By Breven Honda
The first event of the fall season kicks off next month for the Mesquite Senior Games.
Men’s softball begins the three-event slate, running from Oct. 4-14, based on the five age brackets. 
Those playing in the 70-plus and the 60-plus age brackets is from Oct. 4-5. The 50-plus age bracket is from Oct. 6-7. The 65-plus and 74-plus age brackets is on Oct. 11-12. The 55-plus age bracket wraps up play on Oct. 13-14.
Through the end of August, Mesquite Senior Games President and softball event director Sandy Tudor said teams continue to register for the tournament.
“I talked to a couple people yesterday who said, ‘Oh yeah, I need to get that done,’” Tudor said on Aug. 26. “So, I expect to have a full a full contingency of teams.”
As a result, teams come from all over the western United States as the Mesquite Senior Games tournament also serves as a tune-up event for the Huntsman World Series Games in St. George, Utah, immediately following Tudor’s tournament.
It has also reached a point where teams have it in on their calendars to come to this tournament every year.
“They love this tournament. They really do,” Tudor said. “One of them told me they only go to Huntsman so they can come here first. I don’t know if that was serious or not, but anyway, they do enjoy it very much. Mesquite is such a nice little town and a lot of them, even when they go to Huntsman, they’ll stay here.”
The Mesquite Senior Games offers a hotel discount code for those who come from out of town at both the CasaBlanca and Virgin River hotels, which can be found on the website at mesquiteseniorgames.org under the men’s softball tab under events.
In addition to teams and players signing up, Tudor is also looking for volunteers to help out in the concession stands.
“We will be running the concession stands all of the days that we have games going,” said Tudor, who expects it to be three- or four-hour shifts.
About one month after the beginning of the men’s softball event, the second fall season event commences with the golf tournament at Coyote Willows on Nov. 5.
Registration is limited to 72 golfers and Tudor has already passed the halfway mark of players registered.
“I think we’ve got 40 (players) the last time I looked,” Tudor said. “So, we’ll promote it a little more. I’ll get it in our Facebook page and make sure that all the places here in town have our flyer.”
More info on the golf tournament will appear in the October issue of the Mesquite Monthly.
Preparations have also begun for the third and final event of the fall season: the Holiday Bowling Tournament.
The event is scheduled for Dec. 6 at the Virgin River Hotel and Casino Bowling Center with check-in beginning at 9 a.m. and competition beginning at 10 a.m.
Tudor and Bowling event director Toni Gans have begun preparations, including making sure the website and Fusesport works properly before registrations open.
“Toni and I are doing testing on it right now,” Tudor said. “When what we do is we let Fusesport know that we need to get it going, and they will put it in test mode. So, we’re the only two that can go in and do anything in there. We go in and we put in all kinds of people and we have them overpay and underpay and try to register in the wrong age group.
“We try to mess it up as much as we can. It’s kind of fun. We get men to register for women and all kinds of things to see what the system will do and to make sure that it won’t let them do something like that.”
As a result, registration as well as the theme for bowling will be announced in the coming months.
In last month’s issue, Tudor was looking for new board members and volunteers to contribute to the logistical planning process for the Mesquite Senior Games events. So far, Tudor has heard from two individuals about being a board member and is always looking for people to reach out and help.
One of the new things in 2025 for the Mesquite Senior Games has been the rollout of the new website in January ahead of the spring season for people to register for those events.
Over the last few months, the website has continued to evolve while everyone adapts to the new website.
Tudor said those adjustments have gone well over the last eight months and there have been some more straightforward processes.
“Once registrations got going (from the spring), then we were able to go in and clean it up,” she said. “It’s much easier to upload pictures. For all of our spring events, the pictures are posted on the website. You click on bowling, and it’ll take you to the bowling, not only the information about bowling, but you can click on the photo gallery and see the current year pictures, and I believe a couple of previous years, along with the results.
“It’s much easier for me to post everything on the new website. The other one was pretty cumbersome as an administrator.”
On another note, Tudor talked to someone from a non-profit at Sun City and inquired about potentially adding volleyball to the schedule, whether it is in the spring or in the fall.
As a result, it brings up the idea of sports or activities that are not already part of a respective season, such as volleyball.
Tudor said she welcomes any suggestions or inquiries about new sports to potentially add to a future season. If there is something, they can reach out to Tudor or another board member or contact them via the Mesquite Senior Games website.
One example of an added sport over the last few years is pickleball, which was initiated as a result of its popularity during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Whether a sport like volleyball or another activity arises, it has the potential to attract a new group of people to the Mesquite Senior Games with local venues in mind.
“If we found a group of people interested in a new sport, and different people that play golf or bowl or whatever, that would be a whole new section of the community that we could market to.
“I know that the old Rising Star Resort has reopened as a Holiday Inn Resort, and I know for a fact that they’re going to be having club volleyball there. They’ve got the ability to have eight courts in there, and they’ve got the equipment. If we found a bunch of people interested in volleyball – and Huntsman also does volleyball – we could add it as a sport. Or, if there’s something else that they wanted to add, we could do that.”
The Huntsman World Senior Games holds their volleyball event for both men and women in October in St. George, Utah. As a result, if the Mesquite Senior Games adds a sport such as volleyball, it would probably to be a fall sport if it wants to also attract the Huntsman crowd, like it does for men’s softball.
