WIPA Initiative to Help Women in Professional Pickleball Thrive

Friday, November 4, 2022

Senior pickleball pro player Rachel Hong, professional WNBA Sparks basketball player Chiney Ogwumike and WNBA agent & Founder of Disrupt the Game, Allison Galer come together to form WIPA.

WIPA, Women's International Pickleball Association was created to ensure that women get equal pay, equal opportunities with sponsorships, adequate prize money, as well as access to other personal and professional resources to any female pickle athletes that belong to the organization.

“As females, oftentimes choosing to pursue a career as a professional athlete comes at the cost of putting off your education, launching a career, and delaying starting a family,” she said in a statement. “With pickleball being so new combined with the fact that females are generally underrepresented when it comes to sponsorships, I am so grateful to have the WIPA working behind the scenes to make it more feasible for us to choose pickleball as a career.” said pro player Lee Whitwell.

WIPA will also be organizing the first-ever World Tour exclusively for women. The organization also plans to provide critical benefits to players during and after their playing careers.

We think that organizations like WIPA will help advocate for player conditions as more top dogs continue to come in and invest in the professional tours and organizations at the forefront of the sport. This is a necessary entity to make sure all parties stay in check. This is the beginning to becoming a recognized sport throughout the country, the continent and the world. We only hope that an organization develops to help all players succeed as the pickleball market becomes crazier and more advantageous by the day. Hats off to the women at WIPA paving the way for female athletes in pickleball.

Photo: Chiney Ogwumike and Allison Galer To read original article click here: WIPA Article