Basketball @ 62

[Phil Lilley]

Well, I've embarked on a journey and I'm not sure where this will take me.  This week, Marsha and I are in Coral Springs, FL where I'll play 4 games starting tonight in a tournament put on the the MBA Masters Basketball Association.  I'm playing in the 60+ division.  There are 10 teams in our group.  I got my feet wet a couple of months ago, playing in Cincinnati in another tournament for "old guys".

The organization has been around for 37 years and it promotes and sponsors tournaments all over the world for men and women over 40.  While they put importance on competition, they promote fellowship and good sportsmanship.  We attended their banquet last night and was impressed with their message.  There seems to be good solid people in leadership.

We practiced at the gym yesterday afternoon... saw some good quality players in the 70+ age group.  There's even 2 teams in the 80+ division.  It's pretty cool to see men that age still able to get up and down the court.

https://mastersbasketballassociation.org

 

[DADAKOTA]

Sounds like fun Phil.  Wish my old knees were up to it.  Good luck.

[Al Agnew]

Phil, ever since you mentioned it to me, I've been thinking about getting into that league.  I just started playing again a couple weeks ago, having not played since Covid started.  I'm out here in Montana and the air is a little thinner, and I wasn't in great shape anyway, since basketball is usually my main exercise.  I showed up at the gym with everybody complete strangers to me...the guy who invited me said they had good players and not so good players.  Well, most everybody, except for two guys, were in their teens, 20s, or at most 30s, and nearly all of them were good.  I was able to pair up with one or the other of the other older guys on opposite teams so we could guard each other.  I was a complete clutz after not playing for over a year.  But by my fourth day of playing (2 hours, full court!), I'm starting to get into shape, starting to not feel awkward, and my shot is coming around, except after the first hour when I start to get tired.  But it sure would be nice to play with guys my own age (dinosaurs).

[Phil Lilley]

We'll probably play again - this summer may be.  Be ready!!

[Phil Lilley]

We won our first game. Played guys from Spanish Harlem. Fun guys. But we got killed Wednesday. Bunch of college-proven guys that could play!

I missed today’s game but they got beat again. One more tomorrow.