In 1980, the Hollywood Christian School Challengers girl’s basketball team won their Florida state finals. In 2022, 42 years later, eight teammates are reuniting to bring the Challengers back to Broward County to compete again in the National Senior Games.
“We’re super excited to be doing this,” says team captain Naomi Shedd, now living in Georgia. The rest of the team is spread over three states but decided to get back together when they heard about The Games coming to their old stomping grounds. “We’ve been to two state games and had a blast. We are planning now to keep playing and go to more tournaments. I never ever thought that I would play basketball as a senior, let alone with my old team. This is crazy!”
The team was delighted with the response. The 1979 cheerleaders will reform and wear special shirts and pom poms, and other friends and classmates plan to come out when they compete in the 55+ basketball age division scheduled for May 13-16 in the Broward County Convention Center. “We are happy to have our high school coach Mike Granato coming out to see us too,” Naomi adds. “That will be very special to all of us.”
The first two games will be Friday at 9 am (Court 6) and 11 am (Court 3) in Hall A at the Convention Center.
“We have been saying all along that these Games would be even more like one big family reunion,” NSGA CEO Marc T. Riker says. “The Challengers are emblematic of our ‘Reunion For the Ages’ theme by having their homecoming reunion in Broward County. All of our athletes have been waiting to see friends again and get back to competition. This is much more than a sporting event for our participants.”
