Jyllian Whitworth will be exchanging one racket for another.

Jyllian Whitworth Signing Photo Gallery

After four years of high school tennis, the Mexico senior signed last Wednesday at the Mexico Sports Complex to play pickleball for NCAA Division II Drury University in Springfield. Whitworth was all-conference three times and all-district twice in tennis but also has a background in the growing sport of pickleball.

Whitworth said she expressed interest in pickleball and tennis during her application process to Drury. She said she has interest in the school to major in psychology, minor in communication and earn a certificate in wrongful convictions with the goal of becoming an art therapist and then was contacted by the program’s head coach Jarrod Smith, who led the program through its first season. 

“My grandma, Bonnie Tillman, she actually worked with me when I was seven or eight years old and we would just hit against the garage,” Whitworth said. “Then, she let me play with her pickleball team she plays with. I would go on break, and I would play with them all the time.”

Whitworth gives her grandmother a lot of credit in her development and her grandfather and Drury tennis alum, Charles Tillman, for helping her with tennis during high school. During the summer, Whitworth said she also took lessons with Missouri Military Academy head tennis coach Brad Smith and is grateful for that extra instruction.

Of course, Mexico girls tennis head coach Kim Costley and assistant coach Sarah Olson are on Whitworth’s list of gratitude in her journey to become Costley’s first college signing in her tenure. Costley said Whitworth has the character that will help her excel in any sport in college.

“Jyllian never backs down from a challenge,” Costley said. “She’s not shy. She’ll put herself in an uncomfortable situation to become a better player. I’m really proud of her pursuing this, something very different.”

Whitworth said has always embraced trying new sports as she played soccer for a while and also participated in dance and swimming before finding tennis. She said she played tennis with the Mexico community tennis association in the summer, and they played pickleball indoors in the winter.

“I played pickleball because it is like tennis, but it is a lot faster and shorter-paced so I found it more fun,” Whitworth said.

Drury is trying something new with its pickleball program as the non-NCAA co-ed program is the college’s 13th non-NCAA program but the first official pickleball program in the nation. Already, Drury won its first regional title and earned its bid to nationals, competing with club teams from schools such as Baylor, Texas A&M, Texas and Houston along the way.

Whitworth is excited for the opportunity to be part of a program during its infancy and part of the first of hopefully many national pickleball programs. She said she enjoyed her first practice with the team on a college visit in September that lasted three hours in windy conditions. Her broken wrist and having to play in a cast — sustained after falling down in Kirksville — did not spoil her enjoyment.

“Luckily, it was my left wrist that was broken, and I’m right-hand dominant,” Whitworth said with a grin. “(Drury coach Smith) talked to me afterward and asked if this was for sure where I wanted to go and said, ‘You understand this is going to be a lot of work? Pickleball’s fun, but it’s not going to be easy.’”

Whitworth said yes and was brought into the team in late November. She hasn’t shied away from work or a new challenge before. Instead, Whitworth can’t wait.

“While it may not have been tennis, I have reached my goal of being accepted and being signed to a sport that I will enjoy playing competitively in college to stay active and make friendships that will last a lifetime,” Whitworth said.