The San Diego Splash came to play, people.
The 80-and-older senior womenβs basketball team was recently featured in a beautiful short film created by espnW that highlights the sisterhood, camaraderie and sportsmanship among the seven teammates. (Itβs safe to say that youβre going to want to grab the tissues for this one.)
The team is part of the San Diego Senior Womenβs Basketball Association, which welcomes teams made up of women ages 50 and older. The team plays three-on-three games that consist of two 15-minutes halves. The Splash is the oldest team in the league -- the whole squad is over 80 years old. The LeBron and Curry of the team are their two 91-year-old players, Meg Skinner and Grace Larsen.
βIf you can stand up and move your legs, youβre welcome,β Marge Carl, an 87-year-old Splash player, told espnW.
Larsen said she had never played basketball before because sports werenβt offered to girls when she was younger.
βI was 78 years old when I got my first basketball shoes,β she said. βGrowing up we didnβt have sports like the girls do today, we didnβt have the opportunity to play β that was before Title IX. I thought, oh gee that would be so much fun if I could actually play basketball.β
The 91-year-old added that she hopes she has a long career in basketball. βAs long as I can Iβm gonna play,β she said. βItβs just too much fun.β
Hereβs to these old women going hard in the paint.