At the ripe old age of 92, Barbara Johnson grabbed her bat and shuffled over to home plate in her bright, peach-colored sneakers. Her teammates cheered her on in the dugout, all with varying shades of grey and white hair and amounts of protective gear. As the oldest player, Johnson earned an endearing nickname from them: Mom.
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”Batter up, Mom!” her daughter and teammate, Deborah Johnson, called out.
Johnson plays for the Colorado Peaches softball team. In late August, she and her 60 teammates split into four groups for a scrimmage at Addenbrooke Park in Lakewood. The games were part of a big event to celebrate the Colorado Peaches' 35th anniversary.
Johnson’s team - the Salsas - were losing when she stepped up to the plate, ready to hit a run. She gripped the metal bat and took a swing, but the ball landed right by first base. Johnson jogged over but did not get there in time before being tagged out. The crowd backed her up with applause and cheers as she walked back to the dugout.
“ARGH! Shucks,” Johnson said.
A peachy keen team
The Colorado Peaches were created in 1991 by Chloe Childers, a former physical education teacher in Greeley who wanted to play softball when she was 60. If the name of the team sounds a little familiar, it’s because it was inspired in part by the Rockford Peaches from the movie A League of Their Own. But the Colorado team claims it truly got its name because the state has the best peaches.
For the last five years, Johnson has spent her Tuesday mornings with the Colorado Peaches. She wants to participate as long as she is able.
“At this age, you've got to keep this body going all the time; otherwise, it stiffens up on you,” Johnson said. “So (playing for the) Peaches is the ideal thing.”
Still, softball can be a dangerous sport for someone her age. She already watched another teammate walk off with a pulled hamstring during this game. But Johnson is not too scared.
“People say, 'Aren't you afraid you're going to get hurt?’” Johnson said. “I said, ‘Well, if I do, I do. Then I'll quit. But until then, I love the game.’”
With members from their 60s to their 90s, the Colorado Peaches are recognized as the oldest women’s softball team in the country. These weekly softball games have given senior women the chance to meet people and get moving. They are actively changing what aging can look like.
Samantha Farro is a behavioral health psychologist who works with the Multidisciplinary Center on Aging at the University of Colorado Anschutz. She said despite what society may say, older adults can – and should – continue to do the activities they love.
“There's this picture that as you age, you do less and less. You sit at home,” Farro said. “My hope is that the new picture of aging will be that it's possible to have that level of quality of life even as we get older and older.”
More than a game
That shift is becoming more important as Colorado’s senior population grows. Health officials report around a quarter of the state will be over 60 in just a few years.
“We are aging relatively rapidly,” Kristine Burrows, Colorado’s senior specialist on aging, said. “Our systems really have been targeted towards younger people, and so we have a lot of systematic change to make.”
The state released its Multi-Sector Plan on Aging last year in an attempt to make communities more age-friendly. So far, officials have worked on several initiatives like bringing art classes to older adults and developing a healthy aging curriculum with CSU Extension.
At the core of these projects is the need for older adults to keep connecting after they retire. Research shows continued social isolation can lead to issues like cardiovascular disease, dementia and depression. Statistics already show that half of the nation’s seniors over 60 are at risk of social isolation.
Those risks can be offset by having a good social network or doing activities that stimulate the body and mind, Farro said. The Colorado Peaches do this well by combining the two into socialized exercise. When seniors participate on softball teams and other activities, their brains are picking up cues and working in nuanced ways that support overall health.
“Those kinds of things, we don't think of as being as important as taking blood pressure medication, but they can be just as important,” Farro said.
Farro added getting older is still a challenge. There are more medical diagnoses and less mobility for many seniors. But she said mindset is everything.
“I'm not saying that you need to go out and run a marathon tomorrow, but I'm saying what is possible?” Farro said. “Where do they find purpose? How can they maintain health?”
Choosing connection
That’s part of the reason why Laura “LaMae” Clemons got involved with the Colorado Peaches. She started by watching the team, and the more she did, the more excited she got about actually joining. She had not played the sport again since she was a little girl.
But being a part of the team can be a challenge for the 77-year-old. She has Leukemia.
“Last week, I didn't really want to come,” Clemons said. “I woke up and I was like, I didn’t have the energy. But I thought I'm going anyway, because when I get here, everybody is so great that it started giving me that energy.”
At that game, she hit a milestone – her first home run.
"You're gonna get hurt, but it heals. People fall and they're not doing this, and they get hurt. So I feel like you're gonna get hurt either way. So you might always get hurt doing something you enjoy doing."Laura "LaMae" Clemons, second base for Colorado Peaches
Clemons is getting better. She only has chemotherapy once a month and has been able to play a little bit more, but she still takes it easy. Clemons said just being there is enough for her.
“We all laugh and talk and joke and I love that,” Clemons said. “I get calls, I get cards, and everybody is so wonderful. I don't know where I would be without them right now.”
Johnson agrees. Her team lost the scrimmage but she is still grateful her body is keeping up for games like this.
“It's getting harder all the time, but I think it's up to me to keep doing it,” Johnson said.
Johnson said age, just like the 24 on her jersey, is just a number. It is what you do with that number that counts.
