USA Pickleball Announces Ratings Improvement Project
USA Pickelball’s Chief Operating Officer, Justin Maloof recently announced the formation of a new diverse team to review and explore improvements to the current USA Pickleball player rating system. A player rating is intended to be a numerical figure that best represents the skill level of the particular player. It is currently used primarily for tournament seeding.
In an effort to further evaluate the current Universal Tournament Pickleball Rating (UTPR) system and move beyond the initial goals and objectives of the UTPR system, USA Pickleball is committed to working with our partner, Pickleballtournaments.com in exploring additional improvements in both functionality and performance of the current system. Moving from essentially self-ratings to the first ELO-based system for the sport was a major first step. We understand the current system is not perfect and the goal of this new task force is to take a deep dive into the current ratings program and address the issues expressed by USAP members who play in tournaments and tournament directors who use the ratings for seeding. We want a player rating system that addresses many, if not most, of the phase one limitations and work toward a more complete system so our members have more confidence and a better understanding of the current system.
The Team members are:
Tim Dellinger, Data Scientist, competitive pickleball player and referee
David Koller, Computer Scientist and competitive pickleball player
Marilyn Holladay, Ratings Administrative Specialist
Paul Porch, USA Pickleball ratings consultant
Jim Kloss, USA Pickleball Ambassador and competitive pickleball player
Karen Parrish, USA Pickleball Managing Director of Competition
Mark Peifer, USA Pickleball Director of Officiating and Chairman, USA Pickleball Rules Committee
The team is expected to make their recommendations to the USA Pickleball Board of Directors on or before January 31, 2022. The recommendations will include a ranked order of features needed to improve the existing USA Pickleball player rating system.
The Team’s charter is available at this link: CLICK HERE
