"We were very frustrated," said Chapman, a forward for her high school
team of Des Moines.
Nearly 50 years later, Chapman is back on the court. She's 62 and plays
for the Hot Pink Grannies, joining about 10 other women on a team whose
uniforms are black bloomers and hot pink socks. They play in the Iowa
Granny Basketball League.
It's one of dozens of basketball leagues for women over 50 that have
sprung up across the country. For some, it's an opportunity to exercise
and socialize; for others, it's a once-denied chance to compete.
"You see more and more senior women's teams participating in state and
national competitions," said Michael Rogers, an associate professor in
sports studies at Wichita State University. "In the future it will be
commonplace to have leagues
like this."
Annual surveys by the National Sporting Goods Association indicate the
number of women 55 and older who play basketball at least 50 times a year
has grown from 16,000 in 1995 to nearly 131,000 a decade later.
The women on the Hot Pink Grannies are good-natured but competitive when game time
comes.
"I think I'm tough," says Hot Pink Granny Colleen Pulliam, 69, flexing
her biceps at opponents in a game against the Strutters, known for their
brilliant yellow socks.
Granny Basketball Leagues and similar groups are scattered through much
of the country, including California, Connecticut, Louisiana, New Mexico,
North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C.
