At the Top of Her Game

BY LAUREN FILIPPINI (ALPHA CHI, BUTLER UNIVERSITY), MARKETING AND COMMUNICATIONS MANAGER

Nine medals at the US Open Pickleball Championships.

Four medals at the USA Pickleball National Championships.

Two championship wins at the Huntsman World Senior Games.

Sylvia Herreras Whitehouse (Epsilon Kappa, California State University, Fullerton) is a pickleball powerhouse. She’s won the top titles in the senior (50+) age group in the nation’s most prestigious tournaments for amateur players and recently advanced to the pro level. She has a sponsorship with Selkirk Sport. A certified instructor, Sylvia shares her mastery of the sport as a teaching pro.

And a decade ago, she had never even picked up a pickleball paddle.

“Someone I played tennis with wanted to try pickleball, and I said, ‘Oh that sounds so weird,’” Sylvia says. “Finally, I just tried it and fell in love with it. And I’ve really accomplished a lot considering I never played a college sport.”

FROM NOVICE TO MEDALIST

Pickleball has been sweeping the nation the last few years, but for those who haven’t hit a “dink shot” or tried to avoid “the kitchen” to return a volley, here’s a quick primer.

Combining elements of tennis, badminton and ping pong, the sport is played on a court in either a singles or doubles format. One player serves the ball (similar

to a wiffle ball) across the court with their paddle, and a rally begins, with players attempting to return the ball over the center net so that their opponents miss or hit it out of bounds. More technically, the ball must bounce one time on each side after the serve, it cannot bounce twice throughout the rally, and it must bounce once if it’s within 7 feet of the net (in the non-volley zone or “the kitchen). Points are scored after every rally, regardless of the serving team, and most nontournament games are scored to 11, win by 2.

While the sport of pickleball began back in 1965, it saw a surge in popularity in 2020 as people looked for outdoor activities they could safely play during the COVID-19 pandemic. Sylvia had been playing for a few years by then, having made the switch from tennis after she realized she could likely play pickleball for longer.

“I thought that this is something I could do later in my years just because in tennis, the courts are a lot bigger and you have to move a lot more. In pickleball, the court is shorter and smaller, and if anything, you have to take three steps to the kitchen line,” she explains.

Sylvia says that as soon as she started playing, she “wanted to be the best” but found it challenging to build her skills because there were so few dedicated pickleball courts to play on. Putting hundreds of miles on her car traveling across Florida to play, she improved her skills while being part of the growth of the sport. “I just really focused because this is something I fell in love with,” she says.

As her skills progressed, Sylvia took her competitive spirit to the tournament circuit and started a winning streak for herself. She looks back laughing on her first tournament win: “The first tournament I played in, I was so disappointed because they gave you a pin instead of a medal. So to be honest, I went online and bought myself a gold medal because I was so excited,” she recalls.

“I love to be able to teach what I love and to help people get better,” Sylvia says. “I know how it’s helped me to feel better about myself, to meet new people.”

Even at her advanced skill level, Sylvia tries to get in some games just for fun – though she says that can be a challenge! “It’s hard for me to play [recreationally] because I’ve played tournaments so much and I always want to go out there and win, so it’s hard for me to turn off that button,” she says. “And then what happens when I play? They don’t hit to me!”

WHAT’S NEXT –FOR SYLVIA AND THE SPORT

Sylvia plans to retire from competition soon, citing 10 years of the mental and physical toll that she’s experienced playing at the highest levels, as well as the cost and travel of competitions. “Now I feel I can rest on my laurels. I’ve worked really hard,” she says. She also plans to continue teaching.

Sylvia is excited to see the growth the sport and hopes the momentum continues while still keeping its roots in fun, friends and fitness. “Right now, it’s becoming too commercialized. It used to be like a local store, a small mom-and-pop shop, and it’s becoming like a Costco. … I hope it doesn’t lose that,” she says.

For anyone interested in trying pickleball for the first time, Sylvia has some advice on the next page to get started. She also points out that, with the boom of the sport, many towns have free or low-cost courts to try it out. And if there isn’t a court near you, make it happen! She says, “If their town doesn’t have courts, they need to lobby for courts – dedicated courts or painting lines on the tennis courts.” Sylvia says it was a grassroots effort by many passionate pickleball players to get as many courts as the country has today.

Whether she’s competing, playing for fun or teaching, Sylvia is in it for the love of the game. One of her favorite moments, in the early morning hours before tournaments, is hearing the distinctive sound of the pickleball hitting the paddle. “It’s music to my ears,” she says. “I hear that sound, and it makes me excited. It’s joyous.”