Dave Leaderhouse
Herald Staff
Some people don’t know when to quit. Some people never give up. Some people just don’t get enough.
For Blair Hoffman and Bruce Fiddler, all three of those statements are true.
Avid ball players all their lives, the local duo will be prolonging their season when they travel to St. George, Utah, for the next to weeks to compete in the slo-pitch competitions at the World Senior Games.
Hoffman is already down in Utah playing for the Prairie Combines in the 60-plus division and this weekend Fiddler will head down to join Hoffman and the St. Albert Buzzards in the 55-plus age class.
“I’ve been a baseball fan and player since I could basically walk,” said Hoffman before his departure. “I’ve never missed a season and there aren’t many places I’d rather be (than on a ball diamond.)”
Fiddler has the same feelings as he retired from fast-pitch when he was 37 and for the past quarter century has been playing slo-pitch. During his “second career” Fiddler has been on two championship teams, three runners-up and a bronze medallist at national championships. Now he would like to add a world title to his resume.
“I still want to play and the body is still reasonably good,” says Fiddler with a chuckle. “We play against younger guys so I think that prepares us.”
Hoffman, a centerfielder, is competing in his seventh World Senior Games. The St. Albert crew that he has been playing with captured the 50-plus championship once and also finished second and third and when they moved up to the 55-plus division, they won that too, in addition to placing third another year.
Fiddler, a pitcher and infielder, is making his first trip to the Games so he doesn’t know what to expect other than what Hoffman has told him.
One thing is clear, however, because whether they win or lose they will meet a lot of people. The World Senior Games features 25 different sports with slo-pitch alone attracting over 200 teams in five different age classes.
Getting older doesn’t mean you have to stop doing what you love to do. It just gives you that much more opportunity to achieve your goals and live out your dreams.
