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SAN DIEGO – The noises emanating from the gym suggested a normal basketball game: tennis shoes squeaking on a smooth court, hollow blows from a ball, the high-pitched whistle of a referee.
But inside was a rare tableau. Older women, some in their 80s and 90s, rushed by to steal and shoot. They dribbled and twirled skillfully as they sprinted toward the basket.
Kirsten Cummings, a former professional basketball player, remembered the first time she walked into this YMCA in San Diego’s Mission Valley neighborhood.
“There is this group of women who played and I was so intrigued by them. You were 75 years old, ”Cummings told me. “I have goosebumps.”
This is the San Diego Senior Women’s Basketball Association, one of the largest leagues in the nation for women 50 and over. California’s second largest city is home to several senior sports teams and the venue for the San Diego Senior Games, which brings thousands of competitors from across the state to one event each year dress in the style of the Olympic Games.
“We’re very outdoor-oriented, fitness-oriented, so it was a natural thing that senior games would thrive here,” said Cummings, who grew up in San Diego and now runs the event. “San Diego has people who don’t think twice about learning basketball by the age of 79.”
On a Sunday morning I was chatting on the edge of the YMCA square with Marge Carl, who has been in the women’s league since it was founded in the mid-1990s.
Carl, now 92, wore a blue jersey that matched her glowing eyes. Your team, the Splash, which is for women over 80, should be up in 45 minutes.
The league consists of 75 women in 13 teams that are roughly grouped according to ability and compete against each other every Sunday. The game is played three-on-three for 30 minutes on a half-court.
Carl, like most women here, came of age before Title IX, the 1972 Civil Rights Act, which greatly expanded the opportunities for women to participate in school sports. So she didn’t learn to play basketball until she was 60.
But that’s kind of their style. She graduated from college in her seventh decade. She retired well into her 80s.
Carl pointed to her temple and warned me, “This won’t die if you don’t let it.”
On her 90th birthday, she went skydiving: “There was a man strapped to my back. How bad can it be? “
Newbies to the basketball league learn to protect and rebound in their rookie training program. And once on a team, players may have 40 years or more to hone their skills.
Cummings, who coached the Splash as a volunteer, said she was initially surprised by the older women’s desire to improve. She slept through training once and was reprimanded by a player in her 80s.
“I’m telling you, I never trained again after that,” said Cummings. “The more I trained them, the more I could see behind that facade that they are sweet old ladies. No, they are serious senior athletes. “
The league also foils the slow loneliness that comes with aging.
Carl told me that her childhood friends had died. Other women outlived their spouses by decades. Your children are often preoccupied with their own family responsibilities.
But these teammates meet on the pitch several times a week. The players have been running each other’s weddings and traveling together.
Carl nodded to a younger woman who was lacing her sneakers. That year she drove Carl to her Covid-19 vaccine appointments.
“You are the sorority,” Carl told me.
Currently the oldest member of the league is 95 years old but she was recovering from surgery when I visited her. Other players have been marginalized due to injuries or medical issues that have worsened over the years. The physical toll of aging is clearly felt on the pitch.
Marianne Hall, 86, was coaching high school basketball for women when Title IX was introduced. But she hadn’t played on a team herself until the 1990s when her boyfriend told her about the newly created league in San Diego.
“I don’t jump anymore,” recalled Hall.
“Neither of us jump,” replied the woman.
When the games were suspended last year because of the coronavirus pandemic, Hall wondered if she was too old to return. She is afraid of falling. Although the league now has a mandatory vaccination, many players have not returned since training resumed in June.
But Hall, who recently became great-grandmother, wore her headband and leotard that Sunday morning. She was ready to play.
At lunchtime, the women rushed onto the pitch for the next game between Hall and Carl’s teams.
Players, many in masks, quickly played the ball among themselves. Some tried to intercept and block shots.
Within minutes, Carl grabbed the ball. She raised her arms and heaved it to the basket.
Rush.
If you’re reading a story, make it this one
On Tuesday evening, NASA started a new mission: crashing on asteroids, defending planet earth.
Where are we going
Today’s travel tip – or rather tips – comes from Gretchen Henry:
It was a lifelong dream to live in California. We settled in Santa Barbara County. Here are my favorite places that we have loved in our 20 years there:
1) I just loved the Ojai Valley Inn and Resort in Ojai. A beautiful setting for the graceful building and gardens
2) The grocery and health food store just before Solvang; you can sit outside and picnic in the nearby wineries
3) Loved visiting Pasadena – San Marino and the beautiful gardens there?
4) Palm Desert – especially in the evening
5) Drive through the desert from Santa Barbara to Sacramento
6) Lake Tahoe, of course
Tell us about your favorite places in California. Email your suggestions to CAtoday@nytimes.com. We’ll share more in the upcoming issues of the newsletter.
What we recommend
Our 100 Notable Books of 2021.
Tell us
Do you have a story about a time when you saw your parents or your elders differently? Share your story on the Modern Love Podcast and maybe make it into a future episode.
And before you go, some good news
Three students from Humboldt County have been selected to play in the Indigenous Bowl – an annual soccer game that honors 60 of the country’s best high school football players of Native American descent.
Darvin Davis IV, a Hoopa High School student and a Yurok tribe member, told the Local Coast Outpost that he looks forward to meeting other young Indigenous players from across the country. The game will take place in Minneapolis on December 5th.
“That’s the most exciting thing about it,” said Davis. “To meet and play with new people and make new brothers and bonds that I will never forget.”
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