Ronnie Vance is a Christmas Day baby and as this festive season marks her 82nd birthday, the inspirational octogenarian shares she has no plans to get old any time soon.
While many of her peers are opting for more relaxed pastimes, every Monday morning Ronnie laces up her sneakers and takes to the basketball court, just as she has done for the past 65 years.
“I’ve loved basketball since my very first game, but it’s the friendships I’ve made that keep me coming back,” says Ronnie, who stumbled across the sport in 1957.
Then 17 years old and a milliner’s apprentice at the iconic Auckland department store Smith & Caughey’s, she wanted a break from the detailed work of hat-making.
“I wasn’t used to sitting all day long, so one afternoon I walked to the YWCA up the road,” shares the mum-of-three. “I fancied fencing, but I couldn’t afford the fees on my apprentice salary of 2 pounds 5 shillings per week. They told me I could look downstairs and that’s when I first saw women playing basketball.”
At 1.6 metres (5 foot 3 inches), Ronnie isn’t your conventional basketballer, but she’s never been one to let her height hold her back and is still a fierce competitor.
“When I was younger, I was very fast,” she tells. “I just used to see the gap, and go to the hoop and could score 20 or 30 points a game.”
Number 14 Ronnie with her Auckland B-side teammates in 1970.
She jokes basketball became such an important part of her life, she even planned starting her family around it.
“In 65 years, I only ever missed one season of basketball for my first pregnancy,” recalls Ronnie, who kept her pregnancy a secret so she could play for Auckland in the 1961 National Champs. “My other two babies were conveniently timed around the off season.
“I’d have been thrown out of the team for sure. In those days, you didn’t do anything when you were pregnant.”
The Nationals were played in Ashburton and many hours were spent selling raffle tickets to fund the trip.
“We finally arrived and found we had nowhere to stay. Someone had forgotten to book our accommodation, so we ended up getting sent to stay with farmers.”
She can’t recall whether Auckland or Southland won the title that year, but she clearly remembers the joy of that competition and the close-knit nature of the basketball community.
Friendship and camaraderie are at the heart of Ronnie’s devotion to the game.
“Sometimes I’ve been on the court and asked someone’s name and realised I used to play with her mum or grandmother!”
With fiancé of 50 years, Wayne Manderson.
Over the years, she’s broken all her fingers, an arm and a leg while playing, but is largely unconcerned about this.
“I think that’s pretty good for how long I’ve been playing,” she jokes.
Born in the remote hills of the West Coast of the South Island, Ronnie comes from “hearty stock” and believes adventure has always been in her blood.
“My grandfather and great-grandfather both lived to almost 100, which was very unusual in those days. I’m hoping I last just as long.”
She describes herself as “one of those children” and remembers a time when pushing the limits meant she had 13 accidents in 16 weeks, causing her parents to despair.
Her love of adventure hasn’t slowed with time.
Seven years ago, while mountain biking on a difficult track in the South Island, she wiped out and injured her leg.
“I slowed down because I saw the track was running along the side of a cliff with a massive drop, so I tried to get off. The bike skidded and the pedal ripped my calf open,” tells Ronnie, who still cycles 100 kilometres and walks six kilometres every week.
Ride on! Youthful Ronnie bikes 100 kilometres a week.
While clearly remarkable, the grandmother-of-four, who lives in Auckland’s North Shore, doesn’t think there is anything unusual about her active lifestyle. Her advice to other women is to keep finding time for hobbies and sport.
“You need a break away, you need exercise and you need your girlfriends,” she asserts. “You don’t want to be at home all the time doing the boring cooking and cleaning.”
She also remembers the wise counsel of her father, who passed away as a young man from cancer.
“He told me, ‘Play the game as you see it,'” shares Ronnie, who’s interpreted that as encouragement to go forth in life with gusto.
It’s served her well. Ronnie’s still playing the game as she sees it, with no plans to stop.
