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Photo courtesy National Women's Tennis Organization.
By Ray Glier
Ellen Markowitz, 63, had a career with The Girl Scouts of America in New York programming and developing partnerships around sports. She had another career as a teacher and high school girls tennis coach in Charlottesville, Va.
“When did you retire,” I asked.
“I’m not retired,” Ellen said.
She is in her 60s, and the narrative around retirement in changing for people like Markowitz, and many of us. There is no sudden off-ramp. If you think, or feel, the curtain has dropped on you when you have so much more to offer, Ellen’s story this morning is for you.
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Markowitz has definitely down-shifted, but she gets up around 6 a.m. every morning and twice a week she attends a class centered on strength training. She is a competitive player in the National Women’s Tennis Organization and won a “gold ball” and “silver ball” in 2025 national tournaments (Level 1). Markowitz gives paid tennis lessons to children and people as old as 80.
Ellen works with refugees on career development skills through the International Rescue Committee and teaches developmental psychology at a community college in central Virginia.
That’s not retirement, as we have come to know it.
Ellen also sits on the Board of Directors of PowerPlay, a New York City non-profit for girls she founded in 1998. I have heard of so many sports-based foundations, or non-profits, started by athletes go from sizzle to fizzle. Not this one. Markowitz, who played tennis at Yale, has watched PowerPlay grow to help 1,000+ girls a year in the five boroughs of the city in sports as diverse as tennis, lacrosse, and rowing.
So, you see, Ellen, in her 60s, has not retired from work and she has not retired from life.
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Two parts of Markowitz’s story are instructive to Geezer Jocks.
Twice a week, Markowitz does 6 a.m. strength and cardio workouts. It’s a 45-minute session. She also does interval running four or five days a week, which helps simulate the length of points in a match and to make sure she has the staying power.
“The best thing I’ve done in the last two years is strength training,” Ellen said. “At this point in our lives where you are losing muscle mass, I felt like that would help me in tough matches and in long matches.”
Geezer Jocks get it. Fitness workouts refresh your game.
The added strength means Ellen can be pushed back into a corner of the court and set her back foot securely and come out a jam forcefully, even though she is 5-foot-3.
This is the reward: extra fun comes with success.
Markowitz played four WTO singles national tournaments in 2025 (Level 1). She finished second in a 60-65 grass court tournament in Rancho Mirage, Ca., and won a 60-65 tournament in Maryland, though she said there were only seven entries.
In the USTA National Women’s Intersectional Team Championships in Phoenix earlier this month, Ellen played No. 2 singles for the Eastern Section (55-65 years old) and was 4-0.
If you are a tennis player, or have a friend who plays, I love this tip, which Geezer Jocks are mentally prepared to carry out:
“I’m trying to work on that that skill of emptying the mind and just playing the point. It’s just the ball and me, not the person on the other side of the net.”
Here is the other key ingredient to her tennis.
Ellen will come across older people who played tennis when they were younger and help them make the game fun and worthwhile again. Markowitz is competitive but she said, “Being on a team and having a social outlet is really, really a big thing.”
That is vital for any sport as we age.
What about, you know, being good?
“(Rafael) Nadal, (Novak) Djokovic, when they won grand slams, and now (Carlos) Alcaraz, they’re only winning 53 or 54% of the total points over seven matches,” Markowitz said. “It’s okay to lose, like, half the points, but you’ve got to win the right points at the right time.”
And here is THE takeaway from Ellen for any athlete, no matter age:
“With a lot of learning, you can’t have 10 things in your head at once, just one or two key things to work on for a little while, and then the next one or two key things.”
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Ellen’s parents were labor lawyers in Philadelphia and they fought alongside unions for fair wages. She seems to have a clear understanding of what inequity in the world looks like and that had to start with her parents.
“As long as the world shall last there will be wrongs, and if no man objected and no man rebelled, those wrongs would last forever.”___famed trial and labor lawyer Clarence Darrow.
Markowitz rebelled on the side of girls in New York City, many underserved. While she was working at Girl Scouts she founded “PowerPlay.” The thrust of PowerPlay was to empower girls through sports and make them competent, confident, connected, caring and the have character to respond to the needs of others.
1,100 girls, 8 years old to 18, are guided by PowerPlay. Every year.
Thirty years ago, there were few non-profits with a “direct service” model using sports as a stimulus so Ellen started one as an unpaid executive director.
“I didn’t always feel great about myself at points in my life as a child and as a teen, but when I was playing sports, I felt confident, I felt like I was at home, and I felt really comfortable,” she said.
Geezer Jocks, listen, it’s not just playing sports. That ball, that round ball, leads to connectivity and confidence. It can provide purpose, Ellen said.
That goes for young and old.
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Here’s more proof there is a market for the special talents of Geezer Jocks.
This was pitched to Geezer Jock two weeks ago as a contest that includes older people. It is from MrBeast, who is HUGE:
My name is Amy Kernan-Bennett, I’m a Casting Coordinator with MrBeast Youtube.
We’re currently casting for a new ages-based video filming in early December 2025 at our Headquarters here in Greenville, N.C.
We’re currently on the lookout for individuals ranging from 70-100 years old who might be interested in competing in a MrBeast Challenge and we’d love your help in spreading the word to members of your community who might be interested!
About the Project:
Filming takes place during the first two weeks of December in Greenville, N.C.
Participants of ALL ages will compete in a fun, one-of-a-kind challenge for a prize.
No acting experience needed - big personalities encouraged!
If someone not local to our area is selected to participate, all flights, hotels, and travel expenses are covered by us.
This process is free — we will never ask for payment or financial info.
About MrBeast:
With 449M+ subscribers, MrBeast is the world’s leading creator of large-scale, family-friendly videos — such as Ages 1 - 100 Fight For $500,000 & Ages 1 - 100 Decide Who Wins $250,000. Through MrBeast Philanthropy, we’ve also built wells in Africa, rebuilt homes for disaster survivors, and run monthly food programs.
How to Apply:
https://airtable.com/appzLZc65BWnoKZp2/pagsEdu9hozk2FMDc/form
(paste into the browser).
Please support Geezer Jock™ Scroll down please for links to tee-shirts and more, or go to www.geezerjocknews.com.
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