cookeville.
