‘We Play to Win’: Every Single Woman on This Competitive Basketball Team is Over the Age of 80
Next time you’re looking for inspiration, look no further than the San Diego Splash basketball team — a sports ensemble comprised entirely of women who are over the age of 80.
Yes, you read that correctly.
The amazing members of the San Diego Splash were recently featured in an ESPNW video, offering up some inspiring words and proving that age truly is just a number. Video footage shows the uniformed women dribbling, warming up and playing the game with stunning devotion and perseverance.
“If you can stand up and move your legs, you’re welcome,” Marge Carl, 87, proclaimed in the clip. And 91-year-old Meg Skinner added, “We play to win.”
The team is part of the San Diego Senior Women’s Basketball Association, which is for women over the age of 50. But, as Cori Thompson, 89, explained, Splash is, without a doubt, the oldest team in the league.
Games are played for 30 minutes on a half court, which is pretty impressive considering the ages of the women on team Splash (two of them are already over the age of 90).
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Team members also explained in the video how their friends and family thought they were crazy when they first announced that they would be playing in an elderly basketball league. But despite that pushback, they forged on and continue to enjoy the sport.
“When I told my brothers they said, ‘They’ll put you away,'” Joanne Jansen, 82, recalled. “And I said, ‘I’m going to play anyway.'”
Pure devotion at its finest — and it’s pretty inspirational.
