2025 Games Daily News

June 12, 2025

Games Daily News

Can’t-miss moments from the 2025 National Senior Games presented by Humana.

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Lifting and Loving Life

June 4, 2025June 2025 Athlete of the Month By Del Moon, NSGA Storyteller Faith O’Reilly, 82 Saguache, Colorado Look anywhere online and you’ll see Powerlifting is having a moment. Older women who powerlift have particularly captured the spotlight. Catherine Kuehn, 95, inspired the “Strong Grandma” documentary, and one Instagram video promoting the film racked up over 11 million views. Nora Langdon, who started at 65, has inspired countless people with her record-setting pursuits. Powerlifting makes its sport debut at the 2025 National Senior Games presented by Humana in Des Moines, and 82-year-old Faith O’Reilly has the honor of being the oldest female registered for the event. Faith hails from Saguache, a town of 600 in southwestern Colorado where she owns a small rustic lodge for wayward travelers and recreation seekers. “We pronounce it ‘Sa-watch’ you know,” she begins. Faith then talks about the beauty and recreation offered in the region, noting she is a past chamber of commerce president and a current tourism council member. Her story then takes a sudden National Senior Games twist when she reveals she grew up in Des Moines and is excited to compete and see family and friends when she competes there for the 2025 Games. “I was born in St. Louis, but my family moved to Des Moines when I was four years old and I did my schooling in Iowa,” she explains. Faith first began lifting weights while earning her law degree at the University of Iowa. “While I was in law school I kind of fell in with some people who were doing weightlifting, and they invited me to go to a powerlifting meet with them,” she recalls. “I was watching it and thought, ‘Well, I can do that.’” She took up the sport and competed regularly throughout the Midwest and is proud to have won multiple Iowa state championships. Her career took her to Hamlin University in St. Paul, Minnesota to teach undergraduate law to paralegal students and criminal justice students. Her lifting diminished as she found less time due to the weight of her demanding schedule. After retiring in 2007, she was ready to flex again, moving with her weights to a tiny Colorado town to enjoy independence and fresh air. Why Saguache? Faith says she followed up on a whim. “I used to travel around taking my granddaughter to all the national parks in Utah, Colorado and New Mexico, and I just kept coming through this town Saguache,” she recalls. “It’s beautiful here, and I kept thinking, ‘That’s where I’m going to live when I retire,’ so that’s what I did. A little crazy, but it’s worked out pretty well for me.” Powerlifting – Good for Seniors? Faith Thinks So. Faith is excited that Powerlifting is now part of National Senior Games and says most people can benefit from it, including older adults. The research on resistance training agrees. Faith notes her smaller (but sturdy) frame and says you compete in the appropriate weight and age groups. “It’s overall good for you physically, and as you age you can have problems with bone density and losing muscle tone,” she observes. “So this helps you stay fit. I still do a lot of the outdoor yard work and chores of the lodge myself.” Faith has her own gym setup with special safety bars since there is nowhere and no one near her to train with, but says people should do it in a group setting. “Besides the workout, it gives you the chance to be involved in an athletic adventure, and the people that do this are a very open and friendly group of people. You make a lot of connections and get support.” This will actually be Faith’s second National Senior Games. In 2023 she joined with her younger sister Ellen Przyuski and her childhood friend Margo Crosman in Pittsburgh to compete and win gold in the women’s 75+ Triathlon Relay. The “Fab Fem” team loved the experience and is coming back for more with a goal to finish faster, with Faith putting her college swimming experience to work for the water portion. She is quick to express gratitude to be able to participate in sports as she ages, because opportunities were slim for her growing up before Title IX. “My high school thought that team athletics were not good for girls. It wasn’t ladylike,” she says. “So my whole family gravitated over to horseback riding. I did a lot of competitive riding when I was a kid. It was called pony club but was really more like the Olympic horseback riding with the dressage, stadium jumping and open field jumping.” Her Senior Games experiences have energized Faith’s spirit. “It’s really fun to see and interact with other people who are enjoying being more fit than the rest of our age group,” she says. “You know, the oldest person who competed in Pittsburgh was 103, so that gives me a goal.” [...]

