Human Kinetics Softball

The Daytona Beach-based Human Kinetics Senior softball team won the Softball Players Association Men's National AAA 50+ tournament in Panama City Beach, Florida in early September. With teams from around the country participating in the tourney, the team advanced through the competition going undefeated in the double elimination play, twice defeating Willie's Wolves, a team from Corpus Christi, Texas. Both the defense and offense contributed to the first-ever national championship for Human Kinetics with the team holding their opponents to only 36 runs while scoring 91 during the 5 games. HK was led by MVP Buddy Glass, best offensive player Steve Farney, best defensive player Don Lesher, and all tournament manager Woody Frye. The team qualified for the nationals after winning a tournament in Ft. Lauderdale in April.

HK's previous best showing was a fourth place finish in the Men's 55 bracket at the National Senior Olympics at the Disney Wide World of Sports Complex in October of 1999 and a championship in the same division in the Florida Senior Olympics last December.

Back row, left to right: Steve Farney, Richard Dennard, Jim Zimmer, Woody Frye, Roy Bennett, Terry O'Donnell, and Don Lesher.

Front row, left to right: Rainer Martens, Tim Pergrem, J.J. Martin, Buddy Glass, Bob Wilkie, and John Reinholdt.

MVP: Buddy Glass

Manager of the Year: Woody Frye

SPA Double-Elimination Results for Human Kinetics:

Human Kinetics (10)	Naples Worth (3)
Human Kinetics (9)	Hartford County Stars (7)
Human Kinetics (27)	Wakulla Collision (9)
Human Kinetics (27)	Willie's Wolves (11)
Human Kinetics (18)	Willie's Wolves (6)

SPA Men's 50+ AAA Division Standings:

Team Name	State
1. Human Kinetics	Florida
2. Willie's Wolves	Texas
3. Wakulla Collision	Florida
4. Roof Concepts	Kentucky
5. Indiana Classics	Indiana
6. Harford County	Maryland
7. Schones	Indiana
8. Alabama 50s	Alabama
9. Texas Longhorns	Texas
10. Nugent Sand	Kentucky
11. Gold Coast Eagles	Florida
12. M.J. Big Nut Co.	New Jersey
13. Naples Worth	Florida
14. Sunview	Georgia

What the Daytona Beach, Florida, News-Journal says about the HK team...

Playing softball never grows old with these guys
THE ROAR
By RANDY RORRER
September 20, 2000

While many people their age were busy being taken out to dinner or having greeting cards bestowed on them in honor of Grandparents Day in early September, a band of area softball players were toiling in the Florida sun and winning a national championship.

The Human Kinetics senior softball team rolled through the Softball Players Association National Championships in Panama City on Sept. 8-10, going undefeated in five games to win the double-elimination Men's 50-and-over AAA division.

Human Kinetics, one of the world's leading sports and fitness publishers, qualified for the national tournament by winning a qualifying tournament in Fort Lauderdale in April.

"The competition is still intense despite our age," said 54-year-old Woody Frye, manager of the Human Kinetics team. "We still go out there to win, we just don't take it out at home when we lose. We don't beat the fences with our bats anymore."

Frye said the older players tend to appreciate the game more as they mature.

"There's less trash talking among teams, and you can appreciate it more when the other team makes a nice play," Frye said. "When you're younger, you're more likely to think it was just a lucky play when the other team does something well."

There wasn't a whole lot of luck involved in winning the tournament for the local guys. Their team batting average was .613.

"Everything just gelled," Frye said. "Everything just came together for us. Everybody was picking everybody else up when something went wrong. We just played a great tournament."

Hauling the hardware

To the victor goes the spoils. Human Kinetics got plenty spoiled when it came time for the awards ceremonies.

"It took about an hour for them to hand out all the awards," Frye said. "The second-place team all got trophies, we got our trophies and then they announced all the All-American teams and most valuable player awards.

Human Kinetics was well represented on all of the squads. Buddy Glass, who hit .636, was named the tournament's MVP. Steve Farney went 17-for-22, including 10-for-10 in the last two games, and was named the offensive player of the tournament. Don Lesher was named defensive player of the year.

The honors didn't stop there. Bob Wilkie, Rainer Martens, Tim Pergrem and Terry O'Donnell all made first-team All-American. Jim Zimmer, Richard Dennard, John Reinholdt, Roy Bennett and J.J. Martin all made second-team All-American.

"It was rewarding," said Frye, whose team is now playing in a league in Port Orange for players of all ages. "The nucleus of the team has been together for more than a year, but most of us have been playing together or against each other for about 30 years."

And just how do men closing in on their AARP cards celebrate a national championship. Do they light up expensive cigars and spray each other with bottles of champagne?

"There wasn't any of that," Frye explained. "The SPA is a religious group and doesn't allow alcohol. Our sponsor took us all out to dinner. We had about 13 or 14 players and some brought their wives and some brought their kids, and he picked up the tab. It was nice."

These guys are following Jimmy Buffett's philosophy of growing older but not up. I, for one, can't think of a much better way to spend Grandparents Da than proving you've still got game.