Age hasn’t stopped the older generation from serving aces at the St. Albert Tennis Club.
John Grootelaar, a spry 84-year-old, is the elder statesman at the Missions courts with the Lobsters.
“I love tennis. I find it very challenging. I always look forward every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon to go out there and play,” Grootelaar said. “I like being active and it keeps me in good shape, and I find that important at any age.”
Ron Riley of the Lobsters is also making a racquet at age 76 as the longest-serving club member.
“I admire everyone that does this sport at our age,” said Riley, a club regular since the early 1970s. “We’re all the same here. We all love playing the game and it’s so enjoyable to have everyone share that same passion.
“We’re also thankful we can play it at our age.”
Among the Nimbeldons on Tuesday and Thursday mornings is Hilda Schweitzer.
“I like to be active. That’s what I do,” said Schweitzer, who shyly listed her age “in the late '70s.”
The social aspect of the Lobsters keeps Grootelaar engaged with society.
“We have a wonderful club,” said the grandfather of five. “After tennis to sit (in the clubhouse) and have a drink and talk to people, you get to know them better and share their ideas, their problems and their hopes. I find that very important. It enriches me.”
The camaraderie on and off the court also keeps Riley energized.
“Everybody that belongs to the club are great people. It’s just a lot of fun being around everybody and playing here,” said the past president of the club and grandfather of seven. “One of the funny things is in the old days we used to talk about sports, hunting and fishing, and now when we sit down after a game we talk about aches and pains.”
For more than 10 years, Schweitzer has poured all her energies into tennis.
“I go to Arizona in the winter and it was there when somebody asked me, ‘Can you play tennis?’ I said, ‘No. I can hit a ball but I don’t play tennis.' I also said I don’t have a racquet and this one guy said just a minute and got on his bike and got me a racquet, and that’s how I started,” said the former physical education teacher at Jasper Place High School. “I’ve played all sports so it came very quickly.”
Schweitzer’s connections in Arizona recommended the St. Albert Tennis Club.
“I really like it because it’s in the daytime,” said the west Edmonton resident of the Nimbledons. “It’s the people. That’s why I play here.”
Is she proud to play tennis as a senior?
“Of course,” said Schweitzer, who overcame stomach cancer about nine years ago and the recovery process was heightened through tennis.
“I’ve been active all my life. I live in my house. I do my garden. I have a vegetable garden. I mow my lawn and this year it was every three days. I grow flowers,” she added. “When I go to Arizona I play pickleball and volleyball as well as tennis, and I used to play slowpitch until I hurt my shoulder.”
Riley described himself as an active sportsman, “I really like being competitive and the nice side effect is it's very healthy” and before moving to St. Albert he was a fixture on the golf course.
“I found tennis here and I enjoyed it so much,” said the former Seagram employee, who was introduced to the sport after he was transferred to St. Albert. “A friend of mine (Dave Hartt) asked me to play and I never played it. I played every sport going and I said, 'OK.' I beat him at every sport, but he trounced me and I said ‘You son of a gun. I’ll get back at you.’
“Eventually, over time, I became better and I became an A player,” said the gold medallist in 65-plus men’s doubles with Hans Homfeldt at the 2009 Alberta 55-Plus Senior Games and 2010 Canada 55-Plus Senior Summer Games. In 2011 they finished seventh out of 32 teams at the National Senior Games in Houston as the only Canadians playing against State champions.
In the winter, Riley volleys on at the Saville Community Sports Centre while Grootelaar whips the ball around at the Kinsmen Field House.
“I am happy and thankful that I can do this because not many people my age can go out and be active so it’s good for me to grow again in my life and not sit at home, watch TV, be alone and isolate yourself,” Grootelaar said. “It invigorates me to go out and play tennis.”
About 60 years ago, Grootelaar served his first tennis ball in Saskatoon.
“My son (Peter) challenged me to a game of tennis and I’ve played it ever since," said the DuPont Canada retiree, who recently achieved a personal best with the Lobsters by scoring the same amount of points as the top player in the box ladder format.
Grootelaar is a big believer in seniors living a healthy lifestyle through involvement in sports or other endeavours.
“It’s so invigorating to meet people,” said the member of the GeriActors, a seniors’ theatre organization at the University of Alberta. “We make plays about growing old gracefully. We write our own plays and sometimes they’re true and sometimes they’re not. Recently we did a play that really resonated with a lot of people and it was about losing your licence because of old age. How many people prepare for that?
“We played (the tape of it) at home the other day and I said to my family, ‘I want you to watch this not because I’m in it, but because you know what’s going to happen in the future when you can’t drive anymore.’
“No matter what barriers you may face when you’re older, you still have to live life to the fullest.”
