Womens Sports Foundation - Interview with Kay Seamayer

May 15, 2007

Women's Sports Foundation
www.womenssportsfoundation.org

Sports and Fitness

Senior Women's Basketball Spreads to Texas
Dana Fine

What does being old really mean nowadays?

Kay Seamayer, 67, Mary Lou Bradford, 72, and Shelly Whitlock, 68, from Texas have catapulted the success of a women’s senior three-on-three basketball league, called the Texas Challenge. The league started out with five women and has increased to 35. In an interview, Kay Seamayer answered some questions about this extraordinary league and how she got involved with the Texas Challenge.

Women's Sports Foundation: When did you start playing basketball?Kay Seamayer: I started playing in junior high. I played all through high school and in college. I stopped playing when I was 39 and turned to tennis.

WSF: When did you realize you wanted to play basketball again?KS: I was sedentary from my job, and I wanted to get my body into shape. I ran into Tausha Mills, former WNBA player, at the gym. She was rehabbing her knee, and it was my second time at the gym. I said to her, “You are rehabbing your knee while I am rehabbing my body.” She later became my personal trainer and got my body back into shape.

WSF: How did you hear about the Texas Challenge?KS: I got a pamphlet and I saved it for about a year until I knew I was ready to play. When I got in contact with the league they had five players. We started to do publicity and got more and more players.
"I think this is going to be a national movement. This league is empowering to women. It will put a new face on seniors and people won’t look at senior as being old."

WSF: Is this a five-on-five league?KS: We play three-on-three. We have two leagues within the one big league both called the Texas Challenges. One league is for 65+ women and the other is for 85+ women. There is one woman on the team that is 91. Both teams are going to the 2007 Senior Olympics in Louisville.

WSF: Do you feel that this league has made you more physically fit?KS: It is great we are using basketball as a fitness program. It makes me feel that I need to be ready physically for the next 30 to 40 years.

WSF: What is the main objective of the league?KS: We gave our earlier lives to our family. I tell the players, “The minute you step on the court you are not someone’s mother, wife or best friend; you are a basketball player. You are an individual.” We can prove everyone wrong, we want to be active and live out our passion. We talk trash and expect everyone to play to her maximum ability. I really want to champion other women and bring them into the game.

WSF: What do you think this league will do for seniors in years to come?KS: I think this is going to be a national movement. This league is empowering to women. It will put a new face on seniors, and people won’t look at senior as being old.

On April 17, 1972, Nina Kuscsik became the first women to officially run in the Boston marathon.

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Josephine woman plays for senior team (Margaret Epperson)

