Guys & Gals
G
By STEVEN ABLONDI and CINDY BURNS
WWW . MEMEL . GLOBAL
Girls and guys didn ’ t play many sports together in the suburbs of America in the 1950s and ‘ 60s . Each had their own games . Totally separate in grammar school , some mixed tennis doubles in high school , and much later , rounds of golf . Things change . Today in America , men and women share the court and the game of pickleball in equal measure .
Throughout South Africa , it is still like those long-ago decades . Boys play soccer , girls netball . In the traditional Zulu hinterlands where we live in South Africa , the sexes don ’ t even integrate socially . Females are in the kitchen while males are served their food and drink . Even at a party they sit on opposite sides of a room . They never touch in public .
Until now . In this small rural village , a revolution is taking place . And it ’ s all because of pickleball . Of the half dozen women who play daily , five are black , working class ; one is Muslim ; the rest deeply Christian . Four are single moms raising wonderful children who are known to us . Realistically , without pickleball , only one might otherwise play sports or exercise .
Every one of them has pitched in physically as we have built or renovated courts . Some are still learning . Most are already talented players . They are winners — locally in recreational play , and on the road competitively . Women are pure equals with men in every sense of the word .
Once the sexes started to play together , they began to see each other differently . They laugh together , give each other high fives . They tap paddles after a good shot . They cheer each other on . Now our small workforce is made of men and women doing the same jobs , using the same tools .
That ’ s why there is more than one reason why Miss Nomakhosi is called “ The Hammer .” •
The Hammer — joy and gender equality in South Africa .
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JULY / AUGUST 2024 | MAGAZINE 73