Lifelong athletes prove age doesn’t dictate the score
Older adults are challenging the stereotypes of what aging looks like.
In the summer of 2023, more than 11,000 athletes ages 50 and older competed in the biennial National Senior Games in Pittsburgh. Jim Goodman, 71, a swimmer from Penobscot, Maine, brought home three silver medals and two sixthplace ribbons. Since retiring from a 30-year career in the Navy in 2003, Goodman has been a swim coach at Ellsworth High School and at two local YMCAs. In these roles, he teaches the sport he has enjoyed throughout his life to community members ranging from about six to 80 years old.
“I tell my kids, ‘You’re always first in your lane,’” Goodman says. “You’ve got to realize there’s going to be a lot of swimmers who are going to be faster, and you’re going to be faster than a lot of swimmers, so you just do the best you can and have fun doing it.”
No matter your preferred sport or level of competition, staying physically active as you age can result in life-changing wins. According to the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC), regular physical activity can prevent or delay many health problems associated with aging. The CDC also reports that it improves sleep, helps people live independently for longer, and reduces the risk of dementia, heart diseases, certain cancers, and more.
Physical and mental gains
When Carol Walsh, 70, was growing up, “It wasn’t really encouraged for girls to be athletic,” she says. However, in her 20s, Walsh found that getting fresh air and moving her body, no matter the activity, helped boost her mood.
Though she doesn’t consider herself an athlete, Walsh is on the pickleball court near her hometown of Shrewsbury, Mass., five or six days a week. Throughout her life, she’s found that sports improve her mood and mental well-being. “It clears the cobwebs out of my head,” she says.
Keeping your social muscles in shape can be another significant benefit of playing sports, considering that more than one-third of adults age 45 and older feel lonely, according to a National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine report. In addition to being an emotional challenge, loneliness can have serious health consequences, including an increased risk of dementia and other medical conditions.
Walsh regularly gets together with her pickleball friends off the court. Like any good friends, they offer each other support when life “doesn’t go as planned,” she says. For instance, when Walsh had open heart surgery to repair a mitral valve rupture, her friends from pickleball drove her to doctor’s appointments and brought her meals.
Through sports of all kinds and levels, there’s a growing number of older adults who are staying in the game — and inspiring others to do the same. “It’s just amazing what seniors can do,” Walsh says. “I play pickleball with an 85-year-old lady; she is a spitfire. She golfs, she plays pickleball, she rides her bike, she kayaks, she’s always going… The things that I’m seeing now with seniors are becoming more and more normal.”
“You’ve got to realize there’s going to be a lot of swimmers who are going to be faster, and you’re going to be faster than a lot of swimmers, so you just do the best you can and have fun doing it.
Jim Goodman