Over 650 athletes are serving their best shots at the 2022 National Senior Games presented by Humana Tennis competition hosted at the Veltri Racquet Club. We posed a question to a few of these devoted athletes to see how staying active through tennis competition has benefited their lives.
How has playing tennis, being involved in the Senior Games, and generally staying active impacted your life?
Rodney Jackson, 50
Missouri
Editor’s Note: Rodney started playing tennis at 50, and these National Senior Games were his first tennis competition ever! We look forward to seeing him back in Pittsburgh.
“Tennis is such a fun sport, and it allows you to maintain your mobility and maintain focus. You want to work on your game to improve. Being here at the senior games has given me that spirit to want to improve for next year’s games because the guys in my age bracket are really good!”
Nicole Christina, 60
New York
“It helps me stay vibrant, engaged, and happy. It’s an absolute delight to do it. My friends are here – it’s exercise, it’s strategy so it’s good for my brain. It also gives me structure and has helped during COVID. I can’t imagine life without tennis, it’s my absolute love.
Diane Kinderwater, 65
New Mexico
“The philosophy of senior games is to encourage us to try not only the sport we’re comfortable with, but to expand and try other sports, and we have done that, truly due to the senior games. It encouraged us to try table tennis, badminton, corn hole – it really opened up a bigger world of sports to us that we may not have done.”
Christina Cook, 61
New Hampshire
“It’s the way to go. Tennis has been great, it’s a very social activity – I usually play doubles. And meeting all the people who are like-minded is wonderful. I’m also doing cycling and have met people from all over the United States. It’s been really fun…We were having breakfast the other day at the hotel and watching all the horrible things on the news and we were looking at each other going, ’This is where everybody needs to be. Where everybody is positive and wants to feel good and do.”
Rick Barker, 65
New Mexico
“It’s impacted me tremendously. So much joy and so much satisfaction with the Senior Games – meeting everyone from all the states. It’s a super organization and this is a super nice venue, just dial down the humidity and it would be perfect!”
