Pickleball is the fastest-growing sport in the U.S., with nearly 1 in 5 American adults playing in the past year. However, future growth isn’t guaranteed. UTR Sports, USA Pickleball, and the Association of Pickleball Players (APP) are partnering to ensure the sport’s continued success. These organizations aim to make pickleball even more accessible and enjoyable over the next decade.
During the Denver Metro Open Golden Ticket event, leaders from UTR, APP, and USA Pickleball discussed their partnership and emphasized the importance of a reliable global rating for pickleball’s growth.
Mark Leschly, UTR Sports CEO, on the UTR Pickleball Rating Advantage
When you create innovation, there’s opportunity – opportunity to grow and opportunity to partner with other great organizations. UTR Sports has seen this for years in tennis, where we got our start in creating world-class, accurate ratings.
And we’ve really seen the opportunity to partner in pickleball, where we’ve developed another world-class rating, the UTR Pickleball Rating. The rating was used at the Golden Ticket event in Denver and will be used at upcoming 2024 Biofreeze USA Pickleball National Championships, scheduled for Nov. 9-17 in Mesa, Arizona, as well as all USA Pickleball tournaments, leagues, and recreational activities.
With our accurate rating as well as league and tournament software, we’re partnering with the APP and USA Pickleball to grow the sport given the shared commitment to the proliferation of great experiences for players and providers.
In tennis, UTR Sports has incredible partners around the world, including Tennis Australia, Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer’s agency, Team8, Amazon, and Tennis Channel, among others.
Listen to Ken Herman, APP Tour Founder, Mark Leschly, CEO of UTR Sports, and Mike Nealy, CEO of USA Pickleball, discuss what new players will love about the UTR-P rating. They cover its accuracy and how this rating system helps players develop their skills and grow in the sport.
So why partner in pickleball? Because great organizations can complement each other’s strengths, and we, as others do, recognize when a partner can amplify our mission and our reach.
Ken Herrmann, APP Founder, on UTR-P Rating Accuracy
As the founder of APP, I wanted to work with UTR Sports to grow pickleball because I am a big believer in Mark Leschly. He has had a very clear vision and a very clear path.
I also am a big advocate of the UTR Pickleball Rating. The lack of a global standard accurate rating system has plagued our sport for years and is our single biggest blocker to quality competition.
The UTR Pickleball Rating is more accurate than our points-based system today, and improving our rating tools with the cutover to UTR-P is going to make sure that people get a great experience. By ensuring that they’re competing with other players and peers at the right level, we will only help continue to grow the love of the game.
The UTR Pickleball Rating makes that possible. It’s simple and easy to understand, especially if you’re one of the millions of new pickleball players in the world.
The rating works for a few reasons: First off, as we’re seeing the sport grow so much at the grassroots level, getting into the sport initially can be a little scary. Where do I play? Who am I supposed to play with?
Yet how to get started in pickleball is so well defined through the UTR-P Rating website. Then as players become more experienced, they can move over to a numerical rating and develop their game from there.
The UTR-P Rating is also very specific and accurate. You can really see where your growth is and how you’re moving forward with your UTR-P Rating. The initial questions that are asked of you when you fill out your player profile really get you in the right frame of mind to begin and to be able to move forward with a successful career or passion for the sport.
In addition, the UTR Pickleball Rating simply doesn’t allow for sandbagging. The Verified UTR-P Rating only takes in results from third-party providers, such as APP. Players are still encouraged to add in their “unverified” results, such as you and your friends playing at a local park.
But those results won’t affect your Verified UTR-P Rating. Whereas with other ratings, all of those results are mixed in together, which can compromise the accuracy of the rating.
The UTR Pickleball Rating is also a truly global rating, as there are UTR Sports users across the world adding in results from all kinds of events, including tournaments, local matchplay, club events, and more.
Mike Nealy, USA Pickleball CEO, on Supporting the UTR Rating System
The APP’s partnership with UTR Sports piqued my initial interest to talk to Mark Leschly, and it’s history now. We learned a lot, and we were really impressed with what was going to come our way, so we signed up.
Partnerships like this are key because, as the governing body of the sport, we needed and wanted a technology partner. We can’t do everything, just as we can’t run all of our Golden Ticket Qualifier Events that feed into the 2024 Biofreeze USA Pickleball National Championships.
We needed a technology partner with software that can run leagues and tournaments and support our mission of growing and supporting the sport. But the rating system is key to the game.
The featured image is courtesy of UTR Sports.
