Have you ever felt that this game is a little hard on you? Along with all of the physical demands, aches and pains that it brings. The mental stresses that come along before and after each game. No one can worry quite like an old man, running the scenarios of possible failure (of either yourself or the team) through the mill a dozen times. Worrying happens to even the best of ballplayers, and seniors are past masters at this occupation. Having to perform in each game puts a keen edge on the nerves the closer the game times gets. Jitters and heart flutters are common on the day of a game and sometimes a senior wonders just why he’s allowing this kind of extra pressure to come into his life.

Another factor to be considered, and the one which is most evident, is the physical wear and tear on the body. The game of softball is supposed to build you up, help keep you fit and in shape. So why do the injuries keep cropping up? Just when the pulled muscle begins to fade away, along comes a sprained ankle or a bruised shinbone from a speeding ball. It isn’t like it used to be in the healing department anymore either-now it takes three times as long to heal and even then it never seems to completely go away. The worst part is that the only people the senior ballplayer can complain to are other senior ballplayers because people outside of the game are not really sympathetic. They even try to discourage you from playing, "If it’s going to hurt you_" And the other players don’t really want to hear about it either-they got problems of their own. What I’m getting at is that it is a lonely life sometimes when you begin counting up the costs of why you stay out there.

That’s why each player has to get his own big picture of it all. There has to be a source to go back to that will strengthen the mind and heart when things get pretty discouraging. The bewildering thing is that this source isn’t easily defined. It is sort of mixed up with emotions that go way back and don’t have much logic to them. It’s like flashes of certain feelings from the past, all tied into the ball field and being out of doors and having a wonderful sense of freedom. It’s got other guys mixed into it and there is a sense of bonding with something-something that frankly is almost childish. It’s an old familiar song, one that can be played over and over but promises new lyrics with each playing. There are personal triumphs and team victories that come right up to the front, but that isn’t the main theme of what most guys want to get at. What they are looking for is on the other side of the big picture. It is about what is coming, what the game might be offering in the next go-round. Older guys that play ball are like all other ballplayers, they drift back in their minds to high times when the triumphs and victories were sweet, but they rapidly move on. The quest for having more is what they are really after. It’s the plain desire to go out there and play another game. No one knows what will really happen to them. When they do make it back out there and that must be the secret element to the entire, life-long pursuit of this almost dangerous avocation. The rules will be the same, the other ballplayers will also be about the same-so what is it that can make each game seem to be so special, so worth the physical pains and mental stresses?

It’s all in the pursuit itself. The old warrior can go out there into that world of danger, excitement and challenge. He can take his weapons and go to war. It is his way of conquering and it becomes, in a very real and deep way, his way of staying alive. These are men that must have something to conquer and in the end, it is themselves they are pitted against.

We have several 70+ ballplayers in our senior league here in Boise, Id. How the rest of us ballplayers admire these guys! Sadly, we do not have the player-base to even provide a 65+ division for them, so they are scattered throughout the 60+ divisions. Can you imagine how difficult it must be each time to go out and play against guys 10 years younger than yourself? And at the age of 70+! This is the pursuit of a dream!

Those of us in the league who are concerned about the most senior of the old guys, (for ourselves really, we will ALL be there some day) we are working the best we can to step-up our age divisions. Without a large player-base, it is difficult to find slots for these senior ballplayers. Of course, they are not hot commodities for rosters, so placing them gets difficult. The only logical solution is to put them in their own age group (as close as we can get to it), but that becomes a mighty job of organizing when the participants are so few in number. This year we put a 65+ team together and they have traveled to play in various tournaments. They also are playing in the league with the 60+ teams, using a few handicap rules. They are staying together and are hopefully the first of more 65+ teams in our league to come. The problem seems to be that without large numbers to draw from the 65+ players from other 60+ teams to form a new team (and there should be 3 more formed to make up 4 teams for a division of their own) you must take from the existing teams and actually deplete them. In other words, even if there are 40 or so 65+ age players scattered throughout the 60+ divisions, to draw them off would seriously hampers these teams from having enough players. It seems to be a one-team-at-a-time process as the only solution. A slow building of one team at a time and maintaining the ones you’ve got is the only way to place these elders into their own division. We cannot let these valiant warriors fall by the wayside. This is what the younger players owe to the ones ahead of them. These who will not quit---who just cannot seem to let go of the dream.

Have any of you other senior leagues faced this dilemma? How did you approach it? Jim Johnson, a senior softball player here in Boise, Idaho is tracking this situation. Feel free to just drop us a line at jjohnson36@aol.com with any suggestions or comments you have in this area of discussion.