By Matt Stout
Staff Writer

From left, Pembroke’s Roger Roy, Concord’s Dick Croak, Bow’s Bruce Bruen and Barnstead’s Bob Nuccetilli all play out of the Racquet Club of Concord and competed in the Granite State Senior Games on Sunday, Aug. 6. (Hooksett Banner/Matt Stout)

There’s a lot that connects the four of them.

All members of the Racquet Club of Concord, Bow’s Bruce Bruen, Pembroke’s Roger Roy, Concord’s Dick Croak and Barnstead’s Bob Nuccitelli trade points and volleys at least three times a week.

They share age brackets ­ Roy and Nuccitelli are both 70, Croak is 71 and Bruen is 62 ­ and after pairing up for the doubles tournament, Croak with Roy and Bruen with Nuccitelli, they shared experiences at the 19th annual Granite State Senior Games on Sunday, Aug. 6.

They also know how to share a good chuckle.

Standing outside the Allard Center in Goffstown following their matches, the foursome laughed off what was an otherwise tough day at the courts ­ the Croak-Roy tandem fell 8-2 in the 70- to 74-year-old semifinals while Bruen and Nuccitelli dropped a 6-0, 6-0 match in the 60-to-64 finals.

“I got a couple lobs in,” said Bruen, a first-year Senior Games participant.

“Hey, I got two on the back line,” quipped Roy, in his second Senior Games.

No, they weren’t there for the medals or any records. For four friends, it was another chance to play tennis, just as they have the last few years, pairing up and off in a rotation of doubles and singles matches at the club in Concord.

“There was a group there originally,” said Nuccitelli, a member of seven years, “and I don’t know if they lost players or what, but I came in and then Roger came in and then Bruce and Dick came in. So we rotate around all week.”

For Bruen, a South Carolina transplant who picked up tennis 16 years ago, it’s given him a chance to meet people. Never one to gladly take up a round of golf ­ “I could never concede five hours out of the day,” he said ­ Bruen joined the racquet club in the spring of 2004 and has enjoyed every minute of it.

Already there were Nuccitelli, who proposed the idea of playing in the Senior Games, and Roy, who signed up to the club five years ago.

After Croak, an avid track athlete who’s run in the Senior Games for the last 17 years but is only playing tennis for the second year, joined the group, the four enrolled into a crowd that sometimes balloons 10 to 12 players.

It’s made for some good tennis ­ and a few friendships.

“If you really want to be memorable,” Croak said, perking everyone’s ears as he prepared to lay down a story.

“Four months ago ...” He paused for effect. “We won a game.”

Again, the group burst out in laughter, as someone jokingly sang out, “Ooooh, memorieees ...”

And again, they were connecting.