Major League Pickleball (MLP) and Dynamic Universal Pickleball Rating (DUPR) are expanding into organized collegiate and junior pickleball verticals.
According to a press release, the initiative will help both organizations "align with key partners in both the collegiate and youth sports spaces" to launch an organized competition model.
The aim is to create a model for competitive play that utilizes MLP's structure, format, rules, and governance alongside DUPR's rating system for seeding and player selection.
It's no surprise to see MLP step into the youth and collegiate pickleball arena. Competitor pro leagues Association of Pickleball Professionals and Professional Pickleball Association already have their APP Next Gen and PPA Futures events.
It's even less of a surprise that MLP and DUPR teamed up to do it. The two organizations have worked together before, and DUPR runs its own college-focused event, the Collegiate National Championships (where rising star Collin Schick got his high-level pickleball start last November).
No word yet on whether the DUPR Collegiate National Championships will be a co-branded event in the future.
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More info on the partnership
More information from the joint press release:
"These efforts were recently launched as MLP / DUPR owned and operated the first ever individual National Championship for Collegiate Club Pickleball – with over 20 schools participating – last month in Fort Worth, Texas.
"The DUPR Club Team National Championships are scheduled to take place in November in Peachtree Corners, Georgia.
“Part of our long term strategic view has been to integrate junior and college pickleball into our existing ratings and competition structure,” said Steve Kuhn, Major League Pickleball and DUPR Founder.
“We are excited to announce our commitment to these two new verticals, our first step towards connecting the entire pickleball pathway under one organization.”
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