You are still a youngster.
Perhaps we should be taking advice from Roger Gentilhomme:
"A 101-year-old athlete's secrets
He plays tennis, bowls and dances
-By Ray Duckler / Concord Monitor staff
May 29, 2010
Roger Gentilhomme rushed the net, making his point with brevity and focus.
"My backhand," Gentilhomme answered quickly, when asked for the strongest part of his game. "My spin backhand. It confused even Regis."
Gentilhomme played tennis with Regis Philbin last summer, and the clip was later shown on Regis and Kelly. He's been featured on ABC News, in The Boston Globe and in European magazines.
That's what happens when you turn 100 years old and still play tennis every morning, compete in national tennis events, dance twice a week, bowl, play shuffleboard, play cards, read, walk, even drive.
You tell people the secret to a long, fruitful, active life. They want to know how you do it. Your words become gospel when it comes to aging with an eternal flame.
"By keeping active, your body reflects that," said Gentilhomme, now 101. "I sit down, the different parts of your body slow up and react to that inactivity. So as much as I can, I'm going to push. It's not easy, you know, trying to keep going."
Gentilhomme lives independently, in Falmouth, Mass., on Cape Cod during the summer; in Dunedin, Fla., in the winter.
And he does so much more. In the mid 1970s, after retiring, Gentilhomme picked up a tennis racket and never put it down. In fact, by the mid 1990s he began competing in national and state senior competitions, and he's won more than 65 medals to date, mostly gold in tennis and bowling.
He struck gold in both events at the National Senior Games last summer near San Francisco, plus he was inducted into the National Senior Games Hall of Fame, an honor announced by Bruce Jenner, the 1976 Olympic decathlon champion.
He followed that up by wining gold at the first European Senior Games last September in the Netherlands, beating kids in their 80s because no one came close to his own age. Then came the interviews, front-page stories in newspapers and magazines, here and across the pond. Everyone, it seemed, wanted a piece of the ageless wonder.
"Getting all this attention, this is all happening unbeknownst to me for the past five years," Gentilhomme said. "I'm not trying to get this attention. I get out there and enjoy playing."
And dancing, down in the senior center, part of Gentilhomme's independent living complex. Ballroom dancing on Monday nights, square dancing on Thursdays.
"Many of the ladies come over and ask me to dance," Gentilhomme said.
And then there's bowling and shuffleboard, regular hobbies that seem easy compared with tennis. When Regis read about Gentilhomme, he flew him to New York for a tennis match and an appearance on his show.
"Regis won the match, of course," Gentilhomme said this week. "But like I told him, 77-year-old legs are a lot better than 100-year-old legs. I have a problem getting around, and I have to be careful. The last five years my legs have weakened, but I still get out and play each morning in doubles."
He drives, too, a Lincoln Town Car with 79,000 miles on it. Drives to the supermarket in Dunedin and to his tennis matches. He even drives to Fort Myers, more than 100 miles away, to play tennis competitively.
"I could drive 500 miles," Gentilhomme insisted. "I have no bother with driving. I love to drive, and the car goes along very nicely."
His family, though, won't allow him to drive from Florida to Falmouth for the summer. Someone flies down, then drives him north. He came to New Hampshire to watch his grandson graduate last Saturday from the University of New Hampshire, then stopped by the Bektash Temple in Concord a few days later to address the Rotary Club.
After lunch, he announced his plans to compete in the National Games in Houston next year, then the European Games in Poland.
"I have something to look forward to all the time," Gentilhomme said. "I don't want to wear out my couch." "
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http://www.concordmonitor.com/artic...619F57D494004152850F0&CSUserId=94&CSGroupId=1
Regretfully, Roger passed away in June, after a fall that resulted in broken ribs and then pneumonia. He didn't get to compete at the tennis matches in Houston or Poland. A pity.
