March 2024 Athlete of the Month
By Del Moon, NSGA PR Specialist
Sam Barnabas, 81
Webster, New York
Sam Barnabas cannot remember a time when he wasn’t playing sports with his family. He was born in India to a family whose father was a diplomat, so they moved frequently. “We always managed to play games as a family,” he recalls. “Wherever we went overseas we played as many games as we could. We were never in one place long enough to be in tournaments and leagues.”
“I have a lifelong love of badminton, tennis and table tennis,” he adds. “Now I have passed it to my three children as a recipe for staying in good physical and mental well-being.”
He had never participated in major competitions, so when he was turning 80 Sam decided to put an exclamation mark on his recreational playing life by qualifying and entering the 2023 National Senior Games presented by Humana. “My journalist daughter worked for the local paper and knew about the Empire State Games here in New York. She said I ought to play in them,” he recalls. “Like a fool, I decided to enter too many events. I pulled a hamstring a week out and couldn’t do track but managed to play tennis and badminton.”
“Once I qualified at the Empire Games, I had to take it to the next level and try,” he says. “I stayed home from the 2022 Games because of the pandemic just to be safe, but after I qualified for the 2023 Games in Pittsburgh I decided to try and see how I would do.”
Try he did, and Sam was pleasantly surprised to find a silver medal and a bronze medal in badminton around his neck for his first trip to Nationals. “It was very new for me. I have competed in smaller competitions around here, as have my children. To compete at the state and national level was completely new.”
Sam also shared in the joy of others. “I was very happy, but what was even better was seeing my partner, Anthony House, beaming because he had never won anything in his life. He was almost in tears when he got the medal.”
Sam came to the United States in 1963 to earn his engineering degree at the University of Illinois and then started a family after meeting his wife Carole while in graduate school in Buffalo, New York. Now married 52 years, he shares that the most special aspect of his Games experience was seeing several family members come to Pittsburgh to cheer him on.
Sam Barnabas (third from right) with his family at the 2023 National Senior Games presented by Humana.
“My brother-in-law and his wife came from Tampa and my daughter-in-law, my son and his three children came from New York,” he says. “It was nice to gather them together. My children are all in their 40s and they all still play badminton, tennis and table tennis. I hope to teach my grandchildren tennis in the summer. I also volunteer at the Webster Recreation Center teaching badminton in the winter.”
The National Senior Games trip allowed Sam to meet other peers and enjoy watching them compete. “When I entered the badminton field it was a completely different competitive level,” he marvels. “There were so many good players. I saw a couple in their 90’s playing, which amazed me. It was encouraging and I want to be playing when I’m 90.”
Sam finds many benefits from his activity and has a positive outlook for his future. “Now I’ve found that it also keeps your mind sharp, it’s important to keep going,” he asserts. “We will continue to participate in family play whenever we have the occasion to be together. I hope to continue this until my bones stop working and my knees give out!”
