Seniors: Have seat and enjoy the game

By Jackie Valley

Sunday, Feb. 21, 2016 | 2 a.m.

Dressed in head-to-toe pink, complete with matching sweatband, Harriet Hall eyed the ball gliding over the volleyball net. It arched and headed toward two of her teammates.

“Come on, you guys!” Hall yelled as the ball fell to the ground. The opposing team cheered.

The dozen players — six on each side — readied themselves for the next volley. A woman in a back row muttered to herself, “Keep calm, keep calm.”

Similar emotions typically play out in any volleyball competition, but this game was different. The “volleyball” was a multicolored beach ball. The net hung lower. Fold-up chairs sat on the court. And the players, all sitting in the chairs, were decades out of high school.

Welcome to “No Fall Volleyball,” part-exercise class, part-recreational sport, designed for Medicare recipients. The program is offered at Nifty After Fifty, a fitness center that caters to people age 50 and older.

The volleyball class attracts a wide range of ages, but many players are in their 60s or 70s and have medical conditions such as diabetes, asthma or pulmonary disease that benefit from regular physical activity.

“It helps them with their fine motor skills, vision and also their reaction time,” said Luis Montoya, the fitness coach lead at Nifty After Fifty. If you’re imagining a dainty game, think again. The participants, all of whom are enrolled in a CareMore Health Plans, laugh and shout throughout the half-hour games. Because play gets competitive, there’s even a referee.

Nifty After Fifty partnered with the CareMore Health Plan to provide fitness activities to members.

The players must follow special rules: No bottoms can leave the chairs, and no one can spike the ball. The rules are strictly enforced to ensure players’ safety.

Violations result in a one-minute penalty, during which the player must sit out, putting his or her team at a disadvantage. On a recent morning, a man wearing a flannel shirt and black slacks shuffled to the sideline after he reached too far, lifting his bottom from the chair. The referee noticed and blew his whistle.

The first team to reach 11 points wins the round. Teams generally play seven or eight rounds during each 30-minute game.

Donald Zerlin, 78, joined the games about six months ago. The excitement and camaraderie keeps him playing, but the exercise helps stretch his shoulders and back, which is curved from scoliosis.

“You get into it,” he said.

Hall, dabbing beads of sweat on her neck, echoed Zerlin’s sentiments.

“It gets your heart pounding,” Hall said. “Your emotions run high.”

The games also allow the players to socialize. Some of the seniors have lost a spouse and live alone, so the volleyball gatherings provide interaction and an opportunity for laughter, Montoya said. The Nifty After Fifty gym, near Flamingo Road and McLeod Drive, hosts social events in addition to fitness-related activities.

After the game, some players linger at the gym, continuing their conversations while using exercise equipment.

“They become friends,” Montoya said. “They go out on dates.”