Cedar Rapids, Ia. Betty Vieman, 71, playing center despite being the shortest and one of the oldest members of the Cedar Rapids Sizzlers, paused while holding the basketball in the middle court.
"Yoo-hoo!" called a teammate wearing black bloomers, a white middy blouse and striped knee-high stockings. "Over here. Just hand it to Mommy."
The practice dissolved into laughter.
This is Granny Basketball.
It's just what it sounds like: a gentle game for women of a certain age and with a certain attitude.
Their motto: Die with your tennies on.
"My kids say this keeps me off the streets," said Vieman, a Cedar Rapids widow who played forward for Ellsworth High School 55 years ago.
"I have to play center now because I don't have the strength to get the ball up to the net. But it's fun, reliving the old memories."
Grannies in eastern Iowa have formed a basketball league of their own, reviving the game as it was played in the 1920s. They wear vintage uniforms, which reveal no bare legs or arms.
"We get to cover up," said league founder Barb McPherson, 60, of Lansing. "That way we don't have to worry about flab showing."
They play by vintage rules: six-on-six ball with three courts two guards on one end, two forwards on the other end and two centers in the middle.
"Being older, we didn't think we could survive the half-court game," McPherson said.
http://desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/200
"Yoo-hoo!" called a teammate wearing black bloomers, a white middy blouse and striped knee-high stockings. "Over here. Just hand it to Mommy."
The practice dissolved into laughter.
This is Granny Basketball.
It's just what it sounds like: a gentle game for women of a certain age and with a certain attitude.
Their motto: Die with your tennies on.
"My kids say this keeps me off the streets," said Vieman, a Cedar Rapids widow who played forward for Ellsworth High School 55 years ago.
"I have to play center now because I don't have the strength to get the ball up to the net. But it's fun, reliving the old memories."
Grannies in eastern Iowa have formed a basketball league of their own, reviving the game as it was played in the 1920s. They wear vintage uniforms, which reveal no bare legs or arms.
"We get to cover up," said league founder Barb McPherson, 60, of Lansing. "That way we don't have to worry about flab showing."
They play by vintage rules: six-on-six ball with three courts two guards on one end, two forwards on the other end and two centers in the middle.
"Being older, we didn't think we could survive the half-court game," McPherson said.
http://desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/200
