In this Friday, Feb. 5, 2010 picture, Doris Reppen, 90, returns a serve at Flagstaff Athletic Club as George Jobin, 90, watches their opponents during doubles tennis practice in Flagstaff, Ariz . (AP Photo/Arizona Daily Sun, Jake Bacon)
BETSEY BRUNER,Arizona Daily Sun
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (AP) — George Jobin sat on a bench on the sidelines of a tennis court Friday morning inside Flagstaff Athletic Club East. Fully suited to play, he sat out a set and watched his wife, Maggie, volley with three other players, all women.
Up until about six months ago, he was regularly playing with his wife and the other players, but this time he just did some warming up early.
What made this remarkable is that Jobin turned 90 years old June 12 last year.
Problems with his heart ultimately slowed him down.
“Last summer, I stopped playing regularly,” he explained. “Maggie and I have played on and off since then, maybe once a month. The doctor wanted me to take it easy. He says I can be a judge — a judge of whether I can play or not.”
He said he really missed the game and picked it up again in a modest fashion three months ago.
“Guess one could conclude that tennis has really enriched my whole life,” he said.
Jobin wears a hearing aid and has some trouble hearing conversations on the other side of the net, but he said he doesn’t need good hearing to keep track of serves or scores.
“Basically, I keep track of what’s going on,” he said. Another player in the doubles game, Doris Reppen, turned 90 on Dec. 28.
She and Jobin, who met about five years ago, used to be regular partners.
Although she recently had to stop weekly drill sessions with Nicole Williams-Chambers, head tennis professional at FAC, she still plays twice a week on Mondays and Fridays.
Her tennis buddies include Maggie Jobin, who is 87, and some younger women, Karen Lillie, Lois Kutun, Kris Boyes and Kathleen Croft.
“One of the biggest challenges for seniors is finding enough playing partners,” Williams said. “Most adult tennis players are always looking to play with those stronger than themselves for their own improvement.”
Maggie said her partners are younger and could find better players, but are good sports to play with her.
The Jobins and Reppen are all avid TV watchers of tennis, and recently they enjoyed the win of Roger Federer at the Australian Open.
Reppen also greatly admires tennis great Martina Navratilova, now in her 50s, who retired from competition in 2006, with her 178th mixed-doubles win at the U.S. Open.
“At age 90, my body has failed my spirit, and I must content myself with watching the many exciting tournaments on TV,” Jobin said. Jobin, a native of Detroit, has played tennis since childhood, motivated by his tennis-playing dad.
He said his father and a group of his friends built a regulation clay tennis court in the mid-1920s near the family summer cottage in Southern Michigan, on Lake Erie.
“It was on that court that my father hit tennis balls to me when I was about 5,” he said. “I tried other sports, but I wasn’t big enough to play football. Tennis has always been an attraction to me. I didn’t mind running. I could always run reasonably well and get to where I wanted to be.”
Jobin lived close to six courts at the local park.
“I’d be able to play all summer long,” he said.
He also played on the tennis team at Western High School and made it to some tournament finals.
“I played reasonably well,” Jobin said. “I’d maybe win a game or two. I was designated coach the last year I was in high school. Our school burned down, and the tennis coach left.”
Williams-Chambers said that until his “break” from tennis, Jobin played a classic game, with perfect technique, excellent shot selection and still good movement because of the anticipation gained after all these years of playing.
Jobin continued to be a recreational player until his college career was interrupted by World War II, when he joined the Navy.
“I had the damndest assignment,” he said. “Another ensign and I ended up in Washington, D.C., flying big shots around if they wanted to be in Georgia or someplace like that.”
His family moved to the Detroit suburb of Birmingham in the 1950s, where they were members of The Birmingham Racquet Club for many years.
“I really enjoyed developing a Senior Men’s Doubles League there,” Jobin said.
He and Maggie, who have been married for 66 years, moved to Flagstaff in 1995.
She started athletic endeavors at 4 years old, with dancing, and later as a yoga teacher.
At her husband’s urging, they started playing together 35 years ago.
“I didn’t get to be a very good player — very average,” she said. “I keep going. I’m a kid, but it will happen to me: I will become 90 and meet nice people to play with me. It’s a blessing we get to be old, but it’s a two-edged sword.”
Shirley Groenhout, a younger senior, said she used to play doubles with Doris and George two or three times a week.
“I learned so much from them,” Groenhout said. “They are living proof that tennis is a lifetime sport!”
Reppen, who was born in Argentina, rode horses from an early age.
She also started tennis young.
“I guess the first time I held a tennis racket, I was about 9 years old, at my uncle’s place in Argentina,” she said. “Then as college student, I played — always for fun. I always enjoyed sports, swimming, Pilates, played volleyball, and of course, tennis.”
Reppen, who is a widow, moved to Flagstaff in 1998. It was then she started playing tennis consistently.
Williams-Chambers says Reppen sometimes instructs younger players about the correct score.
“Doris, at times, moves better than those many years younger, and more importantly, she has more passion and a desire to win than many of my juniors,” Williams-Chambers said.
Reppen said she has few aches and pains, but a rotator cuff injury makes the forehand difficult.
She said she can play two hours straight, but her biggest problem is speed.
“At my age, I can’t run as a young person, but the joy of playing is there,” she said. “I am a tennis fan who likes to play the game! I believe that being physically happy is what keeps me going.”
Reppen has some advice for older folks.
“Keep tennis as one of the exercises, even if you don’t play well, like me,” she said. “It’s very social. You make very good friends playing tennis.”
Information from: Arizona Daily Sun, http://www.azdailysun.com/
Copyright 2010 The Associated Press.
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