Amy Berkley takes an adult ballet class at the Lawrence Arts Center on Monday, February 10, 2020.

At the age of 49, Jeff Matsui asked himself what he was passionate about. It’s a standard question to contemplate when making a career or life change, he said, and Matsui was in the middle of both.

He had just returned to the United States after living in Japan for 26 years, where he met his wife and worked as a manager at an IT company. When they moved back, Matsui decided to change his professional course to study personal training.

Now, Matsui, 52, is a certified personal trainer and works out six days a week at Thatchers’ Training Center, where he is one of the oldest clients. Through learning from the trainers there and being surrounded by younger, more sprightly peers, Matsui said he’s discovered the importance of having an open mind.

Change can be tough for some people, he said, adding:

“They forget life is all about change. And if you don’t embrace it, you get old.”

Matsui is one of three 50-plus Lawrence residents the Journal-World interviewed who are embracing change through the study of a new discipline.

Living 50+ special section (02-16-20)

‘It keeps me young’

Jeff Matsui does a boxing workout at Thatchers’ Training Center on Feb. 14.

Matsui was 50 when he became a certified personal trainer in April of 2018. He worked for a year as the sole trainer at Planet Fitness — a job he said exposed him to a level of pressure he hadn’t felt in a long time. Matsui then obtained a certification in corrective exercise. Now, Matsui learns through practice six days a week at Thatchers’.

On Mondays, he does cardio and resistance training. On Tuesdays, he takes a goju-ryu karate class, followed by kickboxing in the evening. On Wednesday, it’s back to cardio. And that’s just half his week.

As Matsui learns about health and wellness through training at the center, his teachers are younger than him. It’s a new experience that Matsui doesn’t mind.

“It keeps me young. It keeps me locked in,” he said. “These guys are full of fire and they’re passionate about what they’re doing. It rubs off.”

What can be difficult, however, is being the oldest person in class. Matsui said he has had to learn not to use his age as an excuse.

“Their bar doesn’t have to be my bar,” he said of the younger clients. “I can use my bar to get even better.”

With this mindset, Matsui hopes to eventually start a personal training business, working with older clients.

“I can really add value to people who are beginners, who are older, who are scared about beginning,” he said. “It just takes a little bit every day.”

He hopes to empower older people to discover their strength — as he finds that same strength within himself.

Finding composure amid change

Bryan Grove creates bowls through basket weaving, an activity the former art teacher says helps keep him calm and fill his time.

Art calms Bryan Grove. And Grove, 76, has learned that as he and his wife grow older, finding soothing activities becomes increasingly more important.

“All the other issues that we have — physical issues — we just sit down, put that to one side, and get focused on something like this,” Grove said of he and his wife Marcy’s artistic endeavors. Marcy crochets. Grove weaves baskets.

In their apartment in Meadowlark Estates, Grove’s handmade quilts line the walls, and his woven baskets sit atop end tables, coffee tables … all types of tables.

Bryan Grove’s handwoven baskets are pictured on an end table and on the wall of his apartment on Feb. 12, in addition to a handmade quilt.

He learned how to weave baskets in the ’80s, and he taught the skill to his pupils for the later end of his 46-year career as an art teacher and professor. But he only dabbled in the trade — a few baskets here and there that he used as examples for his students.

When Grove moved to Lawrence in 2018, he committed himself more fully to the art form, and now has a collection of baskets, many with abstract designs and a few sunflower-themed baskets that sell quite well in a Cottonwood Falls gift shop that stocks his work.

Grove called the process of spinning yarn around thin rope to create baskets with intricate designs “therapeutic.”

“I think it’s important for the people here to find creative extracurricular living experiences,” Grove said of his peers in the retirement home. “Because it calms you. And the reward at the end is very emotional. You feel good about the work and about yourself.”

Bryan Grove displays some of his handwoven baskets in his apartment on Feb. 12.

Watching television gets boring, Grove said. Weaving baskets keeps him thinking. He laughed when his wife explained why such an activity is necessary.

“You know, it takes your concentration and therefore it takes your mind off what part of your body isn’t working,” Marcy said.

Many of Grove’s works are inspired by nature. He said it’s impossible to live in Kansas and not take note of it.

On Wednesday, light streamed in from recently opened blinds in the living room.

“It’s snowing out!” Grove exclaimed.

He gestured at a winter-inspired basket, blue with white icicles spiking down the side.

“Here, we’ll hold this one up and it will disappear,” he laughed.

‘We can still be adventurous’

Amy Berkley takes an adult ballet class at the Lawrence Arts Center on Monday, February 10, 2020.

Monday night, Amy Berkley flowed naturally from a plié to a dégagé, but not long ago, she was having trouble simply turning around in her car to check her blind spot.

The 55-year-old signed up for an adult ballet class at the Lawrence Arts Center after realizing she was becoming stiff and out of shape.

Berkley knew she would likely be one of the oldest members in the class, but that didn’t bother her. She’s comfortable putting herself out there, and the benefits have been marked.

“I definitely feel that after class I’m standing taller and pulling my core in,” she said.

Berkley is a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Kansas School of Nursing, and specializes in aging. Exercise is vital in aging well and healthily, she said, noting that recently, she recognized that she must apply this knowledge to herself.

Berkley had taken some jazz and modern dance classes in college. She wanted to take a beginner’s ballet class to learn the proper foundation of the dance form, and knew doing so with a class would be less lonely than learning from videos online.

With seven classmates, she practiced various combinations on the bar at the beginning of the class on Monday, a concentrated expression on her face.

Amy Berkley takes an adult ballet class at the Lawrence Arts Center on Monday, February 10, 2020.

Hanan Misko, dance school director for the Lawrence Arts Center and Monday’s fill-in instructor, told the students before class that he found their choice to enroll “honest,” a truly autonomous decision to do something for themselves.

He said in a follow-up interview that he is always inspired by the adult enrollees.

“I do find it very encouraging to know other adults who are maybe at a later stage than I who are doing new things,” the 32-year-old said. “It tells me there is something more to look forward to.

“Sometimes we forget or we don’t realize that we can still be adventurous. We can still try new things and grow. That isn’t something that’s only for our youth.”