Pickleball is the fastest growing sport in the U.S. Recent research has shown that almost 1 in 5 American adults have played pickleball in the past 12 months.

But future growth isn’t guaranteed. That’s why three organizations from across the country are partnering together to promote the growth and development of America’s favorite new sport.

UTR Sports, a technology company which got its start in tennis; USA Pickleball, the national governing body for the sport in the U.S.; and the Association of Pickleball Players, which runs pro and amateur events, are working together to make sure that, in 10 years, pickleball continues to be an incredibly accessible and enjoyable sport.

Ahead of one of the most prestigious pickleball events of the year, scheduled for July 10-14 at the Marquardt-Miles Outdoor Pickleball Courts outside Denver, Colorado, the leaders of UTR Sports, the APP and USA Pickleball discussed their partnership and why an accurate and reliable global rating is key for pickleball’s next phase of growth.

Mark Leschly, CEO and Chairman of UTR Sports

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, which will be used at our upcoming Golden Ticket Qualifier Event in Colorado.

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, and Roger Federer’s agency, Team8, Amazon, and Tennis Channel among others.

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 Hermann, Founder and Head of International & Player Development at APP

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, CEO of USA Pickleball

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, scheduled for November 10-17, 2024, in Mesa, Arizona.

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.

There are a few different rating systems out there. We know of the success that UTR Sports had in tennis, and we knew what they were building. We felt that this was the future of the technology side, and we wanted to be on the front side of that.

And now we’re there. What I personally like about the UTR Pickleball Rating is the scale itself (1-10). It allows for a much more specific rating, and, of course, with a rating, accuracy is the most important aspect.

It’s also a rating for everyone: UTR Pickleball Rating has the Verified side, which cannot be manipulated in any way as only third-party results flow into that. So players competing in tournaments and USA Pickleball Golden Ticket Qualifier events, such as the Denver Metro Open Golden Ticket event, know that their rating is completely accurate. And the UTR Pickleball Rating has the Unverified side, which allows for the self-posting of scores from regular, everyday matchplay. So it’s really a rating for all pickleball players, just as USA Pickleball is the governing body for all pickleball in the U.S.

Mark Leschly

Together, UTR Sports, USA Pickleball, and APP are full-steam ahead on creating great experiences for players and providers throughout the pickleball world. In a way, forming the partnerships is the easy part; executing the partnerships is more difficult.

But it’s something we’ve done for years in tennis, and we’re super excited to be able to do the same for pickleball in a supportive and helpful way, including at the upcoming Golden Ticket Qualifier Event in Colorado.