Mind Over Racket

May 5, 2025May 2025 Athlete of the Month By Del Moon, NSGA Storyteller Dr. Rajeev Trehan, 70 Lawrence, Kansas Dr. Rajeev Trehan has a secret weapon he uses to defeat opponents in badminton, and it’s not because he was born in India, where the sport originated. It’s not because he has played most of his life. What is it? His mind. “I’m what you could call a neuropsychiatrist – I have been board-certified in both neurology and psychiatry for more than 30 years,” he says. After becoming an internist in his native India, Rajeev came to the United States in 1981. He refined his specialties in the Yale medical system before becoming a professor and chief of staff of Veterans Administration hospitals. He has been based at the Eastern Kansas VA Medical Center in Topeka for 20 years. His secret weapon is a powerful understanding of how the brain drives both the physiology and psychology of sport. “The funny thing is that when you look at the specialties of medicine, they focus on different body parts, like cardiology is the heart, and gastroenterology is the intestines, for example,” he explains. “But you have two medical specialties, neurology and psychiatry, devoted to the brain. If you do both specialties as I do, then you have the whole brain to work with.” Badminton, which is the most-played sport in the world behind soccer, turns out to be the perfect example. “This is a sport that has a racket and an object called a birdie or a shuttle. It requires focus on the object. It requires agility and mobility. It requires anticipation. It requires skill. It requires trickery. It requires psychology,” he observes. “Movement of the body requires a coordination between the neurological wiring of the body and the muscles, and is connected to the eye and all the other things. “So it is a whole body and mind kind of activity, and I don’t know that there could be anything better,” he continues. “Certainly, there’s no medicine invented that could do this.” From the Hospital to the Olympics Rajeev started with Kansas Senior Games as soon as he was eligible to enter and competed in his first National Senior Games in Louisville in 2007. He has been to every Games since except Pittsburgh in 2023. “I had a competing event at the same time, the National Veterans Wheelchair Games in Portland, so I couldn’t make it,” he says. Rajeev is a national classifier for para badminton and wears the hat of medical lead and head physician for USA Badminton, the governing body of the sport in this country. His association began when he served as a line judge at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta. “That was really my entry into the world of badminton in the U.S., and after the Atlanta Olympics, I came to know the community here,” he recalls. “I went on to be a field-of-play official doing scorekeeping projection at the Sydney Olympics in 2000 and the Athens Olympics in 2004. Then I became a national umpire for badminton in the U.S. and I have done some international events. From there my medical expertise came into play with USA Badminton.” There’s another credit with a Senior Games connection: Rajeev introduced badminton to the National Veterans Golden Age Games, one of NSGA’s qualifying events dedicated to veterans. Why Badminton Remains King of Racket Sports Rajeev is happy to see more people get involved in all racket sports and welcomes the pickleball phenomenon. “I’m a little bit envious of the beauty and the popularity of pickleball in America, and I must say that from a public health perspective, it is probably the best thing that has happened to American healthcare. It has all these same qualities that I mentioned for badminton and people take to it much more easily.” However, the shuttle master still sees his sport as supreme. “There are many racket sports in the world. Badminton is the only racket sport that does not have a ball, and the fastest object of any racket sport is the shuttlecock. Who could imagine, a piece of cork with 16 feathers stuck into it? But still, none of tennis’ fastest serves are equal in speed to the fastest shuttlecock which can exceed 300 miles per hour. “So badminton is the old grandfather of all these others,” he concludes. “We thought it might go away, but it’s not dying. Badminton has been around for 200 hundred years and it isn’t going away.“ As much as his involvement has expanded, Rajeev still finds the boyish joy of his pastime. “I did not study so much then, and that must have caused worry to my parents, but I was out every evening and just spent hours and hours playing sports,” he says. “While I’m doing all of these things professionally and with organized badminton, I’m basically a player.” [...]

