Grannies are having a (basket) ball

Jane Bus can take the ball to the hoop, and Betty Krupp isn't afraid to put a body on someone when she boxes out.

The two women are serious basketball players. And they loved the fact that they got to break a serious sweat Wednesday night while playing a game at Windy City Fieldhouse.

Granted, they likely were also happy that they didn't break any bones. That's a concern for both Bus and Krupp, who are 71 and 70, respectively.

They know that they've got to be careful, but they also refuse to be stagnant.

"It's easy when you get to be this age to just sit," Krupp said. "And a lot of times, that's what people expect you to do.

"There were some people who just laughed when I told them I wanted to come here and play."

Bus and Krupp, along with a handful of other senior women from the area, ventured downtown to find out more about "Granny Basketball," a game for 50-year-old-plus women that seems to be on its way to Chicago.

There are teams in Iowa, Louisiana, Alabama, Minnesota and Wisconsin, and the goal of league founder Barbara Tomlinson McPherson is to become so mainstream that Granny Basketball tournaments will be played regularly all over the country.

Local organizers are intent on starting up at least a couple of teams in Chicago as soon as possible.

"Women this age who see us play say, 'Well, I can do that,' " said McPherson, who founded the league in 2005. "It just never occurred to them that they could until they see it.

"This really changes the perception of what women can do at this age."

During the "tryout," the women, as old as 73, did passing, shooting and dribbling drills, and even the three-man weave.

Under Granny Basketball rules, the women weren't allowed to jump, make hard physical contact or move any faster than a brisk walk. Granny Basketball, which has had women as old as 81 in the league, is supposed to be a "gentle game."

But that doesn't mean it lacks for style.

Some of the women got pretty fancy with their shooting and passing. And the defensive-minded Krupp made it tough for anyone to pass or shoot around her.

"I wouldn't mind if we were allowed to be a bit more active," laughed Krupp, a retired school teacher and youth minister who lives in Lisle with her husband and has four children and three grandchildren. "But I still had a lot of fun.

"I love team sports, but there aren't really any team sports that older people can get involved in. I mean, I can golf, I can play tennis. But I don't like those as much. I really like the camaraderie and the working together that is so much a part of team sports."

Krupp missed out on that when she was in high school and college. Team sports weren't offered to girls back then.

"I was way, way before Title IX, so we didn't get to do anything," Krupp said. "To me, it was kind of frustrating."

Krupp, who majored in physical education at Northern Illinois, found an outlet by teaching team sports to girls in school.

Bus did the same thing, although recently she found an even better outlet for herself. She got involved with the Senior Olympics and made one of the teams that represents Illinois -- "She-cago."

Her team won a gold medal at the nationals last year.

"Doing both Granny ball and the Senior Olympics would probably be hard, but it'd be great to try," said Bus, who lives in Maywood. "Playing a sport like this really keeps you young. It's fun and I'm so much healthier."

The women at Granny ball talked a lot about being healthy. Most of them said it was the main reason they decided to investigate Granny ball in the first place.

Keeping active at their age isn't always easy.

Krupp, on the other hand, seems pretty active already. In addition to doing a lot of volunteering, she says that she still works out on the treadmill and does weight training regularly.

Her neighbors joke that she is "go, go, go" all the time.

Krupp insists it's not all the time.

"I need to be active. But it's hard to get off the couch on Sundays," Krupp said. "I do like to watch football. I like football a lot, too."

Up next: Grannies on the Gridiron.

The 411: For more information about Granny Basketball in Chicago, contact Chicago organizer Barbara Lee Cohen at (773) 296-6200. Cohen says she plans to hold more tryouts and informational sessions around the area in the near future.

For more information about the league in general, visit: www.grannybasketball.com.