Each year, local senior center teams participate in a battle of the wits to be named Upper Cumberland Senior Brain Games champions and for a chance to challenge other seniors in the state in their trivia knowledge. This year, Smith County Senior Center took home that trophy and will advance in the competition to represent the region in the Middle Tennessee Senior Brain Games.

The Smith County Whipper Snappers, Greta Kirby, Marilyn Shumake and Jane McCall, became the district champions after battling against ten other teams, a record number for the Upper Cumberland area, in the trivia-based competition hosted by the Upper Cumberland Area Agency on Aging and Disability (AAAD) on Wednesday, August 22, 2018.

The district game, held at the Baxter Senior Center, included a total of eleven senior center teams: Algood Smarty Pants, Algood Sunshine, Baxter Busy Bees I, Baxter Busy Bees II, Dekalb Senior Attitudes I, Dekalb Senior Attitudes II, Fentress Fossils A, Fentress Fossils B, Granville Silver Foxes, Granville Gray Rascals, Smith County Whipper Snappers.

“We look forward to the Senior Brain Games each year,” Patty Ray, director of AAAD said. “The games are challenging, with this year’s trivia questions being the most difficult questions yet. Every team did an excellent job.”

As district champions, Smith County Whipper Snappers will represent the Upper Cumberland region as they go head-to-head against the Greater Nashville region and the South Central regions teams in the semi-final regional competition to be held in the Upper Cumberland Region on September 26th. The location of the competition is yet to be determined.

If the Smith County Whipper Snappers win the semi-final competition, they will represent Middle Tennessee in the Senior Brain Games state championship to be held October 17th in Jonesborough, Tennessee.

Sponsored by the Tennessee Commission on Aging and Disability, in partnership with the Upper Cumberland Area Agency on Aging and Disability, the Senior Brain Game initiative is designed to help keep seniors mentally active, provide an opportunity for social interaction, and get some healthy competition going among senior communities throughout the state.

Under the adopted format, teams of three players each work together to answer the questions presented, pooling their knowledge base. There is also the added element of risk, as the team bases point values on the confidence of their answers in specific categories. The Senior Brain Games competition is therefore, both strategy-based and knowledge-based.

The Area Agency on Aging and Disability (AAAD), a division of the Upper Cumberland Development District, connects older adults and adults with disabilities in the 14-county Upper Cumberland region with services and resources to improve their quality of life. Find AAAD on the web at www.ucdd.org and at facebook.com/UCDDconnect.

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