Overcoming Fear by Example

April 2, 2025April 2025 Athlete of the Month By Del Moon, NSGA Storyteller Ann Hegstrom, 69 De Soto, Iowa The National Senior Games showcases older adults performing impressive athletic feats, but some, like Iowa native Ann Hegstrom, stand out from the crowd with their personality and presence. Ann captured our attention in Albuquerque in 2019, dressed in festive red, white and blue with a broad smile and swinging pigtails as she competed in her Race Walk, Power Walk and Track & Field events. “I’m your average athlete and was never somebody who got a lot of awards when I was in school,” she says. “My motto is, if you’re not going to win the race, you’ve got to look good. People won’t remember who won, but they will remember my outfits!” The practice has a purpose, since Ann has always loved helping people through her career as a nurse and then teacher. At 45, she started doing charity 5K races with her late husband Gary, who had quadriplegia. The couple met when Gary was a patient of Ann’s. “He would be in his power wheelchair, and I’d be struggling to keep up with him,” she recalls. “It took some training to be able to go at his pace.” After Gary’s passing Ann dedicated her activity to his memory. She stepped up her game, joining the all-ages Iowa Games and State Games of America events in her mid 50’s. Normally outgoing, she was shy at first, fearing she would make a fool of herself. However, she drew inspiration from her years teaching and motivating students who are blind at the Iowa Braille School. Blind Inspiration “I started running seriously to show my students that you can take on a new endeavor and overcome fear,” she says. “Crossing the street when you’re totally blind is just as scary as jumping out of a plane. So I did my first half marathon and actually skydived to inspire them,” she says. “Once you’re a teacher, you’re always a teacher,” Ann continues. “Even though I now do Senior Games, I will always still do the Iowa Games because I want to see the future. It’s humbling to go out there and be the oldest person on the track, but one day I overheard a girl talking to her mother, and she said, ‘I want to be like her when I’m that age.’” Ann was delighted to join the Iowa Senior Games to be among more age peers and to have the opportunity to compete on a national stage. She is pleased to have won most of her state events and has collected nine National Senior Games medals, including three gold, since 2019. Not bad for an “average” athlete. “There’s an honor and a privilege to qualify, and then it’s magic when you get there,” she says. “It’s people from all over. It’s people who are like me. And when you see somebody who has that natural talent, it’s a beautiful thing to behold. And it’s not like the elites have some kind of an attitude. They will share ideas and help coach you. The first time I did a triple jump, somebody who always gets gold medals was telling me how to do it.” Ann had another fear and challenge to overcome just as she was preparing for her first trip to Nationals in 2019. “I was so honored to qualify and excited to participate,” she remembers. “Registration was completed, housing was secured, and I had procured tickets to fly to Albuquerque, then take Amtrak home because I love trains. Then, I had my annual mammogram and my future didn’t seem as sure.” Her medical team wanted to have surgery right away, but they consulted and agreed to start medical treatment to slow the tumor’s growth and perform surgery right after her return. “I wore my breast cancer awareness outfit one of the days in Albuquerque,” she says. “An incredible number of women approached me to share their cancer journey and gave me comfort and hope. I am now nearly six years cancer-free and one of the survivors who can offer hope to women that they, too, may come through stronger.” Ann is proud and excited that The Games are coming to Iowa. “I’m 20 minutes from Des Moines and an hour from Ames where Track and Field is going to be held, and it’s a great track. Des Moines is special, and I hope people see that.” [...]

One Sport Leads to Another

March 3, 2025March 2025 Athlete of the Month By Del Moon, NSGA Storyteller Treba Young, 60 Eric Young, 62 Mobile, Alabama Many older adults find recreation and sports are a healthy way to pursue an active life with social connections. For Treba and Eric Young of Mobile, Alabama, Senior Games has opened a new vista for enjoying sports they knew and exploring nearly a dozen new ones. “We used to play tennis, and as a couple that didn’t work out very well. We had to start driving separate cars,” Treba says with a laugh. “We would still come home together, but we found that cycling is a bigger social sport for us.” “I picked up cycling because tennis was hard on the knees. Plus, you get to see more of nature, and more of the world,” Eric adds. There is a small controversy about which got the other off the court and onto the bike saddle seven years ago. “That’s still left up to debate, because I think I started riding first, and I pulled her in. We got our new bikes at the same time.” Treba’s reply? “I have a fever, and I’ve drug him along.” The couple have been doing things together for as long as they can remember. “We met as children in the same church, and they provided track and field, basketball and volleyball, and I played softball with my father growing up as a teenager,” Eric, 64, recalls. Taking up cycling after retiring from 35 years as an educator and working part-time helped Treba stay active and make new friends. She was the first of the two to take up competitive cycling and won the state criterium championship in 2020. She wanted more. The pair also joined the Major Taylor Cycling Club of Alabama, which participates in community and charity rides around the state, such as the recent 51-mile ride from Selma to Montgomery to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the famous Civil Rights march. “The club noticed that I was racing and competing, and they wanted to have a Red Tails Race Team, which is a tribute to the Tuskegee Airmen. I became one of the founding members of the team,” Treba says proudly. “Before this, there was no bike racing team in Montgomery, Tuscaloosa, Tuskegee or the surrounding area. We are inspiring people of all backgrounds to train hard, improve fitness, develop skills, enjoy the process and race their bikes!” That led the Youngs to the Alabama Senior Olympics, where both medaled and qualified for the National Senior Games. They competed in Fort Lauderdale in 2022 and have since regularly traveled to other State Games in Louisiana and Mississippi. They had to withdraw from going to Pittsburgh in 2023 due to a last-minute work commitment, but the Youngs fully expect to be in Des Moines for the 2025 National Senior Games presented by Humana. Expanding Their Sports Horizon The Youngs also found opportunities to try several other sports besides cycling at State Games and have a full schedule of play for Des Moines. They qualified in Cycling and Pickleball, and both have added Open Sports that do not require qualifying, including Cornhole, Powerlifting and the One Mile Road Race. Treba will also take on the Basketball Shooting Skills competition. “We planned to take longer to see more things and be part of walking into the Celebration of Athletes with our state,” Eric says. “Then we realized we will have time to do some sports that were open.” There’s no fear of failing at new things with either athlete, and they like the encouraging environment at Senior Games. “You never know what you’re going to be great at, but you’re not going to know if you never do it. Of course you want to win, but my goal is to participate and finish, and what happens in between is okay.” Treba’s enthusiasm and supportive attitude earned an invitation from Alabama Senior Olympics to serve on their board of directors. “Volunteering has definitely been a part of my nature. We’ve done a lot to help in the community as part of Alabama Power’s Alabama Service Organization. I think Deanna Pack asked me to be on the board because often I’m able to see solutions and I always try to communicate in a positive way. I see something good in things first.” Eric enjoys having new sports challenges and appreciates the need to keep moving. “I am a larger guy, and football was my sport in school. I watched my father retire and do nothing. But when you stay inactive, you have health problems. I do have a few small health issues, and I don’t want them to be the determining factor in my life and I have to stay home, or I can’t do this, or I can’t do that. The goal is to stay active.” “We’re planning part of our retirement around Senior Games,” Eric continues. “Cycling is one of those things that you can do throughout the country. There’s a great community, and the Senior Games are an open avenue for meeting people and making great friends from all over.” [...]

