Never give up, for that is just the place and time the tide will turn. – Harriet Beecher Stowe
At the Empire State Senior-Masters Games held on the campus of the State University of New York at Cortland this past June, I ran in an age-group 200-meter dash. I was nervous on the
starting line because the previous year I had pulled a muscle shortly after the starter's gun went
off and couldn't finish the race.
Things went better this year. Two memories that will make a cold January morning a bit warmer are of a fellow competitor congratulating me after the race and seeing my wife's beautiful smile as she waved to me from the stands.
Also warming up that January morning will be the memories of my fellow senior-athletes: a 98-year-old man throwing the shot put, a 94-year old woman doing the backstroke, and the many other seniors I saw challenging themselves in a variety of sports.
The camaraderie, courage, and determination of my fellow seniors, both men and women, made the games rich in life-lessons. I watched the grit of competitors who had no chance of winning a medal, far behind the leaders, yet determined to finish the race, as well as athletes who had to overcome physical challenges competing with enthusiasm and success.
Attending the dinner held on the final night, where a DVD of the games we had just competed in was played, reminded me of what is really important in life: love what you are doing, stay connected, and be human. I ran for less than a minute, but the inspiring memories of my fellow seniors will be with me for the rest of my life.
This year's games were held over eight days with more than 1,100 athletes competing in 21 sports. Besides track and field and swimming, some of the other sports were: archery,
badminton, bowling, cycling, golf, horseshoes, racquetball, tennis, and the one with the most entries, pickleball.
I'm hoping to run next year at Cortland and qualify for the National Senior Games, which will be held in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, in 2021. However, one of my biggest motivators to go will be to connect again to all the great people I met in June.
All 50 states have senior games, and every two years a National Senior Games is held. This year it was in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and there were over 13,000 athletes who competed in 20 sports.
If you would like more information about the games, or think you might like to enter an event yourself, go to nsga.com/. At this site there are links to all fifty state associations.
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