![]() She also square-dances, plays ping-pong, is part of a weekly hiking and cycling group and recently took up the ukulele. She's lost seven pounds since training for pickleball, playing doubles most mornings at Finley Center in Santa Rosa. Her health regimen includes no sweets, decaf coffee and for a treat, a small square of dark chocolate. Hoffman grew up eating 1950s-style TV dinners, Hostess cupcakes and bologna sandwiches, but has long been a vegetarian. And it's easier on your body than tennis, kinder to knees and elbows. "If you've ever played any racket sport, you can catch on fast," she said. ![]() She describes it as a combination of tennis, badminton and ping-pong and considers it "the perfect sport for baby boomers. Hoffman discovered pickleball, named for the game's originator's family dog, while vacationing in Oregon three years ago. If I go any days without exercise, I don't sleep well," said the retired massage therapist, who will compete in pickleball matches. ![]() The mature body requires careful tending, constant maintenance and special fueling to stay in running order, say senior athletes like 64-year-old Tricia Hoffman of Sebastopol. However, you don't just wake up at 50 or 60 or 70 and declare you're back in the game. Senior athletic competitions, said coordinator Amy Crabb, development manager for the Sonoma County Council on Aging, help defy a cultural attitude "that pigeonholes people into thinking that at a certain age they need to stop participating in strenuous physical activity." Whether at the games or afterward in their regular routines, the aging athletes are pioneers, staying active well past their prime and vowing nothing can make them lead sedentary lives. The Sonoma Wine Country Senior Games, in its second year, is expected to draw 2,000 participants this year, four times that of last year's inaugural. But during 11 days this spring, look for a swarm of athletes of a certain age. Most days in Sonoma County you see people of all ages cycling, hiking, swimming and playing ball. ![]()
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