Anna Jarmics has no hands, but that hasn’t stopped the 76-year-old Calgary darts player from living life to the fullest.
“I’m not handicapped,” she stressed, while interviewed by the Gazette at the Alberta 55 Plus Winter Games. “Everything I do, I do it because it’s challenging. That’s why I like painting because it’s challenging. I used to do target shooting and I’ve got trophies too to prove it.”
Jarmics has competed at five Canada Senior Games and won medals in darts every time. Last year in Ontario she hit the bull’s-eye for gold in 75-plus singles, doubles and mixed doubles.
“I’ve got so many medals now, they’re hanging all over the place at home,” she said with a smile.
Last weekend at the Royal Canadian Legion in St. Albert, Jarmics scored silver in 70-plus singles and teamed up with Grace Braun for bronze in 55-plus doubles.
“We’re here to win and you just have to put your mind into it in order to do that,” said Jarmics, a former security guard for the city of Brampton, Ont. “I’ve had so much fun here. The people are excellent. There are so many volunteers. It’s fascinating.”
Jarmics was 10 years old living in war-torn, Russian-occupied Hungary in 1945 when she lost both her hands.
“My sister and brothers were playing and a hand grenade was thrown at us. I grabbed it up because it was thrown right into the sand. I ran with it and I tripped on the sidewalk. I went face down and it exploded. I was lucky I had my head left,” she explained. “I never blamed anybody for my accident. It just happened, and that was it. I just learned how to carry on with life.”
The horrors of war remain embedded her mind.
“Nobody can imagine it. You stand in line because you don’t have milk or bread and then all of a sudden the tanks come and try and shoot you down. It was very sad.”
Jarmics eventually left her home in Celldomolk in 1956 and went to England “for a better life,” before making her way to Canada.
In Brampton, Jarmics threw her first dart at a Legion and hasn’t missed the target since.
“I just love darts,” she said. “It was hard at first. I had to do my own technique. Everybody asks me how the heck I do it. I just pick the dart up and say, ‘Like this.’ It’s hard to explain how I do it.”
Jarmics moved to Calgary 13 years ago, and currently plays three times a week at three different Legion branches. Her routine includes coffee mixed with Drambuie before every match.
“It’s just one at the beginning. It relaxes me because sometimes you get worked up and my hands are shaking,” said the mother of four, with eight grandchildren and four great-grandkids.
Does Jarmics see herself as an inspiration for others?
“Yes, I do. A lot of people say, ‘I can’t do this or I can’t do that.’ I always say there is no such thing. Everybody can do everything if they put their mind to it,” she said. “I just like doing all sorts of sports. I keep myself active just because I like it. It keeps me going because I want to stay young. I don’t like sitting at home. I don’t like doing nothing. That’s the only way I want my life to be. I don’t want to be somebody that sits in a chair and then dies.”
Her key for active living is simple.
“I eat well. I don’t take any medication, only vitamins.”
