Kelly Whipple will enter her second year with the UW-Whitewater bowling team in the 2022-23 season. Whipple had an outstanding showing her freshman year and earned the NTCA Division three National Rookie of the year award. 

Whipple started bowling when she was just 5 years old. In eighth grade Whipple joined her school’s travel team and realized her true love for the sport.

“I thought it was so cool to be part of a team,” Whipple said. “It was so rewarding and it became a very important part of my life.”

Whipple went on to compete in high school and even started to travel around the country to compete in individual tournaments. In her senior year on the Sheboygan co-op bowling squad Whipple secured the State Championship for her team with a strike in the ninth frame. 

In her initial college hunt Whipple did not know very much about UW-Whitewater until she was introduced to the school’s successful bowling program. 

“I knew they had a really good bowling team so it was perfect for me to at least tour,” Whipple said. “Once I stepped on campus for the tour I pretty much knew right away that this was the place for me.”

Whipple is the first person in her family to attend a university. She explained how her hard work and driven personality made it possible for her to accomplish her goal of going to college to make her family proud. 

“Something that makes me unique is my motivation and drive and the ability to sustain that motivation,” Whipple said. “Growing up I was never really surrounded by people who were necessarily motivated to better themselves in my family, so I wanted to be the first child to attend college and show that it is possible to accomplish crazy, cool things if you have the right motivation to do them.”

Despite the individual success that she has earned, Whipple is purely focused on the improvement of her team. She explained that although she often keeps to herself during practice, she is working to better her skills in hopes of being able to raise the level of the team overall. 

“My overall goal is to better the team just by being there and improving my skills,” Whipple said. “I don’t like to focus on myself individually, I would rather just have a good team and positively impact people on the team.”

Whipple described the one of a kind relationships she has been able to make on the Warhawk bowling team. She explained that the team’s chemistry is a huge factor in their overall success, and even helps the team members to create lifelong bonds. 

This season the young bowler hopes to build off her impressive rookie season and deliver another notable performance.