Wed, May 09 2007

Greenville, TX

Published: April 12, 2007 01:36 pm
Josephine woman plays for senior team
Although she’s a grandma, she doesn’t use the “granny shot” to shoot baskets. Her specialty is the left and right hook.Margaret Epperson of Josephine plays basketball for the Texas Challenge, a group of senior citizen women — ages 65 and up, who play basketball for the Texas Senior Games Association.Their team, which consists of players from all over Texas, has recently been featured in the Dallas Morning News and on the Dale Hansen Sports Special on WFAA-TV. The Texas Challenge has two squads — age 65 and up, and age 80 and up. They meet once a week in North Dallas to practice, and when they warm up, they shoot lay-ups to the song, “Basketball Boogie.”“I’ve only been playing basketball since October, and I found out about the team when I read something on-line,” she said. “I haven’t played on a basketball team in 45 years.”Epperson said she played on her high school basketball team and went to regionals twice. She recently qualified for state in three-on-three basketball and “Around the World.”“I’ve always liked playing basketball,” she said. “I had an older brother that played, and once I got to playing it, I was hooked. “I’ve always had a basketball in my hand, ever since I was young. After high school, there wasn’t anywhere else to play at that time. I played some pick-up games until I was in my 30s, but I haven’t been on a team since high school.”Epperson said their team plays highest court and they sometimes divide their teams up into Red and Blue so they can have someone to play against.“We play points, and when we get a rebound, we have to only take it past the three-point line,” she said. “And I usually play out front.”Epperson said she enjoys the competitions and the benefits of playing basketball again.“The benefits, first off, are keeping fit and staying healthy,” she said. “And second, I make new friends, and I’m always looking to see if I can find someone that I used to play with in high school. Plus, I’m a very competitive person.”Epperson and her husband, Roy, have been married for 44 years and have three children, Melanie Starnes of Royse City, Nikki Sipe of North Carolina and Stephen Epperson of Caddo Mills; and they have five grandchildren and another one on the way.“When I started to play basketball again, my kids laughed at me at first,” she said. “Then they saw I was serious, and now they’re proud of me. They gave me a basketball goal for Christmas so I can shoot at home.“My husband’s very supportive, and he’s going to enter the senior games to play golf and probably badminton.In her spare time, Epperson likes to sew, cross stitch, read and play golf. She said the best part of her life is being a Christian and being married to a Christian man.Epperson is currently the only person in Hunt County on the Texas Challenge team. She recently played in her first tournament on March 30 in San Antonio, and the team is gearing up for the Senior Olympics in June in Louisville, Ky.When Epperson was asked if she shoots the “granny shot,” she said she’s not to the point, yet.“Although, we have a 90-year-old player, and that’s the only way she can shoot.”Epperson said other games are available to senior citizens, and she said one of their 71-year-old ladies does pole vaulting.“I’m going to start running track, maybe the 100-yard-dash,” she said. “I used to be pretty fast, but I don’t know how fast I am now. I want to start running two miles a day, if I can. Or you might consider it a slow jog.”
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Photos
Margaret Epperson, 64, of Josephine practices lay-up shots with her granddaughter, Rylee Starnes of Royse City. Epperson plays basketball with the Texas Challenge, a group of senior citizen women ages 65 and up. Epperson said her specialty is the left and right hook, and she and her husband recently finished coaching their granddaughter’s basketball team, the Royse City Puppies, which consisted of kindergarterners and first graders. None/ (Click for larger image)
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Nancy Lieberman and Texas Challenge senior women athletes team up for historical day at Dallas Area Senior Games basketball competition

By Kay Seamayer, Player/Coach - Texas Challenge

Dallas, Texas, May 2007: Were we all dreaming? Was this real? Were we really out there playing competitive basketball at 65+ to 90+ for medals in a major competition? Was the great Nancy Lieberman really on the sidelines cheering, coaching and encouraging our players as they took to the court? Pinch me, someone, pinch me! Yes, it was all true... and it was a glorious day for a lot of senior women....most of whom never dreamed they'd be once again playing competitive basketball ... especially at "their" age! Well line up, girls.... we've got a long way to go!

The Texas Challenge basketball program was started a number of years ago by Shelly Whitlock and other women senior Olympians who competed in senior games in track and field, swimming, etc. across Texas and beyond, including the national Senior Olympics. These women were non-basketball players, but thought since they were going to the "games" anyway, why not form a basketball team and enter competition?? So they did...

At 66 last year, having laid my tennis racket down three years prior, I had been sitting behind a computer developing music arrangements for a song I had written a music publishing company (I'm a singer/songwriter/entertainer/musician) I decided it was time to lose a few pounds and become more fit and stronger in preparation for the many great things still to come my way in the next 25-30 years.

I had contacted Shelly in 2005 inquiring about their basketball program and saved her contact number. I knew at some point I'd be contacting her again. Last year about this time, I made the call..... I was ready to begin my new fitness and wellness program......not by running on a treadmill, going nowhere....but by playing basketball once more!

The first day I went out to shoot hoops in my local rec center in DeSoto, Tx. , who would be shooting down on the other end? A very tall and physical gal...for sure, a basketball player...
We watched each other shoot...and she finally came down to my end of the court.... exclaiming something like "Mama, you got some game!" Well, this person definitely had some "game" and then some.... for she was Tausha Mills, former WNBA player, rehabbing a knee injury. We had a big laugh...and agreed that she was rehabbing her knee...and I was rehabbing my whole body!

The Dallas Area Senior Games There were a total of eight teams, in age brackets from 60+ 65+ - 70+ - 75+ - 80 + AND 85+ who participated in this qualifying tournament. One team from Oklahoma.

Thanks to Nancy for her interest and support.... This is a senior baskeball program that will surely inspire and motivate a lot of senior athletes to become more fit...and join in the fun of getting to play basketball once more.

Anyone interested, please contact: Kay Seamayer, Player/Coach - at kayseamayer@MSN.com
- 972.230.4980 - Check out website: www.basketballandfitnessforseniorwomen.com