By Brian Zanzonico
Six times a week since April, Sonny Anzalone has had appointments he couldn't break. It's not a doctor or specialist the 74-year-old Lynbrook resident sees. These appointments are much more therapeutic.
On Tuesdays and Thursdays, Anzalone mans the shortstop position for the Lynbrook Dodgers, one of the teams in the Long Island Senior Softball Association. On his off days, he swims at the Echo Park pool in West Hempstead. Anzalone also plays golf once a week.
At parks across the county, seniors have become as ubiquitous as children on playgrounds during the summer. Long Islanders, and Americans in general, are living longer. The average life expectancy in the U.S. is 77.9 years, according to statistics released by the National Center for Health Statistics Aug. 10 - compared with 47.3 years a century ago - and seniors are choosing myriad ways to stay active.
Senior softball has emerged as one of the most popular activities among local seniors. Anzalone, who grew up in the Five Towns and played baseball for Lawrence High School, said organized ball offers former athletes who are decades past their playing primes the opportunity to use muscles they may not have used in years.
For Mike Kovacs of Valley Stream, who pitches and plays infield for the Dodgers and whose exercise off the ball field consists of dropping a fishing line in a lake, softball provides him with all the conditioning he needs. "You've got some people who don't do anything at all," Kovacs said. "I'll see someone who's around the same age as me and he looks like my father."
The Senior Softball Association prohibits sliding, reducing the chance of injuries when middle infielders pivot to turn the double play. Though there are rules in place to keep the players safe, Kovacs said that when people over 60 play hard, bumps and muscle pulls are inevitable. "So far, I've been fortunate," Kovacs said. "Guys pull hamstrings and calf muscles all the time. I'm fortunate that I've never been hurt. Maybe I've been in the right place at the right time."
Franklin Square resident Carlos Ytuarte, 74, has his share of battle scars. Like most of his teammates and opponents, Ytuarte plays with knee braces, and says he wakes up the morning after a game feeling like he was hit by a truck. He has suffered through a nagging left hamstring injury and bumps and bruises that he easily could have shrugged off 40 years ago.
But he was rewarded with a nationally televised commercial spot. In May 2006, Ytuarte appeared in an ad for Aleve, an over-the-counter pain relief medicine. In the ad, Ytuarte and two teammates turn ground balls into double plays and take batting practice. Ytuarte, who celebrated his 73rd birthday the day the spot first aired, spoke of Aleve's effectiveness on camera and on the company's Web site in recognition of Arthritis Awareness Month.
In all, Aleve ran 31 commercials featuring real people describing how the product has helped them manage pain. Ytuarte, who has arthritis in his wrists, hands, knees and back, said he started using Aleve at the urging of teammates. He said it is a big reason he can play 65 to 70 games a year - including tournaments in which, unlike regular-season games, base runners are allowed to slide.
Of his softball career, Ytuarte said, "It's something to look forward to and it keeps me young," said Ytuarte, explaining that he plays on Wednesdays at Salisbury Park Drive Park in East Meadow. "It keeps you active, lets the mind keep working."
But older athletes can't play forever. Ytuarte said this may be his last season. Anzalone said that whenever a senior softball player is asked when he'll finally hang up his spikes, the refrain is always the same. "Till I can't play anymore," he said. "Or my wife tells me I can't."
On a roll with bowling
A generation ago, nearly every town in the county had a bowling alley. Many had their marquees adorned with the slogan "Bowl for health." For the past 45 years, the Elmont Jewish Center has had a summer bowling league. At one time there were as many as 16 teams, said Blanche Wager, the league's president. That number has dwindled to seven. The majority of the bowlers, who gather on Tuesdays in the summer at Danny's Strike Zone in Elmont, are seniors.
"My doctor tells me it's exercise," said Wager, a senior who declined to reveal her age. "I'd say it's more of a social thing."
Marcia Murray, 76, of Elmont, bowls in leagues year-round at Sheridan Lanes in Mineola. She and her late husband, Henry, regularly took their two daughters on bowling outings when they were younger. When Henry died of cancer in 1994, Murray took the advice of her girlfriends and joined them in a league.
"It's one of the greatest decisions I have ever made," she said. "I feel like I get my heart pumping when I play, and I truly believe it has staved off arthritis. In my league, we also play to keep our minds sharp, so we do the scoring by hand."
Take a walk
Every other morning at 6:30, Elmont resident Leon Hill, 71, meets other seniors at Alley Pond Park in Oakland Gardens, Queens, for a 3-mile walk. Hill, a Korean War veteran, has played racquetball, tennis and in a stickball league over the years to keep in shape, but finds power-walking to be easiest on his joints and best for his heart.
"Your heart beats a different way when you power-walk," Hill said. "I'm not sure if it's the serenity of being outdoors, walking at a reasonable pace or what, but the heartbeat of a walker feels healthiest. When I played racquetball, I was sucking wind after a few minutes. I couldn't play long. Now I stretch my walks over the course of an hour, hour and 15 minutes. I do it at my pace with similarly in-shape people, and I'll do it until I can no longer tie my own shoes."
When winter arrives and outdoor activities cease, Hill said, a certain sadness washes over him. He puts his sneakers in the closet, where they remain until his first outdoor walk of the new year in March. During the winter he walks around Roosevelt Field Mall every other day for an hour before the stores open, so he can get his exercise in before the rush of shoppers.
Photos by Kathy Leistner/Herald
