If you’re looking for a way to have a long healthy life, consider playing tennis.

Research suggests playing tennis can increase your lifespan by up to 9.7 years. That’s far more than any other sport tested, including those regular workouts at the gym, that only increase your life span by 1.5 years.

In fact, the U.S. Tennis Association is billing itself as “The World’s Healthiest Sport.” While it might not be, it’s definitely a game with an array of positive outcomes such as improved cardiovascular and bone health, better agility and coordination, and overall happiness.

Friends and competitors at tennis: Ron Thompson, 71; Alex Lee, 69; and Avon DeGrafenread, 66, will tell you they’re a pretty, healthy and happy bunch.

When the weather is right, you can find the three of them almost any evening on the McAdams Park Tennis Courts in Wichita, KS. They’ve been regulars at the court for more than 35 years.

All three of these guys are among the top players in their age group. Ron, a natural athlete who played basketball in high school, didn’t switch to tennis until he felt he was too old to run and gun on a basketball court. That was 35 years ago.

Alex, who started playing tennis in 1974, says he got his interest in tennis from a brother who kept talking about Jimmy Connors, one of the top pros at the time. Alex took up the game as a freshman at the University of Pine Bluff Arkansas, and by his junior year, he was good enough to make the school’s tennis team.

Avon, can up on the game, thanks to historic Wichita Coach Charles “Goose” Doughty. Doughty was his teacher at L’Ouverture elementary school, which is located across the street from the McAdams Tennis Courts.

“He introduced everybody in the school to tennis. He even had a program for the kids,” said Avon. “He told us tennis was a game for life and that you could meet a lot of people playing tennis.”

Pretty soon, thanks to Coach Doughty’s training and support, they’d developed a group of fairly strong tennis players. Coach Doughty started taking them around the state to tennis tournaments and they started winning. He even took a group of the best players to a national American Tennis Association tournament, in San Diego. Avon was just 16, and tennis was taking him places.

He went on to play tennis in high school and in college.

Avon says one of his biggest Kansas competitors in youth tennis, from 12 years old, was Bobby Grout. Amazingly, they still play against each other to this day and they both still have a competitive game – confirming you meet people in tennis and you make lifelong friends.

McAdams Tennis players are a close-knit group of friends. They see each other regularly during the summer, often three or more times per week.

Most players will tell you, it’s their most enjoyable time of the day. You’re out in nature, either playing or watching others play, shooting the breeze and often engaging in some fun and competitive chatter.

More than just playing, these three are helping grow a tennis community at McAdams Court and beyond. They’re all active in the McAdams Tennis Foundation and the United States Tennis Association.

The McAdams Tennis Foundation has continued the free summer tennis lessons that Coach Doughty started more than 50 years ago and maintained until his death in 2013.

This year’s summer tennis program gets underway May 13 and will run every Tuesday and Thursday until the end of July.

Classes are from 6 to 7 p.m. for children 10 and under. Sessions for youth 10 and over and adults are from 7 to 8 p.m. Players at all levels, including individuals who’ve never picked up a racket, are welcome to attend.

Several McAdams youth Tennis players have gone on to college on tennis scholarships, including Sheree Pruitt, Kerry Dunn, Paris Cuningham and Sidney McGrown.

Continuing the tennis for life theory, all of them still play.

Outside McAdams, Alex is on the USTA Missouri Valley Section Board and he’s the board’s recent past president. Ron is the diversity chair for USTA Kansas. His role is to introduce the game of tennis to minority youth.

The three, along with other members of the McAdams Tennis club, also travel to tournaments across the region sponsored by other Black tennis clubs. Regular trips for the group include the annual tournaments in Pine Bluff, AR; Tulsa, Dallas and Houston.

Houston is the biggest of the tournaments, often attracting as many as 400 players.

The McAdams Club also has an annual tournament each year in July that attracts about 130 players, many of whom attend from out of state. This year’s tournament is July 24-26 at Riverside Park.

What they all enjoy is the friendships they build with people across the country.

“You see a lot of the players at different tournaments, and it’s always good to see them,” says Alex. Like the survey says, tennis is a social sport that helps improve your overall well being.

Even though tennis is a game for life, Avon says, the group is interested in attracting younger players.

“We’re getting older,” he said, “and even though it’s a game for life, we need to start bringing up players to replace us.”