Happy & Well Seniors

Keeping Fit & Well This week we are going to start in our warm up session by learning the 3rd shot drop, then apply it to the first three shots.  The 3rd shot drop The first part of the practice will be to get into pairs and just take to learn how to play the 3rd shot drop. The first three shots Shot 1 - Deep Serve  Shot 2 - Deep Return Shot 3 - Drop shot into the kitchen   The aim of this drill is to get all four players up to the non volley zone, and then practice dinking.

The arrival of AI  It doesn't seem like that long ago when we woke up and the big news was AI, machine learning and the end of the world as we know it! It seems like there are two camps, those frightened by it and those who are exciting by the opportunities it creates. I confess that I 100% belong to the second group! For me it started with Bard, as a Google One subscriber ( largely because I needed extra storage for all the photos I take) I was given early access. Then Bard became Gemini and went mainstream. At the same time Microsoft added CoPilot to Edge and Bing search engines and I was spoilt for choice. I think it's important to get an overview of AI and this video 'Generative AI in a Nutshell' is very good at explaining in simple language. How do I use it? When I'm researching a subject I would typically use Google for my info. So if I was looking for information on Empathetic Listening I would get a definition and 46,600,000 results. Then I would wade throug...

My career and business was based on coaching, focusing mostly on life and leadership. I offered to help set up a new pickleball group for my local U3A working with David the Treasurer, hoping that I could get Alan a certified coach from my club to assist. However, distance and other commitments put pay to that so I had to take on the challenge, if the new group was to get off the ground.  Sowing the seeds So for starters we organised a taster session with one court to get a group of 12 people interested and at the end of the session everyone expressed a desire to get the group going. Next we ran a two court session at the Surrey Sports Park on the outskirts of Guildford. We struggled a bit with the scoring but by the end of the two hour session they were getting it and more important starting to get 'hooked' on the game. We even had two badminton players from a nearby court watching, seeing everyone having fun, so they have joined the group. The health warning (as can be seen i...

I joined the 50+ Rest Less Group largely because of the content looked interesting and that I might pick up a bargain travel deal. I have fast discovered that they have some really interesting content and discovered an article on pickleball that was nicely laid out. I have restated the authors final thoughts as an encouragement to read the article.  The photo is of my son Bryan, cousin Jackie and myself - pickleball = JOY!!! Final thoughts... Whether you’ve never heard of pickleball before or have already picked up on its soaring popularity across the pond, one thing’s for sure – it’s the fastest growing sport in the US for a reason! Pickleball is accessible, social, enjoyable and extremely addictive, and as the weather warms up and many of us look to spend more time outdoors, it probably won’t be long before it takes off throughout the UK, too. So if you’re looking for a new, fun way to keep fit and catch up with friends (or make new ones), while still complying with social distan...

I as a retired leadership coach am now helping my four lovely granddaughters to transition from 6th form to university and from senior school to 6th form college. The first post I made this year was after seeing Wonka as a family and loving the statement 'Every good thing in this world starts with a dream. So hold on to yours.' Nothing could illustrate that more than RAYE winning 6 Baftas last week. She and her family never gave up when Polydor refused to publish her debut record. She eventually dumped them and went independent and wow she has broken all records!!!!  So it all starts with a dream ...... The start of a new year is always a good time to make plans and hopefully not set yourself up for failure by making too many crazy new year's resolutions. As a family we went to see the new Wonka film and it was great. I know it is aimed at a younger audience but I loved it and I think Timothée Chalamet is excellent.  One of his sayings that resonated with me was.... Every...

  I know for my age group as a pensioner, that I am unusual, as I am mostly paper free. I take boarding passes, train tickets and theatre tickets virtually into my Apple wallet. When I want to do any creative thinking, I use the iThoughts app and create my mindmaps on my iPad. For recipes, I use Apple Notes and scan magazines, or cut and paste into a Note. When I cook, I use my iPad to view the recipe.  For my shopping list I use Apple Reminders with Siri 'Siri, add eggs to  My Shopping List ' which makes it very easy as I can just talk through my Apple Watch when I'm busy in the kitchen. I have also used the 'shopping' template so what I need to buy is sorted into categories which makes it easy when I hit the supermarket to shop in a systematic way. Anything to minimise my time spent there! This last year I set up my  Christmas List  and gave my family access to the list. They could then access all items which were linked to a retailer (mostly Amazon) and if th...

I was lucky as I was invited by my cousin and her husband to come over to Camberley U3A and try out pickleball. I immediately liked it and decided to join the U3A even though it was a 30-40 drive away as I live in Godalming and the sport is played at Lightwater Leisure Centre. The following is an introduction prepared by the U3A. Pickleball is a relatively new ball sport in the UK. It fosters mobility, fitness and good health, it  can be competitive .. and is always fun  Pickleball has received plenty of recent publicity in the press and on TV. This reflects its growing popularity and the fact that more and more people have found enjoyment, exercise and fun while playing and have passed on their enthusiasm by word of mouth. People are sitting up and taking notice. These recent articles even list the famous faces now regularly gracing a pickleball court. Just a few of these articles are listed here and are worth a read and a watch: The Times article can be found ...

  I attended a eight week course on ‘mindfulness for stress’ after my wife died and it was life changing. I had long wanted to learn mindfulness, but always put it on the back burner as a nice to have. However, I desperately needed help, it was no longer a nice to have, so I did it.  I learnt how to meditate, use breathing techniques, self compassion, accept my sad situation, but learnt to be grateful for all the good things I still had in my life. I soon felt that I had more control over my life, that I could deal with my emotions better and then hope and my passion for living started to come back.  After the training, initially I used the audio recordings from the course to continue my practice and then experimented with various apps. The app I kept coming back to was Calm, which I liked a lot. The Independent summarised it as follows:- Open the Calm app and you’ll immediately be greeted with the gentle sound of the outdoors. It varies from person to person, but we love...

   On Valentines Day 2017, my wife, the love of my life, unexpectedly as a result of a recently diagnosed cancer, died of sepsis. My life was shattered!!! Looking back on the years from 2017 to today 2024, I have learned how to move from extreme sadness to the happiness I feel today. From what I have experienced and through the workshops I have attended and the books I have read, I have developed a model for happiness.  In the early stages it was my  loving family  and  caring friend s that were there for me. These were people that cared for me, that challenged me and never stopped talking about my wife and the wonderful relationship we had. When you hit rock bottom you realise just how important relationships are.  In order to get myself moving and out of my comfort zone I did an eight week course on mindfulness plus a ten week course on improving my SLR photography. The two courses proved to be an amazing combination, enabling me to be in the moment ...