Tauranga woman Trish Muir spent her 80th birthday doing what she loves most – playing ball, shooting hoops and competing with some of her best mates.

Trish has played basketball competitively for more than 40 years, and is keen to see other seniors involved in the sport.

These days Trish plays a 'slower, low impact” version of the regular game.

Senior Women Into Shooting Hoops, also known as SWISH, is a group of about 20 who meet to play walking basketball weekly.

Despite the name, Trish says people in the team range in age from 22-80. This includes a granddaughter who comes along with her grandmother.

The walking basketball season started on Thursday in Tauranga, with training sessions being held at various locations across the city.

"It's a great game, it just gets you.

"And the women who are playing at the moment, some of them just can't wait for Thursday to come around."

Trish first got involved in the sport when she was 16, in 1957. She had just finished high school in Tauranga.

After years of playing netball, she suddenly became hooked after joining a club team called Atomic.

"Basketball soon got me. I just loved it – I didn't play any netball after that.

"It was so much faster, you could dribble and shoot – I just fell in love with the game."

The team would travel around to other parts of the Bay of Plenty for club tournaments.

The 80-year-old says both basketball and tennis consumed most of her teenage life.

"I am not sure what I enjoy most, both sports took up a lot of my time."

Trish played in a representative team for Tauranga for many years.

In 1989, Trish joined a team called the Tauranga Atomic Masters. They played at New Zealand and Australian tournaments up until 1999.

In 2004, they came together again to compete in the Pan Pacific Masters Games where they won gold in the 60+ grade.

"That was our swan song," she says.

Trish has also spent many years coaching and refereeing for school basketball teams in Tauranga.

Now she loves to train with her five grandchildren who all play basketball.

'I love shooting. If I see a basketball hoop I just want to get hold of a basketball.”

Trish says walking basketball is surprisingly tiring.

'You end up walking very fast – you get very into it and burn a lot of energy.”

She says anyone is welcome to join SWISH, even if you don't have any experience playing the game.

"The best thing about it is friendship, it is just the loveliest group of women who play."

For more information visit, www.taurangacitybasketball.co.nz/walking-basketball