Exercise? More Like Having Fun for Senior Softball League

My husband Charlie joined the Marco Senior Softball League shortly after we moved to the Island in 2011. We walked by Winterberry Park during the 2011 winter season and saw a bunch of older guys wearing cool uniforms slugging it out and having fun.

The Marco Island Senior Softball officially began in 2000 and is now in its 23rd season having their highest registration with over 240 players. Winterberry Athletic Field is home to the Marco Senior Softball League for players aged 55 and older (no age limit) and on a very hot summer morning, you will find some 30 to 40 players ready for a pick-up game.

So, what’s the secret that keeps these guys coming back each year to play senior softball. Bill Shurina has been a League Commissioner since 2006 and remarked that “it’s more than a bunch of guys playing a kid’s game. They refer to it as Marco’s Field of Dreams. It is an opportunity to relive our childhood.”

Shurina also believes that “playing softball is like a family where people help one another out on different issues and support one another during times of personal crisis or health issues. The spouses are very supportive and very much a part of the success of the Senior Softball League.”

“There is nowhere in Southwest Florida that you can have so much fun for only $150,” Shurina added. “You get to play over twenty-two games during the regular season, where you would be lucky to play one round of golf for that amount of money.”

Tom Polston, going into his eighth season and one of the “younger” players agrees. “It’s the guys - the relationships. We are like a big family,” said Polston. “We benefit from the physical activity and also enjoy the competition during the regular season. We are not getting any younger,” Tom added. And to make his point, he quoted Shaw “we don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.”

The oldest player in the League right now is John Ranieri at 92 years old; Ray Neimeyer is about 86 and took a year off but he is back playing summer pickup games. Dick DeAnna is about 85 years young. They come for the friendships, laughter and for the chance to “crack the bat” or to snag a ball in the outfield.

For Paul Nussbaum, a “newer player,” Marco Senior Softball League embodies all the qualities expressed so well by James Earl Jones (playing Terence Mann) in the movie Field of Dreams, where he captures the meaning of baseball: “The one constant through all the years has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It has been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This field, this game: it is a part of our past. It reminds us of all that was once good and it could be again.”

For over 35 years, Paul has studied, published, taught, and presented on the topic of successful aging and brain health. Through this lens, he views the league and the 22+ games played by the players and how appreciative and blessed they all are. For those who play, coach, watch, umpire, announce, keep score; the sponsors, Bill the groundskeeper – all are part of a community family that supports one another and share the joys and difficulties of life. Softball is the vehicle to live the factors so important to health and longevity.

The players get to wear uniforms bearing the names of their sponsors. They use bats and gloves, run around in the dirt and grass and enjoy the great game. The players get their “high” from the team camaraderie and are grateful for the occasional good catch or solid hit and for the support they receive from their softball family.

Paul added “Marco Senior Softball is more than a game, it is living life to the fullest, building priceless relationships. It’s a game played by older men who believe they are still young boys!”

For more information visit the website: marcoseniorsoftballleague.com.