Golden Age Games inspire, reunite war veterans through competition

Josh Peter | USA TODAY Sports

NORTH HILLS, Calif. -- Entering his final week of training before a big competition, Carmen Schiavoni threw the javelin beside a 62-year-old teammate, fine-tuned his 9-ball skills against a 75-year-old teammate and showed off his table tennis skills against an 83-year-old teammate.

“He’s just a kid,” joked Schiavoni, who turns 91 next week and, figuratively speaking, will help carry the torch for the National Veterans Golden Age Games.

The multi-event sports competition, which starts Saturday in Omaha, Neb., is expected to include more than 800 veterans ages 55 and older who are receiving care through a veteran affairs medical facility. For Schiavoni, that includes group therapy for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder stemming from his service in World War II.

Stationed in England at the Royal Air Force Station Rattlesden, Schiavoni flew 30 missions as a crewman on B-17 Flying Fortresses over Germany. On some of those missions he served as waist gunner, firing artillery at enemy aircraft. He later received the Distinguished Flying Cross.

Schiavoni said the group therapy for PTSD has helped him open up among other veterans about his combat experiences. Yet he suggests the Golden Age Games has had no less profound an impact on his life.

“It opens up my whole environment,” he said. “I have so many more friends.”

But he said he was angry in 2004 upon seeing team members wearing Golden Age Games caps and T-shirts return to the VA facility near his home outside Los Angeles.

“How coming I’m just finding out about them now?” he griped.

Patty Jones, the team’s coach, smiled sheepishly. “So we had a little rocky start,” she said.

Clearly, they’ve patched things up. When Schiavoni was practicing the javelin earlier this week on uneven terrain outside the VA gym, she said, “Watch the holes, honey.” And when he tossed a nice throw signaling he is ready for the upcoming Games, “Hey! Do that again next week!”

With Jones offering support and training, Schiavoni first competed at the Golden Age Games in 2005 and won three medals — two gold and one silver. He has won no fewer than three medals every year since.

“This is his golden age,” Jones said, noting Schiavoni had limited competitive athletic experience until he joined the team.

After undergoing heart surgery in 2012 — the same year his wife of 67 years died of pancreatic cancer — Schiavoni had to give up cycling. But that hardly slowed him down. This year, in addition to the javelin, 9-ball and table tennis, he will compete in shuffleboard and dominoes.

“He’s really inspirational,” said George Gonzalez, the 62-year-old javelin thrower and a Vietnam veteran. “It’s people like him that keep me coming here. I don’t complain as much.”

Schiavoni complains little despite an assortment of medical issues: hearing impairment that might stem in part from an explosion during World War II; fluid leaking out of his left eye; a bum left leg that at times necessitates the use of a cane; and a leaky mitral valve in his heart.

None of it keeps him from driving himself to the facility every morning by 7 a.m. for a day that will include more training. He said winning medals is only one of the objectives at an event where competitors will include veterans older than 100.

“You want to see which guys show up,” Schiavoni said. “You’re happy they’re here.”

The way Schiavoni sees it, his training and additional exercise that includes a morning walk of at least a mile and Tai Chi will enable him to spend more time with this family — four children, 13 grandchildren, 18 great grandchildren — and keep that heart with the leaky valve beating.

“I’m trying to stay in shape so I don’t have any more surgery,” he said. “Gotta keep going, gotta keep going.”

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