Shelbyville resident, great-grandma, and 72-year-young basketball player, Jeweline Segroves, has already earned one medal ahead of competing in the 2023 National Senior Games presented by Humana from July 7 - 18 in Pittsburgh. Jeweline has been selected as a Humana Game Changer – a national recognition of an athlete who exemplifies healthy aging and provides encouragement, motivation, and inspiration for all seniors to live healthy lifestyles.
Jeweline grew up in a basketball-focused town in Shelbyville where she competed starting in 6th grade. A lifelong Shelbyville resident, Jeweline has raised her family of two children, three grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren on Tennessee basketball culture.
Jeweline started her career as a real estate agent, but after 25 years, she pursued her passion of becoming a high school English teacher instead. Her 20 years of teaching gave Jeweline the opportunity to coach high school girls basketball.
In 2021, Jeweline contracted COVID-19 and double pneumonia, resulting in a three-month stay in the hospital and subsequent recuperation, which resulted in her absence from the 2022 National Senior Games. She thanks God for answering the prayers of her family and friends, in addition to sparing her after the doctors told her multiple times that she would not make it. Her road to recovery was long, but she was eager to get back on the court and attributes her health to her long-standing career playing basketball.
Jeweline’s 2023 National Senior Games team, The Dinos, is composed of six women - two of whom competed alongside Jeweline in high school and three of whom competed against her in high school. Over 50 years later, the women of Bedford County are thrilled to be competing together at the National Senior Games.