A Classic Recipe for Success

February 11, 2025February 2025 Team of the Month By Del Moon, NSGA Storyteller Legendary UCLA Men’s Basketball Coach John Wooden once famously said, “If you want to watch pure basketball, watch the women play.” If you want to watch women play Basketball in the National Senior Games, look no further than the Connecticut Classics 2. Team sports present special challenges for groups to be consistently competitive in the National Senior Games. Teams often need to attract players from different states to fill a roster. People come and go due to injury or changing age divisions. And, perhaps most importantly, there has to be passion for the game and a strong team leader to hold it all together. The Connecticut Classics 2 team found the right elements to not only win, but also grow and stay closely knitted since 2012. Also known as “Big Red,” the Classics have an incredible record of 65 gold medals and one silver, including five National Senior Games titles. At the 2023 National Senior Games presented by Humana, the Classics dominated the 65+ division with a 7-0 tournament record and an average margin of victory of 29 points. In 2024, the team was inducted into the Connecticut Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame. The roster is extraordinary with many players touting college and professional experience. Four ladies played in the Women’s Basketball League (WBL), the first U.S. women’s professional basketball league that existed in the late ‘70s, including Lynn Chiavaro, Karen Aulenbacher Heintz, Jody Rajcula and Karen Smith. Heintz helped her Houston Angels team win a championship in 1977, and Smith was on the 1980 New York Stars title champions. Another Classic, June Walton, played professionally in England and Venezuela. That’s some firepower. “We started with a core of five players in 2012, and the additions have been a unanimous team decision to bring in the right player at the right time. Often it was a player inviting a friend they knew or played with before,” Team Captain Jean Trimboli says. “I kinda found senior basketball on my own. After following the kids through college, I felt that desire to play again.” Talent, Chemistry and Leadership Jean is the glue that keeps things organized for this high-powered group of athletes. “I love organizing,” she says. “I had five kids, and I once single-handedly ran a basketball program that had 700 kids in it, so it was second nature to take on the reins.” In addition to managing this team of several elite players, there are also no less than eight who have coached basketball – five at the college level. Yet, Jean says there are no issues with egos, a common source of division for a team. The team talks in unison about how they see themselves. “We’ve all been trailblazers for our whole life fighting for Title IX. We were sophomores when it came about,” says Karen Smith. “At first we had uniforms that were T-shirts with athletic tape for the numbers. It’s come a long way since then.” Jean gives two main reasons why the team has been stable for so long. “Well, bottom line, the best part is winning,” she says with a laugh. “But there’s more to it. Our team is like an extended family of sisters that have the same passion and the competitiveness to keep going as long as we can.” Jody Rajcula is thankful after a long career as a coach and player to continue to enjoy the team dynamic. “Our bodies are allowing us to do this, and we try to take care of ourselves,” she notes. “The other thing is there’s something about team sport, that it builds camaraderie and allows us to be successful in life because you have to work together to achieve a higher goal. It’s all the things that we like to instill in young people as coaches and now we’re able to participate again at a different level.” Pioneers Cheer the Growth of Women’s Sports The ladies emphasize that there was always talent but not many paths for females to advance during their developmental years, and all are excited to see the rise in women’s basketball and sports in general. “When I played at Montclair State my teammate Carol Blazejowski scored 40 points every game,” Karen Smith observes. “So when they talk about Caitlin Clark getting 40 points here and there I smile. I’m happy there’s a lot more opportunities for young girls to compete and improve their skills, and when that happens the entire product improves all the way up.” The Classics are proud of the roles they have played and to see that women’s basketball has retained its style. “The game has changed a little bit, but not all that much,” Karen Aulenbacher Heintz opines. “I think they still share the ball for the most part. I think that’s been consistent about the women’s game.” John Wooden would be pleased. [...]

