Team Barnet at Club Games 2023!

The Better Barnet team took part in the inaugural Better Club Games in September, with teams of residents aged 60 and over representing the borough of Barnet in multiple sports and activities at the Crystal Palace National Sports Centre, the Copper Box Arena, and the London Aquatics Centre.

This annual event returned after being put on hold for four years due to COVID, with Games' older people's Ambassador, actress and radio presenter Vicki Michelle - of BAFTA-nominated ‘Allo Allo’ kicking off the competition.

20 teams from across London and beyond represented their boroughs to compete against 500 over 60-year-olds in eleven sports including walking football, walking netball, badminton, short tennis, table tennis, darts, short mat bowls, timed cycle, timed swim and dominoes. Fixtures were competitive and fun for all participants, but also gave Better the opportunity to celebrate the sporting talent amongst our older members, who regularly attend 55+ sessions at Better facilities across the borough every week.

A group of 6 players represented Team Barnet in the walking football tournament held at the Crystal Palace National Sports Centre on Friday 22nd September 2023. The team played extremely well, and were unlucky not to come away with a win having drawn 2 games and losing 2. Huge thank you to Kevin, Tony, Noel, Pete, Mick, Dave, and Frank for taking time out of their day to make the long trip to South London, and for representing the borough of Barnet so well.

The following week, a team of 8 players represented team Barnet at the Club Games Indoor Sports competitions held at the prestigious Copper Box Arena. All games were played in mixed-doubles pairs and team Barnet took part in Badminton, Short Tennis, and Table Tennis. Malka and Fred played table tennis and done extremely well to win 4 matches, Abdul and Rachel, as well as Louisa and Shmuel played badminton with the latter narrowly losing out in the semi-finals. Kevin and Eileen made it all the way to the finals of the short tennis tournament, losing to a strong Gunnersbury team. Massive thank you to Angelo (Fitness Instructor at Barnet Copthall Leisure Centre) too who was team lead on the day, offering support and encouragement to Team Barnet.

Well done all!