Video: These older athletes have got game
The small ball is a blur as Earl Houseknecht and his grandson Aaron Epstein send it flying back and forth in a racquetball court at Hidden Valley Club. Twice a week, they try to meet on Epstein's lunch break for a brisk game of squash.
Similar to racquetball, the sport uses different equipment. It's a routine they've kept for about two years. On this particular Wednesday, the two end with a tie. Both men won one round.
Although Houseknecht is 54 years Epstein's senior, each emerges from the game with perspiring foreheads and quickened breath.
"He's still got his agility," Epstein, 24. "Maybe not as much, but enough to keep up with me, and I definitely can't rival that skill he's got."
Houseknecht is 78. He lives in Hidden Valley, and has been a member of the fitness club for five years. He's been active since he was young.
Epstein said he's impressed at his grandfather's abilities on the court. "It's very, very rare to see somebody in as good of shape as him at that age," he said.
Apparently, it isn't that rare around Hidden Valley Club, situated among the townhouse and condominium community off Hidden Valley Road in Gates. On that Wednesday afternoon, Feb. 13, there were at least a dozen seniors working out in the pool and the fitness room.
As Houseknecht makes his way from the court to the lobby after his game, he runs into Francis Brennan of Chili. At 95, Houseknecht said, Brennan has a few years on him.
"We're more than surprised by him," said Houseknecht. "We're awed."
Between the two of them, Houseknecht and Brennan are a walking Nike commercial. Brennan said he's always been sports-minded, but he understands that it might be a challenge for some older adults who aren't in the habit of exercising regularly.
"I think it is hard," he said, "but they have to make up their minds that this is what they want to do and just go do it. That's the name of the game, you might say."
Owned by the area's homeowners association, Hidden Valley Club is free to the residents in the townhouses and condominiums around it. It is also open to the public.
Meg LeBeau, director of Hidden Valley Club, said the facility attracts seniors because it's less hectic, it's less expensive, the club will work with HMOs to get members discounts and reimbursements offered through health-care providers, and there's a 75,000-square-foot pool, along with water-therapy classes.
src="http://www.youtube.com/v/JWCrEtKGAzIrel=1" width="425" height="355" scale="ShowAll" loop="loop" menu="menu" wmode="transparent" quality="1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"></embed> "The exercise is wonderful, but it doesn't produce any terrific soreness in the muscles," Brennan said of swimming. Houseknecht encourages seniors to start small. "I would say get out and do something physical, even if it isn't drastic, like squash or racquetball early on," he said. "Just go walking and walk along the canal, walk in the mall, walk around the valley here, but just do something, at least a couple times a week ... Get out and do it." In addition to the pool, racquetball courts and a fitness room, Hidden Valley Club has a hot tub, a sauna, a basketball court, outdoors tennis courts, a billiard room, massage therapy and personal training, offered by LeBeau. She said she thinks more older adults are trying to become active because of doctor's orders. "Doctors are recommending 30 minutes of exercise a day, with certain modifications, and we see a lot of them doing that," she said. With friendships there to motivate at Hidden Valley Club, it's easy. Brennan said he gets more out of being a 30-year member of Hidden Valley Club than just physical fitness. Members are like family to him. "I have a place to come, which is important to me," he said. On the way to the pool for his daily swim, Brennan throws Houseknecht a challenge - a game of racquetball. "I'll play left-handed," Brennan quips. <em>Amy Cavalier can be reached at (585) 394-0770, Ext. 243, or at acavalier@mpnewspapers.com.