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Navratilova encourages the 50+ crowd to live active, healthy lives.

Martina Navratilova wants to help seniors step up their game.

The 51-year-old lesbian tennis legend will will serve as the health & fitness ambassador to AARP, the world's largest advocacy organization for the 50-plus community.

AARP has had ambassadors in the past, but Navratilova is the first ambassador for health and fitness.

Navratilova will engage AARP members through various initiatives throughout 2008, primarily via AARP's fitness Web site, AARPfitness.com. Beginning in January 2008, AARP members will be able to access tips, exercise routines and video messages specifically addressing health concerns of those 50 and older.

"I think we have a tendency to look for quick fixes and easy solutions to leading healthy, active lifestyles," Navratilova said in an AARP press release. "I'm looking forward to sharing my secrets with AARP's members and sharing the lessons I've learned to help them to achieve their own personal goals."

Navratilova says some sponsors shied away from her earlier in her career. AARP says Navratilova's sexuality wasn't an issue and that her tennis exploits and fitness were the big draws. Navratilova, who recently had deals with Subaru and Prince rackets, said her endorsement earnings in retirement rival what she made from marketing when she was playing professionally.

IT SHOULDN’T TAKE A BASEBALL: Jenny Sorrell said she was “lucky” when a foul ball slammed into her stomach. She encouraged awareness about detecting ovarian cancer in its early stages.

Sorrell loses battle against ovarian cancer

After two years of spreading the news about a silent killer, Jenny Sorrell died on Nov. 22 in Grand Prairie. Sorrell was 46. She is survived by her lover, Dede Wall.

In 2005, Jenny Sorrell got in the way of a line drive at a Texas Rangers game. That's when Rangers infielder Alfonso Soriano hit a foul ball that slammed into Sorrell's stomach. The next morning, her abdomen was severely swollen. And when doctors examined her, Sorrell discovered that she had ovarian cancer, stage 3C. Stage three is when one or both of the ovaries is cancerous and it has spread to the lymph nodes or to other body parts inside the abdomen.

After she was diagnosed, Sorrell began treatments. But she also preached the gospel about ovarian cancer and she had a special message for lesbians.

"Most lesbian women haven't taken the pill for a long period of time," Sorrell explained during an interview with Dallas Voice. "And it's been discovered that you're less likely to contract ovarian cancer if you've had interruptions in cycle. Also, many lesbians aren't trying to get pregnant or haven't been pregnant. And because they haven't undergone those thorough exams, they aren't as focused on their ovaries."

Sorrell recommended that every woman even if they don't have any symptoms request an annual CA 125 test, which is a blood test that can monitor the status of ovarian cancer. "That way women can have a baseline and see how and if results progress over the years," Sorrell said.




This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition December 7, 2007