Senior athlete Mike Harris had a big 2024 but 2025 may be his best year ever.

He will compete in the National Senior Games in table tennis and pickleball. More than 11,000 athletes, ages 50 to 95, will compete in 26 sports from July 30 through Aug. 3 in Des Moines, Iowa.

Harris, 58, a logistics management specialist at the Aviation and Missile Command, qualified by finishing in the top four in his events last April at the Alabama senior games. The state qualifier for pickleball was held in Opelika and the state qualifier for table tennis was held in Tuscaloosa at the University of Alabama.

“I was really excited,” Harris said. “I had practiced a lot ahead of time to get ready for the Senior Olympics.”

He also qualified in tennis for the national games but won’t compete in that sport in Des Moines because of scheduling. The state qualifier for tennis was held in April at the Tuscaloosa Tennis Complex.

“The main objective is to play well in my sporting events and to help my teammates win their divisions,” Harris said of his goal for the national games.

He will compete in the age 55-59 division in singles, doubles and mixed doubles in both table tennis and pickleball. His teams are 256-Pickleball and North East Alabama Table Tennis. Harris’ Alabama teammates include Barry Putman of Attalla, Kip Chappell of Oxford, Donnie McGinnis of Munford, Lori Cochran of Pell City and Laurie Hereford of Birmingham.

Harris, from Alexandria, worked 18 years at Anniston Army Depot until transferring to AMCOM in 2021. Until the government’s return-to-office order, he commuted two hours twice a week from his Alexandria home. Now he stays during the workweek with fellow table tennis player Mike Wetzel of Decatur.

The Anniston native and his wife of 15 years, Melissa, have a combined three children – two girls and a boy – and a grandson.

Last July 3-7, Harris competed in the US National Table Tennis Championships at the Von Braun Center in Huntsville. This marked the first time in USA Table Tennis’ 90-year history that the national championships were played in Alabama.

“It went pretty well. There were a lot of really skilled players,” Harris said. “I played in one event for table tennis and served as a volunteer at the control desk. The majority of my time was spent working, but I did get to play table tennis for one event.

“And I got beat, but that’s OK,” he said, laughing. “It was fun while it lasted.”

He had more success in the state qualifiers in April, enabling him to travel to the nationals for the second time in his career. In 2017 Harris competed in table tennis for age 50-54 at the national senior games held in Birmingham. He received a ribbon for making the top eight in his division for men’s doubles. Harris qualified for the 2023 national senior games in pickleball and table tennis but didn’t make that trip to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

“In 2029 it’s coming back to Birmingham,” he said. This year Harris hopes to be among the contingent from Alabama who will earn national medals and the opportunity to meet Gov. Kay Ivey in Montgomery.

“We have our team practices weekly in Oxford during our leagues,” he said. “We have league format, and we practice.”