What sport do you still play?

[LogDog75]

I'm a bowler and I've been bowling for over 50 years. It's one sport in which you can compete against others when you're in your 70s (like I am) and older.It provides both competition and social interaction with others.

I bowl in two evening leagues, sometimes sub in Monday and Wednesday morning leagues, and bowl six practice games a week so I bowl between 12 and 18 games a week. I've actually gotten better bowling as I've gotten older and after 16 weeks in one league I have a 207 average as opposed to a 192 average last year.

So, what sport(s) do you still play?

[surfered]

1. Still surfing after 57 years, though not competitively except for an Old Town Festival in the 60 till dead Division

[KT2000]

2. Scrabble

[spooky3]

3. Tennis nt

[PJMcK]

4. Several

Golf. I carry my bag (15 lbs.) and walk the course (4+ miles).

Sailing. Long distance cruising as well as daysailing but it's physical and requires flexibility.

Hiking. We have a house in the Catskills and there are many trails in the mountains.

I also exercise regularly.

[mitch96]

5. Mind games.. easer on the joints...nt

[Aristus]

6. I'm the least athletically gifted person on the planet. My sports tend to be solitary.

Long, brisk walks, and weight-lifting.

[debm55]

7. Basketball.

[KitFox]

8. Hiking and playing

Nerf Basketball, Catch, Badminton, and Four Square with my grandkids. 😃

[ProfessorGAC]

9. Golf & Bowling

I played in "elite" rec badketball leagues until I was 38, but started to see the game as a knee injury waiting to happen. Plus, I was losing my explosion which was the basis of my whole game.
So, golf & bowling.
Two bowling stories I think you'll like.
1. In the mid to late 70s, I was in a traveling league. There were six houses, 8 four man team from each house, 36 week season. So, 192 guys total in the league.
In 1977, I finished the season 1 pin shy of a 223 average. I was in 48th place! Yep, 47 other guys had better than a 223 average!

2. In that same period, I was in a league with my dad. My dad's best friend, his friend's brother & a friend of both of them. Plus, me.
Anyway, we won the league every year (22 ir 24 teans) because those 4 all averaged from the low 160s to the high 170s. I averaged over 220.
It was a handicap league and I had zero, but not a negative number, so we had a huge advantage because if a guy was a 189 bowler and shot his average, he'd net 195. If I shot my average we'd get 220. Two & a half-marks.
One year, my dad suggested we base handicaps on 220, to eliminate our team's advantage a bit.
Here's the kicker: Nobody agreed to do it because the 180 bowlers refused to carry a 30 pin handicao! Their egos wouldn't allow the to accept an advantage. So, we won league that year, too. After that, I was engaged and would rather spend that night with my wife to be than at the bowling alley. So, that was the end of that league for me.

[LogDog75]

10. One bowling league I'm is different from the usual league

One evening league I'm in is totally different from any league I've ever been in. In most leagues, you add up the team's score plus handicap and compare it the other team and the team with the highest score wins. In my league, there is no handicap but it's based on which team bowled higher over their team average. The league consists of 36, 3-person teams. You add up the averages of each member and that is your team average. At the end of each game, you add up team's scores and figure out the difference between that score and your team's average. The team who bowls more pins over their average wins 2 points per game and 1 point for total.

Last Thursday, my team bowled won a game by bowling -5 pins below average whereas the other team bowled -6 pins below their average. Since -5 is greater than -6, we won that game.

What makes this league interesting is teams with high team averages, over 600, tend to be at a disadvantage to those who average around 550. In the couple of years I've bowled in it, the "golden range" for team average to have a good chance of winning is between 540 and 570. Also, the league runs for 33 weeks broken down into four quarters. The winners of each quarter plays each other in the 33rd week (Sweeper) and their scores are compared among the four team to determine the winner. A team can only win one quarter. My team won the second quarter two years ago and we ended up in fourth place. I actually like this format because it's closer to what USBC advises for handicap which is 100% of the difference between your average and 230. Doing this makes every team equal.