ROBERTSDALE, Alabama --- Nearly 30 seniors from the George P. Thames Senior Center in Robertsdale will be headed to Valley in Chambers County on Monday for the 2012 Masters Games Tournament.

“We’ll be boarding buses at 7 a.m. Monday morning and boy are they ever excited,” said Center Director Sarah Duncan.

Twenty-six seniors qualified in local competitions held throughout Mobile and Baldwin counties in May through July with 24 seniors set to make the trip to the games, which will be held Monday through Thursday, Duncan said.

“We have participants in all age groups, starting at age 50 all the way up to our oldest competitor (Rex Aldridge) who is 92 years old,” Duncan said. “I’m excited about the number of participants we have going from the Center. It not only keeps the seniors active, but it also provides an avenue for social interaction that helps keep them young.”

According to the East Alabama Regional Planning and Development Commission Website, the Masters Games of Alabama is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting healthy lifestyles for active adults age 50 and over through social, mental, and physical activities.

They were developed in Oxford in 1990 to provide adults age 50 and above an opportunity to maintain an active lifestyle by participating in a variety of events. Each year there are between 600 and 800 participants from across the state.

With two dozen participants, the group from the Thames Center is one of the largest from one participating organization in the state, Duncan said, and is the largest group attending from District 7, which includes Baldwin, Mobile, Escambia, Conecuh, Washington, Choctaw, Clarke, Wilcox and Monroe counties. Participants are also attending locally from Orange Beach, Saraland, Chickasaw and Mobile, Duncan said.

The Thames Center serves Robertsdale, Loxley and Silverhill in Central Baldwin, Duncan said. They also have participants from Fairhope, Gulf Shores, Elberta and Malbis.

This is the seventh straight year the Senior Center is sending participants to the state games, which is sponsored by the Area Agency on Aging, also locally by the South Alabama Regional Planning Commission.

Duncan said the Senior Center holds fundraisers throughout the year in order to participate in the games. One of the largest is the Senior Center’s Christmas Bazaar which will be held next month at the PZK Civic Center.

The Center also receives help from the City of Robertsdale, Duncan said, which helps provide transportation for the Center. The Center also reserved space on a charter bus to help provide transportation.

“We can only take 22 people on our buses,” she said, “so we had to arrange for additional transportation in order to get everyone there.”

Over the last seven years, the Center has averaged around 22 competitors who have brought home 140 medals over the last three years of competition, including 28 gold, 37 silver, 29 bronze and 46 fitness medals, earned for walking a one-mile track at the competition.

Senior Center participants will compete in bowling, billiards, Nerfball toss, Frisbee throw, basketball freethrow, horseshoes, shuffleboard, Rook, checkers, dominoes and even one 5K competitor, Duncan said.

Competitors for this year’s Masters Games include Sandra Edwards, Cappi Fuqua, Jean Fontaine, Claudia Barbee, Becky Hayes, Dot Thorne, Ken Riesel, Dorothy Riesel, Royce Duncan, Kathleen Bender, Ellen Roberts, Bessie Duncan, Judy Rabren, Steve Metz, Heidi Warner, Eddie Joan Bedwell, Mary Fuller, Rex Aldridge, Jean Sobol, Emma Davenport, Jack Mercer, Matthew Nguyen, Linda Lowery and Barbara Landers. Hamilton Edwards and Sharron Ellison also qualified for the state games but will be unable to attend, Duncan said.