Athletics teaches life skills to students of all ages.(THE LAST LAUGH)

An athletics company spends millions in advertising to promote athletics for young girls. Its research shows those who are athletes are less likely to be abused, get pregnant, take drugs and have low self-esteem.

Administrators say student athletes are learning life skills that will carry over to adulthood. Now that there's a "new" traditional student--a woman over age 25 who has more adult concerns, like a family or job--it's time to consider what students who are even older can learn.

Has anyone ever considered the life leadership skills needed to captain the Passing Shots tennis team? As our season comes to an end, I reflected on what I've learned.

* Expect attrition. Accidents and injuries affect athletes of all ages, but those old enough to remember when ZIP codes were invented may be more vulnerable.

Each night we played two singles matches and three doubles matches requiring a total of eight players, so you'd think a roster of 12 would do it. No way.

Injuries to teammates this year included: a four-week bout of plantar fasciitis, a fatal recurrence of pancreatic cancer, a back injury added to previous eye degeneration and Eustachian tube infection, a sprained ankle and a bloody big toe caused by a salt block falling on it.

Luckily our 66-year-old #1 doubles player known as the "human backboard" was tougher than most. She lost feeling in the thumb of her playing hand after jumping off a 30-foot Mexican cliff as a snowbird, but griped the racquet hard with her other fingers. Only a few times in a match did hard-hit volleys knock the racquet right out of her hand.