Contact: Sammy McDavid
STARKVILLE, Miss.--The Senior Olympics documentary "Age of Champions" will be shown Oct. 17 at Mississippi State.
Free and open to all, the 4 p.m. event in Giles Hall's Harrison Auditorium is sponsored by the university's Gerontology Committee.
An award-winning 2011 PBS production, "Champions" follows five competitors--including a 100-year-old tennis champion and 86-year-old pole vaulter--as they prepare for the 2009 National Senior Games.
The 72-minute-long film directed by Christopher Rufo has been praised for being "infectiously inspiring." Accompanying comments by Rufo will be part of the campus program.
"At a time when many associate aging with decline and death, this film demonstrates the positive possibilities of later life," said Carolyn Adams-Price, Gerontology Committee chair.
"Through the stories of older athletes, the film-makers declare that 'You're never too old to be healthier, happier and more active,'" added the associate professor of psychology and researcher on rural aging.
A short trailer and other information about the documentary may be viewed at www.ageofchampions.org/speaking.
For more about the MSU program, contact Joe D. Wilmoth, associate professor of human development and family studies, at 662-325-1799 or jwilmoth@humansci.msstate.edu.