Joseph Shaw of Yellow Springs lives for volleyball.

The 61-year-old electronics technician at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base admitted that he’s lost some of the athletic prowess of his youth, but he’s still as competitive as ever.

“Volleyball was the sport that fit me,” Shaw said while waiting for his team’s game in the Dayton/Miami Valley Senior Olympics recently.

“I went through a couple of sports trying to be like the rest of the guys. When I came across volleyball, I fell in love with it and have been doing it for 50 years.”

Boomers are zip-lining, exercising to Zumba’s Latin rhythms, joining softball leagues, bicycling and playing basketball — anything to stay physically active and improve their chances at longer, healthier lives. They’re trying new activities and revisiting or continuing sports they played as kids.

Dr. Sean Convery, medical director of the Miami Valley Hospital Sports Medicine Center, said there are many good reasons for boomers to be involved in sports and physical fitness as they age.

If boomers have been inactive, they should check with their primary care physicians before they start an exercise program or sport, Dr. Convery said. They should check to make sure it’s OK to exercise or do a particular exercise and complete any testing their doctors recommend.

One way to get involved is to research the programs available through local parks and recreation departments.

Physical activity will help boomers maintain their independence, said Jim Engelhardt, division manager of fitness and sports for the Kettering Parks, Recreation and Cultural Arts Department.

“Any baby boomer should be strength training right now to maintain bone integrity and balance,” said Engelhardt, who has a master’s degree in exercise physiology. “A fall can pretty quickly change a senior’s life, and so as many things as they can do to prevent balance issues or muscular weaknesses ...”

Customized Zumba

Beavercreek’s Parks, Recreation and Culture Department recently started Zumba Gold and Zumba Gold Toning programs, targeting boomers in the community and at the city’s senior center.

“The one, specifically, at the senior center has taken off right away,” said Kim Farrell, recreation program supervisor.

Shawna Tibbs, who teaches Zumba and Zumba Gold classes for the department, said Zumba Gold modifies the fast-paced dancing with a slower pace for older participants.

Zumba Gold Toning is even slower because participants use weights, making movements more controlled while they dance.

Dolores Antunes, a 67-year-old retired sales executive from Beavercreek, is taking Tibbs’ Zumba Gold Toning class.

“It’s a good pace,” she said, “but it’s not so fast that I can’t keep up. I might slow down here and there, but I can get through the whole class, and I feel like I’ve had a good workout.”

Antunes thinks it’s important to stay active: “For me, I want to enjoy my senior years and I want to do what I can, while I can, to avoid not being able to get around and enjoy life.”

Antunes’ classmate, Sandy Woodruff, 62, of Beavercreek, said she gets a good workout with less stress on the joints.

She likes that Tibbs warns older participants if some moves might pose challenges for those with hip, knee or rotator cuff problems.

“There’s no reason that much older people can’t do it, because you can tone it down or you can bump it up as much as you want,” said Woodruff, a retired college math teacher and former owner of Puzzles Plus.

‘Keep going’

Meanwhile, Mark Jarvis, 61, of Fairfield, played volleyball in the Senior Olympics last month on the same team as Shaw.

The longtime volleyball player is a retired Procter & Gamble engineer who now owns a child care center and coaches boys’ and girls’ volleyball teams at Fairfield High School.

“They say with arthritis, keep going. Keep your joints moving. Well, this is the way we keep our joints moving,” Jarvis said.

“I’ve had both shoulders reconstructed, and I play now with no pain at all. I believe it’s because I will keep playing, keep moving and it’s gotten better, because it’s also therapeutic. By moving it around, by playing this, you’re stretching everything. It keeps your body active. It keeps your mind active to play a team sport like this.”