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Directory University of Florida

Andrew Walker (BSHSE ’81)

Health and Wellness Director of the National Senior Games Association

Andrew Walker’s lifelong passion for athletics and skills he developed at HHP led him to an opportunity to challenge society’s perception of age.

Andrew Walker, BSHSE ’81, is the health and wellness director of the National Senior Games Association (NSGA). The National Senior Games consists of 20 Olympic events and occurs biennially. His role and responsibilities include improving senior athlete’s readiness for the games, supporting the sustainability of the games through the NSGA Wellness Ambassadors and helping participants and members stay fit and implement wellness activities between the games. His goal is to make wellness relevant to the NSGA, its members and qualifying participants.

The local games have qualifying events at the regional and state level every year with thousands of athletes competing, so there are numerous opportunities to collaborate with cities and states in sharing fitness information. Walker works to break barriers and cross the hurdles that prevent the flow of this information from the national level down to individual members competing at local and state level.

The NSGA also aims to influence target populations throughout the U.S. Walker’s most recent work has been with the National Indian Council on Aging where he facilitated activities highlighting the intersection of sports, wellbeing and culture. Walker considers himself a “capacity builder.” He provides technical assistance to each state that hosts senior games, including creating opportunities to implement fitness research through the Senior Athlete Fitness Exam (SAFE).

A major focus of his educational efforts is centered around falls prevention. While there is a stigma about falling and the discussion of falls, it’s important for seniors to have information on the associated risks. According to the SAFE study, only 10 percent of Senior Games members self-report falling within one year of competing in the games, whereas the national average of self-reported falling is 30-40 percent.

The most fun aspect of Walker’s job is that he gets to travel and work with seniors at the games and engage with people in the community. He ran track at UF and loves watching the track events at the games.

His goals consist of identifying how many states implement the NSGA’s programs and recommendations, while also encouraging states and Senior Games to collaborate with their Falls Prevention Coalition.