National Senior Games

Wednesday, July 24, I flew to Cleveland, Ohio, to play basketball in my first National Senior Games. I wish I had heard about them before moving to The Villages but...better late than never!

Thursday we walked to the Convention Center, about half a mile from our hotel. Very convenient, as we were playing in old Public Hall which adjoined the brand new convention center. After registering and picking up our "goodie bag", we walked around "The Village" which every Olympics apparently has. There were many vendors, all health or sports related. We were given 12:30-1:00 to "practice." We pretty much just shot and dribbled to get used to the temporary court. There were four half courts with baskets facing alternating directions.

Thursday afternoon we went to the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame, about the only touristy thing in downtown Cleveland. I must say downtown Cleveland, with Lake Erie nearby, was much nicer than I had anticipated.

R & R Hall of Fame

One of my favorites - Ricky Nelson

Another fav 

Pool play for the 65-69 age group began on Friday. Since three of our best players were still playing softball, it was up to four of us to play today's games. At 11 AM, we played a team from Maine whom we beat and I scored half of our 32 points. That might not sound like many points but we play half-court with two 12-minute halves. It's a running clock except for last two minutes of each half. At 3 PM, we beat a team from North Carolina, making us 2-0 with one game to go in pool play. I played all 48 minutes today...at 71 years old! Woo hoo!! In case you're wondering, you can play down in age, not up. My teammates were all under 70.

Friday night we went to the Q Arena, home of the Cavaliers and once upon a time...LeBron James. This was called Celebration of Athletes, and Scotty Hamilton, former Olympic skater, was master of ceremonies. He was actually very entertaining. The event made us feel proud just to be a participant.

Saturday was a good news, bad news day. We had our full team but our last game in pool play was against the Celadrin Tigerettes who were going for their eighth consecutive gold medal. They have a corporate sponsor who pays all expenses and expects them to appear in much PR. They were on GMA and Fox & Friends plus others. There are many You-tube videos of them. They also have two players who play very rough, even dirty. My player stood on my foot, Instead of crashing to the floor, I grabbed hold of her, getting called for a foul. I actually stopped the game in the first few minutes and told the ref I wasn't going to play like this. She took us both aside and talked to us. Mary claimed I had pushed her in the shoulder, which I didn't, and proceeded to push me hard in the shoulder right in front of the referee! Mary did get some fouls called after that but not enough as far as I'm concerned. They beat us the second half so we were 2-1 in pool play.

                                  My teammates. #3, 4 & 5 are from Conn, played in three previous Senior Games.                                      #3, Julie, is our "coach." She's taught me a lot. To her right is my roomie, Jeanne.

 We had to wait an hour while officials set up brackets for medal play. We were seeded 8 out of 18 teams. The top 8 teams went into the AAA bracket and remaining 10 went to AA. Tigerettes were seeded 1 so we had to play them again at 1:00. I was not looking forward to going into the lion's den again. We played tough until the last couple minutes when teammates intentionally fouled trying to get possession. They sunk all their free throws so that didn't work. We were now in the loser's bracket as it's double elimination. We won our 3:00 game so were still a go. Saturday night I felt really tired. It'd been a very rough day. We joined two teammates in the hotel restaurant and then went upstairs to "crash."

Sunday at 10:00, we played a team from Texas. We had been told they had two 3-point shooters so that was our focus.We led the whole game as we shut down their 3-pointers. In fact, I actually blocked one attempt. I was as shocked as she was since I was only trying to distract her. It seemed to work because she didn't attempt another. They did get within three points near the end of the game but we held on to win by 4. Our next game wasn't until 5 PM against Colorado. I  don't know if it was the long wait or if my body was just tired, but I didn't play well the first half and told Julie to take me out and give Carol a chance. We were behind 23-12 at the half. I played better the second half but had waited too long to go back into the game. We lost 31-27, putting us in 4th place and no medal. :-(
So, Minneapolis in 2015!!

Monday, we watched the Tigerettes beat Colorado. We really should have beaten Colorado but the thought of having to play the Tigerettes a third time wasn't a pleasant one. The Tigerettes now faced a team from Tennessee. The Tigerettes had practically noone cheering for them. Tennesee played a really good game, not rough, and won by a substantial margin to become the National Champions. They deserved it!

Tennessee with their gold medals and Tigerettes with their silver.

 I was shocked when Mary from the Tigerettes came up to me after the awards and said she'd like to keep in touch. She told me I had really good moves and they would  like me to consider playing with them. I told them I haven't heard anyone here speak good of the Tigerettes. One of them said it's because they've won so many gold medals. I said no, it's because of your rough play. They believe everyone plays rough. Anyway, they asked me to think about it. Mary said it is a big committment because of all the PR events. I really didn't have to think very hard but waited until Wednesday to email Mary. I told her I'm staying with my present team, who've become good friends, and I can't make the required commitment at this time.

My friend and roommate, Jeanne.

Jeanne and I got up at 4 AM Tuesday for our 6:50 flight home. We had a layover in Nashville and we noticed all these kids in our waiting area. They were a group of 46 seventh graders going on a "before school" trip to DisneyWorld. I jokingly asked where they go when they graduate from 8th grade. I was told "Belize." They didn't know where that was so I told them they had two years to find out.

I decided to check on whether or not this flight was full. Not only full...but overbooked. When told they might need volunteers to go on another flight, I talked to Jeanne and she said "Let's do it!" So we were given $459.30 to fly to Raleigh and then Orlando. We had a seat between us on both flights and only arrived 2 hours later than original flight. Well worth the $230 apiece. :-)

Almost forgot! I came home with a souvenir...a mallet finger. It doesn't hurt but without support, the top portion of my right hand ring finger droops. It was injured when I tried to intercept a pass and the ball hit end of my finger. Went to hand specialist on Friday. He said it's soft tissue damage and I need to wear this splint for 8 weeks. I should be able to play pickleball and golf...no basketball. Wasn't planning to play BB for 2 months anyway so all is good. :-)

View of sunset over Lake Erie and R&R Hall of Fame from our 12th floor hotel room.