Newtown Couple Wins Gold Medals In Senior Games

By Nancy K. Crevier

Sonja and Larry Haskel have been playing tennis for nearly four decades and, since 2000, have participated in the Connecticut Senior Games, winning a number of medals. This year, though, was the first in which Sonja walked off the courts of the Senior Games, held in Manchester, May 22, with three gold medals to her name, and Larry with one gold medal.

Sonja captured the three golds in ladies’ singles; ladies’ doubles, played with fellow Newtown resident Julie Stern; and in mixed doubles with her husband, all in the 65 to 69 age bracket.

The placement at the Connecticut Senior Games entitles the couple to take part in the National Senior Games, a bi-annual event scheduled for mid-June of 2011, in Houston, Texas. The 2011 event will be the third time that the Haskels have taken part in the National Games. In 2007, Sonja placed 6th in the ladies’ singles in Louisville, Ky.

“We were very excited to win,” Larry said. Over 900 athletes competed at the May games in Manchester, said the Haskels, 75 of them in tennis. The Haskels will be among several hundred tennis players at the National Games in 2011, from all over the nation. “In 2009, there were 31 ladies in my age bracket competing,” Sonja said. “That’s actually a lot.

“We do play as much as we can,” she added, which means six days of practice when in Florida over the winters, and three to four days of playing during the summer months spent in Newtown.

“I play tennis mostly for the fun of it, and for the exercise,” said Ms Haskel. “I’m really not as competitive as I once was. I realize now that it’s only a game. If you win, you win; if you lose, you lose,” she said.

“What I like is that tennis is an individual sport and a sport that can be played with others,” Larry added. “With singles, there is the joy of the individual accomplishment. The joy in playing with someone is in the teamwork. That’s a lot of fun.”

Both of the Haskels are looking forward to the National Games, but in the meantime, they will continue to compete in local tournaments and enjoy the walks and other sports activities that keep them fit.

“It’s a lot of fun,” Sonja said. “I hope to be playing tennis for another 20 years. It’s a game you play your whole life, at different levels.”