Recovery with a Pickleball Prescription – and Guardian Angel

January 2, 2025January 2025 Athlete of the Month By Del Moon, NSGA Storyteller Mike Welter, 72 Cape Coral, Florida In 2017, senior athlete Mike Welter of Cape Coral, Florida, was flying high. The former tennis player had mastered pickleball and won two gold medals at the Super Seniors International Pickleball Association (SSIPA) World Championships as his peak accomplishments. He was also honored to be named the Male Athlete of the Year by the Florida Senior Games for his prowess in those Games. However, 2018 wasn’t as kind when Mike suffered a massive stroke while visiting family just north of Pittsburgh. “Sharon Hospital refused to admit me and called a helicopter,” he recalls. “They transferred me to Allegheny General Hospital downtown. We landed on the roof, and they took me in, and I don’t know what happened for the next week. I had vision issues and lost use of my left arm and leg. They were just nothing, and they had to teach me how to walk,” he says. It’s hard to rattle a retired Marine Colonel, but Mike admits he was scared. Yet his excellent physical condition and medical care that continued at his VA hospital at home contributed to his eventual recovery. It took a year before Mike could handle a paddle again, but his doctor praised how quickly he progressed. “He asked, ‘What have you been doing? You’re so healthy.’ I answered, ‘I play pickleball.’ He replies, ‘Keep doing it.’ I considered that doctor’s orders!” Mike, 72, credits his Marine Corps background for the lifelong fitness that helped him overcome the stroke. Mike climbed back up the ranks and began winning medals and championships again. Yet, there was one more psychological challenge he did not expect five years later when the host city for the 2023 National Senior Games presented by Humana was announced. Pittsburgh. “I was 100 percent apprehensive and superstitious about Pittsburgh,” he says. “I wanted to go back, and I didn’t want to go. But my wife Diane is from that area, and a bunch of relatives had never seen me play. They came to the convention center at eight in the morning and they stayed all day long grasping it all in, and we kept winning and winning.” Then came Mike’s full circle moment. “I could look out the window of the convention center, and I saw helicopters landing on the roof of Allegheny General Hospital with trauma patients,” he remembers emotionally. “Oh, man. I prayed for everyone. It’s hard, but going back to Pittsburgh helped me get past my fears. And you know what? My partner George Basista and I won gold in Men’s Doubles!” Enter “The G Man” – and Mike Gives Back Mike also credits another local pickleball player that he considers a guardian angel for helping restore his health and confidence. “I only knew Gary Douthat as another player in the area, but he just had a calling to befriend me,” Mike says with some wonder in his voice. “I still wasn’t walking great yet, and Gary started coming to my house every day to take me to the pickleball court to start dinking.” Mike explains. “He did that for a year, taking me to the court, to the VA hospital and to lunch. I don’t know where he came from, but he has become real good friends with my whole family. My grandson calls him ‘G Man’. Then Gary and I played in the U.S. Open in the following year, and we came in fourth. He really helped save my life.” Coming back also gave Mike a chance to give back, as he led the charge to have a new pickleball complex built in his area. Players were crowding the Lee County rec centers and pickleballers could only find spaces to play while children were in school or at night. “It took me five years and three mayors to get the Lake Kennedy Racquet Center. I was kicked out of one mayor’s office two times,” he says with some amusement. The new complex includes 32 pickleball courts and 12 tennis courts with a big grass area for a future championship court. Mike is proud to share that it opened last August and has already hosted three tournaments, including the UPA Florida State Championships. Once a Marine, Always a Marine In the end, though, Mike circles back to his 30 years of military service as the core of his well-being and resilience. He loves to share that the officer who interviewed him at the academy was Lt. Colonel Oliver North. “Ollie helped get me in the Marine Corps, and when I retired I got one rank higher than him, so I did good. “I’m real proud of the fact that I was able to fight and fight and fight and get back in the game,” he adds. “That’s what Marines do.” [...]