TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – The first weekend of the 2019 Florida Senior Games presented by Humana features two of the most experienced athletes in the State of Florida.
On Saturday, December 7, 94-year old Shirley Chase, of St. Augustine, will begin two days of swimming events at the Coral Spring Aquatic Cente while 93-year old Stanley Corwin, of Boynton Beach, begins two days of bowling events at the Strikers Family Sports Complex.
Chase is registered to swim in all four freestyle events. The 50-, 100-, 200-, and 500-yard freestyle. That’s 36 laps in a 25-yard competition pool. Not too many swimming athletes register for the grueling, 20-lap 500 freestyle, but that’s Chase’s specialty.
Since last December at the 2018 Florida Senior Games, when she completed the 500 free in 21:20.70, Chase won a gold medal in the event at the 2019 National Senior Games, with a time of 23:09.41 and a gold medal at the Jacksonville Senior Games with a time of 21:44.56.
That’s three gold medals in the 500 freestyle in the last year. At 93 and 94-years old.
“Swimming is what keeps me going,” said Chase. “If it wasn’t for swimming, I would have been gone a long time ago. Now, I have a great-grandson I want to see grow up, so I’ll keep swimming.”
Chase has quite a support group during her swimming events. A family friend, Mary Converse, and her husband will drive her from St. Augustine to the Coral Springs Aquatic Center in December. Her son, Mark, a faculty member at Tufts University and transportation planner in Boston, accompanied her to the 2019 National Senior Games in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Corwin will be bowling at the 2019 Florida Senior Games but without his normal men’s doubles partner and is seeking a mixed doubles partner. It’s been tough on him finding partners in the 90-94 age group.
Corwin usually teams with Jack Appel, from Boca Raton, but after attending a World War II D-Day Celebration in Normandy, France, over the summer, he has been having some circulation problems in his legs after the Trans-Atlantic trips.
He and Appel are the men’s doubles record holders in the 85-89 and 90-94 age groups and have competed in the National Senior Games together.
On Monday nights, Corwin is found in league bowling getting prepared for the 2019 Florida Senior Games. He’s down to one night a week of bowling and admitted he’s no longer in a Friday night league.
“I had a pretty good night this week with a 594 series,” he said. “I had a 193, 202 and 199.”
It’s Florida Senior Games athletes like Chase and Corwin who are still swimming laps and knocking down pins that inspire prospective athletes in younger age groups to join the Senior Games movement.
Registration for the 2019 Florida Senior Games presented by Humana is open through November 20. Athletes can begin the Florida Senior Games movement in the Greater Fort Lauderdale Area for the 2019 Games and continue in South Florida through 2021. The 2020 Florida Senior Games will also be held in the Greater Fort Lauderdale area as well as the 2021 National Senior Games.
About the Florida Senior Games, presented by Humana
The Florida Senior Games, presented by Humana, are presented annually by the Florida Sports Foundation (FSF), the state’s lead sports promotion and development organization, and a division of Enterprise Florida, Inc. The Foundation works in conjunction with a variety of local sports industry partners to present the different competitions. The Florida Senior Games, presented by Humana, an annual amateur sports tradition in Florida, is part of the state’s $57.4 billion sports industry that accounts for 580,000 jobs statewide.