On August 21, 5-6pm EDT, Senior Planet will host a Zoom discussion about a documentary and its life-changing impact on one Senior Planet member – No RSVP required!  (Click here for details). 

Senior Planet members, take a bow – it’s your day. According to the U.S. Census, some 78 million people 65 years and older will live in America by 2035 – a huge age cohort, surpassing the number of  the country’s population under the age of 18 (76.7 million) for the first time in U.S. history.

The launch of National Senior Citizens Day in 1988 acknowledged the contributions of older people, and since then, seniors have been showing their mettle to the world – and aging with attitude!

For Carol Klenfner, it started with a documentary…about Ping Pong. (Click here to view the documentary for free.)  Recently widowed and laid off, the film inspired her to try the sport.  “Going to my table tennis club got me up and out – and introduced me to a whole new social set. Men and women, older and younger, Americans and folks from other cultures,” she says.  “I certainly never expected that I’d take up a new sport in my late 60s, fall in love with it, take it seriously enough to get pro coaching and feel confident enough to put myself out there and compete nationally (and internationally).”

Carol’s story inspired Senior Planet so much she became Senior Planet’s first Sponsored Athlete (read her story here).

To mark Older Adults Day on August 21, we encourage everyone to watch Ping Pong (link is here), before joining us in a special Zoom talk with Carol about how this film changed her life and made her a Sponsored Athlete.

“It’s never too late to learn and grow,” Carol says. “The focus I need to play ping pong well is something that was completely new to me. It’s sort of like meditation because when I’m at the table, it requires complete attention.” For others, she advises, ‘Keep looking. It doesn’t have to be ping pong.  It could be anything!”

Although the pandemic has cramped her style a bit, she looks forward to a new high-tech ping pong venue with one table per room, social distancing and safe protocols. “I can see myself back on the table very soon.”

We invite you to join us in a special Zoom event to mark Senior Citizen’s Day on August 21 as Carol talks about her journey to redefine her life – and how you can too!