June 14, 2000
Tennis courts a fun racquet for senior citizens
By Carol South
Herald contributing writer
Tennis anyone?
Blurt that out at the Traverse City Senior Center and you're likely to have dozens of takers, if not an outright stampede.
The Center's tennis club is an active one, with its 54 members going strong on the renovated courts four mornings a week. Up to 30 members show up some mornings for doubles tennis, with each duo rotating partners and games every 15 minutes.
The allure of the game plus the combination of exercise, socializing and a great view (the courts are right on West Bay) keep club members coming back for more. The club even limits its membership so everyone has a chance to play and a lengthy waiting list testifies to the sport's popularity among the senior set.
And injuries, age or illness will not keep these dedicated players away for long.
"I really love to play tennis and it pulls me down when I can't," said Evelyn Tenbusch of Traverse City, who just back to the courts after a 10-week layoff due to surgery for heel spurs. "It felt good to be back today."
Tenbusch is not the only member to miss games because of injuries. Other members of the group have had rotator cuff problems, tennis elbow, hip replacements, heart bypass surgery or back surgery. One player has a severe visual impairment in one eye but keeps coming back for more.
In one concession to its members' age, the club does mandate doubles tennis, with four players per game. By playing doubles, each player has less distance to cover and fewer demands on their stamina and flexibility than a singles game would require.
"The beauty of tennis is that you can play at any age," said Ferris Steinhauer, co-director of the ten-year-old club. "It is an ideal game for seniors and you can play strictly as recreation or you can work at it. We have a real mix of levels."
Steinhauer is one of those who work at it, having just taken up the sport when he retired five years ago. He plays four times a week all summer and in the winter he plays five times a week. He also cross trains by walking and occasionally lifting weights. Last winter in Florida he took tennis lessons from a professional player to improve his game.
Despite the different skill levels, the club has a rotating system to match better players with less skilled ones so each team is balanced. The name of the game for members is fun so winning and competition are less important.
"We try to balance out the foursomes," Steinhauer said. "We have a lot of seniors who are serious about tennis."
Many of the members are also serious about making friends and socializing. The club gathers three of four times a summer after games for lunch or a picnic. They also get together for other special events, like this week they are viewing a slide show of a member's round-the-world cruise.
A small garden plot nearby sports ten tomato plants that players lovingly cultivate between sets. Later in the summer they will feast on tomatoes after a morning of playing.
The chance to make friends and socialize keeps co-director Shirley Delaney coming back year after year.
"I am mainly motivated to play tennis by the camaraderie," Delaney said. "I decided to take up the sport when I retired because I enjoyed the people who were here and I wanted to be a part of it."
The chance to have fun while staying in shape is a big draw for Marty Johnson. Johnson took up the game 30 years ago but played sporadically until recently. Now she and her husband, Bob, play with the club three or four times a week, in addition to their kayaking and biking ventures.
"It is a great workout and it doesn't take a long time, like golf can take hours," said Johnson. "It is fun to do something like this for exercise, doing the weight machines is boring and running is boring."