By FRANCIS FEDOR
You may have read in these pages a couple of weeks ago an article on the Tampa Active Life Games that are set to commence on Sept. 29 with the opening ceremonies. In a follow-up to that article, we have a real-life example of a success story rising out of the Florida Senior Games to claim National Senior Games notoriety. Sun City resident Mike Kelley has been a part of that success. Kelley, who has worked locally with Visiting Angels here in Sun City Center over the past eight years, is a member of Geezer Nation, a 3 on 3 basketball team that has won gold in the 60-64 men’s grouping.
Geezer Nation is comprised of four other individuals from Hillsborough and Pinellas counties, Coach Konstintine, EJ Tarpy (Vero Beach), Roger McDonald (Utah), and “DJ” David Jackson (St. Pete). They competed this year against 19 teams that had won their respective games, qualifying them for the competition in Des Moines. The team has won gold here in Florida three consecutive times. In the national competition, these players went undefeated in winning the gold medal in their age group. They won their pool games by an average margin of 23.5 points and completed the sweep in the championship round. Their closest pool competition game was vs. the Arkansas Big Dogs, and they won that game 64-51, a 13 point margin. Florida represents well on the national stage and led the 2025 National Senior Games with 492 medals overall.
California was next with 386, North Carolina with 383, Ohio with 379, and Texas rounded out the top five with 332. Florida also claimed the top spot in 2023 with 579 medals. The state had 19 teams in the age bracket 60-64 with the 65+ (65-69) grouping having the most teams competing at 24.
Kelley has been involved in volunteer work with Rock Steady Boxing in Sun City Center and Fish Hawk. He offered that those working in his industry see a lot of people whose health is compromised due to a lack of physical activity, which inspires him to be a role model for an active lifestyle. The Tampa Active Games is a great way to test one’s competitive skills and stay healthy through competition.
Courtesy Photos
From left: Coach Konstintine, EJ Tarpy (Vero Beach), Mike Kelley, Roger McDonald (Utah) and “DJ” David Jackson (St. Pete) wear their gold medals from the 2025 National Senior Games in Des Moines.
As for the National Senior Games, each state has a senior games qualifier that feeds into the qualification for the National Senior Games. The NSGA divides its member organizations into five regions, and Florida is in the Southeast. The other regions are the Northeast, Great Lakes, West and Pacific. The games, much like the Olympics, are moved from location to location every two years. This year, the competition took place in Des Moines, Iowa. The 2023 edition was held in Pittsburgh, PA. Florida hosted the games in 2022 in Ft. Lauderdale, and there was no competition in 2021. The games appear to strive to keep the competitions to brackets that would be compatible and competitive. For example, in the case of basketball, the men’s brackets start at 50+ to 85+ by 5-year increments. The ladies’ brackets are similar but only go up to 80+.
The effort by our local Hillsborough champions should be encouragement for all those that are competing in events in their local community to take the next step and test their talents at the next level. And maybe those teams can also claim national honors representing Hillsborough County and the South Shore.
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Photos courtesy of Mike Kelley. Inquiries: Email: FrancisFotography@Outlook.com Phone: 202-683-9691.