Senior women seeking senior men… for sport

Cleveland has a new hook-up list.

Women seeking men, women seeking women—everyone is looking for a partner.  (No, not that kind of partner.)

It’s more like “75+ player seeking softball team in Kansas,” and “looking for a 70-74 woman for mixed doubles.”

Week 1 of the National Senior Games is underway at various venues across greater Cleveland, and one entertaining event is actually a special Web page called the “Team/partner Finder.” On this page, athletes can post messages about available spaces on their teams, request partners for doubles competitions, and invite others to join teams or training for the next state trials.

Betsy from Tennessee needs a man—as a doubles partner in pickleball, that is.

George from North Carolina is looking for a female badminton partner—age 80+, please.

Meg wants to find a competition volleyball team for women age 55-60 in Oklahoma, and Julie needs a ladies doubles partner to represent Alabama in the 75-80 age bracket of table tennis.

Some of the message get down to the nitty-gritty specifics: Maryland’s basketball team would like to meet a new player with prior experience in the Games and who is 6’ 4”.

So many people are looking for a team, and many of them are over 70. Clay in Wisconsin has already played softball at the national level, but his home state has no team for men age 80+ right now. And I’m not talking about gentle sports like croquet—half the seekers are inquiring about contact sports like basketball. For a generation that used to be associated with rocking chairs and canes, the over-70s on this list could be called the “full-court press” generation.

Some are here to learn the ropes and seek hookups for next year’s trials. “Need a partner/team for a novice 62+ for 2014,” writes Jackie from Virginia.

“Where can I learn to play pickleball?” Shirley from Rhode Island just wants to know.

I’d love to know, too, Shirley. Maybe I’ll find out next week.

Pamela Tabar

Pamela Tabar was editor-in-chief of I Advance Senior Care from 2013-2018. She has worked as a writer and editor for healthcare business media since 1998, including as News Editor of Healthcare Informatics. She has a master’s degree in journalism from Kent State University and a master’s degree in English from the University of York, England.