America’s Senior Olympics

I had never heard of America’s Senior Olympics until I read about Mavis Albin.

This week there was a news story on ABC about a 76 year old grandmother who plays basketball. The story caught my attention and I sat down to watch.

Her name is Mavis Albin and she is my new hero.

Albin was in her 50s when she saw an article in the local newspaper about the Baton Rouge Tigerettes, a team of retired women who played basketball. Mavis played in high school but didn’t have the opportunity to play in college because back then there were no college women’s teams and no WNBA.

Mavis joined the team and now two decades later, they are hoping to win their 8th gold medal in America’s Senior Olympics!

Mavis and The Tigerettes are currently training in Baton Rouge. They do drills and practice dribbling, shooting and scrimmaging. They are getting ready for the Senior Games in Cleveland later this month.

Senior Athletes

There are more competitive athletes like Mavis who will be competing in Cleveland.

You can learn more about them in an upcoming PBS documentary, “Age of Champions,” Some of the other competitors featured in this documentary are tennis champ Roger Gentilhomme. He battled arthritis and cancer to keep competing even at age 100. Also mentioned is Adolph Hoffman, an 86-year-old pole vaulter, and champion swimmers John and Bradford Tatum, 88- and 90-year-old brothers.

You can read more about  Age of Champions here and purchase the DVD.

After reading about Mavis and the other athletes I am feeling inspired and energetic! Anyone want to come over and shoot some hoops?