A relative newbie I started playing about 13 years ago. I'm fairly new in the sport. Most of the fellows I play with have been playing 30 or 40 years; they're very experienced players.
Routines for a lifetime I've always been really exercise-conscious. I went through basketball, football, track, broomball, bowling. My daily routine before I play volleyball is I stretch for about half an hour and do 50 pushups and light lifting. I play volleyball Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and the volleyball is a little over two hours. On Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays I do 25 stations. I do 12 leg stations and about 13 upper-body -- it's all weights. Then I cool down and do a mile on the outdoor track, weather permitting. If it's raining or whatever, or it's too cold, there's an indoor track. So it works out real nice.
Competing across the nation and at local high school scrimmages Camaraderie and competition is part of [why I enjoy] it. We have different ages that vary and we have some younger players coming in that really keep you jumping. We've got a couple young girls that come in, one is right out of college and she's just a heavy hitter. The rest of us are anywhere from 50 on up. We've scrimmaged some of the high school teams for practice. We all enjoy competing against these girls, and I think they get a real kick out of all these older people.
Treat the body well and it returns the favor I'm very disciplined. I'm to bed at 9 o'clock every night, and I'm up at 5. No alarm clock -- it just happens. The eating habits I don't watch so much, but I keep so active I think that has something to do with [maintaining a healthy weight]. That's what the doctor says. He says, "Boy, it's because of that steady exercising program."
Receiving the gift Every day is a gift. It's one of these things where you look around and read the papers and so forth about people that felt fine when they went to bed and woke up with this or that. You never know but you like to believe [exercising] really helps. It affects your attitude about things. Once you get working out, you're about halfway through and all of a sudden you kick into another gear.
SARAH MORAN
CONTACT US If you or someone you know would be a good candidate for "How I Got This Body," e-mail us at body@startribune.com and include your name, age, contact information and an explanation of your fitness story.
