A trailblazer in sports is defined as someone who does a particular thing before anyone else does. 

Lynette Whelpton, a Master's student in Advanced Data Analytics at UP-Tuks, is a trailblazer. Why, may you ask? Not many athletes can boast of being one of the first ever to medal in a new sport but Whelpton can.

Earlier this year at the 13th African Games, Whelpton and Bianca Auret won a silver medal in the pickleball women's doubles. Auret also won a bronze medal in women's singles. It was the first time South Africans had won medals at an international pickleball tournament and the first time South Africans competed internationally.

The first time pickleball was officially played in South Africa was in 2020. That year, there was only one club. Four years later, there are more than 40. Last year in the USA, the Sports and Fitness Industry Association listed pickleball as one of the fastest-growing sports. It is estimated that there are more than 4.8 million pickleball players in the USA.

The game was created in 1965 on Bainbridge Island, Washington, by Joel Pritchard. He and two of his friends, Barney McCallum and Bill Bell, are credited with devising the game and establishing the rules.

The New York Times comments that in a study done on pickleball, researchers found that compared to walking at a self-selected pace for half an hour, people who played doubles pickleball for half an hour had 14 per cent higher heart rates and burned 36 per cent more calories. The players had an average heart rate of 109 beats per minute.

According to Allan Rock of Pickleball South Africa, they are busy getting SASCOC to approve the sport as an official national sport. 

Whelpton is a self-acclaimed sports fanatic. She has played netball, action cricket, softball, and tennis to name a few. But now it is pickleball that she is fascinated about. The Tuks student trains at Munnies Pickleball Club in the Moot.

According to Whelpton, pickleball combines tennis, badminton and "ping-pong". 

"The court we play on is the same size as a badminton court. The net is two inches lower than that of a tennis court. We play with a slightly bigger paddle than a table tennis bat and a hard plastic ball, which is less bouncy and does not fly as fast through the air. It takes time to master playing most racquet sports. Not so with pickleball. 

"What I like about the sport is the rallies. When everyone is on form, having rallies lasting 15 shots is easy. The pros can play up to 20 shots in a rally. My best quality as a player is my volley. You will battle to get the ball past me when I am at the net. A tightly contested game can boil down to a chess match on the court."

Whelpton's next goal is to qualify for the 2024 World Pickleball Championships in November in Texas.