‘Gimme that ball’

Seniors take to court, ball to hoop

By Kevin Spradlin
PeeDeePost.com

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ROCKINGHAM — It was Ida Mae Malloy’s turn.

Like the other 14 competitors in basketball shooting, Malloy had to shoot three times from six designated locations on the court and distances from the hoop, which stood 10 feet high. The first few shots weren’t quite to Malloy’s liking.

“Gimme that ball,” Malloy motioned Wednesday morning to a friend on the bleachers inside the Browder Park gymnasium in Rockingham.

Kevin Spradlin | PeeDeePost.com
Therion Robinson prepares for a free throw.

Malloy received no small amount of ribbing for the move. It’s not the ball, they told her. Malloy, in turn, made her next three shots.

Says you, she said without a word.

And so Malloy and 14 others took their turns at making as many of their 18 chances as possible as part of the 25th annual Senior Games of Richmond County. Shots were uncontested and athletes used a range of methods, from “granny-style” to one-handed shooting to, a time or two, what you might see on television. The six positions included a layup, a shot from 9-feet out, a free throw (15 feet away), a 6-foot shot, a 10-foot shot from the side of the key and from the top, some 19 feet 9 inches from the basket.

Malloy wasn’t the only one who received a little flak from their fellow competitors, but James “Neil” Haygood tried to stop it before it started.

Noah Bowers | PeeDeePost.com
Terry Mercer takes a one-handed shot from 10 feet away.

“I better not hear your mouth,” Haygood told Raymond Collins, et al, as his name was called by event referee Pam Cowick and Dave Davis, of the city of Rockingham’s Parks and Recreation Department.

Collins, of course, proceeded on. And Haygood heard.

“Hey, somebody wanna turn that megaphone off,” Haygood inquired in between shots.

Players were permitted one practice shot from each location on the floor, but some opted out. Ronald “Max” Adrianse, 83, of Rockingham, was one of them.

Each one has to count, Adrianse said.

“I ain’t got but only so much left.”