One Sport, Two Standards: The Battle for Control of Pickleball

Six industry leaders convened at RacquetX in Miami for a discussion around the current fragmented state of regulation in the sport.

This past weekend, RacquetX took over the Miami Beach Convention Center in Miami, Florida. The conference brought together leading industry experts from around the globe to discuss topics related to all racquet sports.

One topic, in particular, caught my eye.

Pickleball at a Crossroads: Navigating the Wild West of Equipment, Standards, and Regulations

This panel took place on Sunday, March 23rd, from 11-11:45am on the Main Stage.

It involved six panelists:

Jason Aspes - President - United Pickleball Association of America (UPA-A)

Tom Barnes - Co-Owner & Director of R&D and LABS - Selkirk Sport

Nick Bicanic - CEO - Reload Pickleball

Rafael Filippini - Founder & CEO - Gearbox Sports

Gordon Kaye - Chief Experience Officer - JOOLA

Carl Schmits - Chief Technology Officer & Director of Manufacturing and Paddle Testing - USA Pickleball

Bicanic played the role of moderator, and there was a lively discussion for the full 45 minutes.

To see the entire 45 minute session, click here. Thanks to Today in Pickleball for posting the video to YouTube.

(p.s if you're new to the site feel welcome to use our employee discount "thedink" on Midwest Racquet Sports and even stack it on clearance items for extra savings)

Here are some snippets and select quotes of my biggest takeaways from the panel discussion.

Dueling governing bodies in the sport

The United Pickleball Association of America (UPA-A) was announced last year as "the global pickleball governing body under the United Pickleball Association to protect, grow and champion the sport at all levels."

This was a break away from USA Pickleball as the only national governing body.

In practice, the UPA-A governs play at the professional level while USAP sets the standards at the amateur and recreational levels.

Bicanic (Reload Pickleball and the moderator of the panel): "Do you feel there are two competing governing bodies in the sport, and why do you think that might be?"

Schmits (USAP): "The short answer is, there is only one national governing body (USA Pickleball). In general terms, we support the 20+ million players that are out there today."

Barnes (Selkirk): "It is clear to me, in my opinion, it’s (UPA-A) just the revenue stream. It’s a for-profit entity. It’s just there to make money, and it’s just there to assist the bottom line of the UPA and that calls into question extreme concerns for us." (p.s use code "inf-thedink" on Selkirk to get a free giftcard at checkout)

Filippini (Gearbox): "I don’t recognize two. I’ll be straight up with that. Because on the pro side, I think that they have their organization, and they can run and control the players as they want, and I completely respect that. But as a sport, I personally recognize the USAP as the organization that should lead the amateur side of the sport."

Kaye (JOOLA): "As a matter of principle, I don't have an issue with there being both a USAP standard and a UPA standard. I think we could argue about who’s a governing body and who’s not a governing body all day. I just don't fundamentally have an issue with the idea that there’s a pro standard and there’s a wider standard.

"I come from a background of professional sports. This is quite standard. In Major League Baseball, the Major League Baseball standard for bats is different than Minor League Baseball, it’s different than college baseball, it’s different than high school baseball. This is not uncommon for the space that we work in."

Confusion in the market and professional play versus amateur play

Moving on from the governing body conversation, Bicanic wanted to touch on pro play vs. amateur play. According to the UPA-A website, "The UPA-A was established to regulate the game of pickleball at the professional level."

One dichotomy came up more than once: If the paddle standards are different between the pros and amateurs – UPA-A allows for more grit (or spin potential) than USAP – why are UPA-A-certified paddles being sold to amateurs?

Bicanic: "How can we claim this is just about the professional game when in reality these paddles, as some people have already alluded to, will immediately make their way into the amateur hands?"

Kaye: "The reality is that a lot of people want to play with what the pros play with."

Bicanic: "By that logic, this standard is not about pro play, this is about selling paddles."

Aspes (UPA-A): "If the (UPA-A) limits were higher, if we allowed faster play, because everyone is after more power. We have brought the power down below USAP’s level. If it were higher, I would absolutely agree with that."

To add a little more context to the Aspes quote, Bicanic was saying that the UPA-A is not about really regulating the pro game, but more about selling paddles. Aspes' response was basically saying that because the UPA-A certification level is stricter than the USAP's, this cannot be the case.

Two different standards for certifying paddles

The UPA-A and USAP have two differing certification protocols, which can be confusing for amateur players and difficult for manufacturers to navigate.

Bicanic: "Carl, do you think these two types of standards (USAP and UPA-A) can coexist, or does one of them need to go away?"

Schmits: "I think they should merge, frankly. Having two standards or two specifications again, I will reiterate the fragmentation comment I made earlier. There's really no reason from a technical standpoint that we couldn't merge. They're very close."

Aspes: "I think we could easily get to the same standard because it’s not that big of a difference. Right now there are two standards because we (UPA-A) are only dealing with the pro game."

UPA-A structure and independence

The structure, independence, and for-profit status of the UPA-A has been called into question by Tom Barnes, of Selkirk, in several instances, including appearances on the Pickleball Studio podcast and the JohnKew podcast.

Bicanic: "The perception of USA Pickleball is that it is an independent organization. The perception of the UPA-A is that it’s not independent from the UPA. Could you comment on who owns and controls the UPA-A?"

Aspes: "From an ownership organization, we fall under the UPA. From an organizational standpoint, I don’t report to anybody, I report to the Board."

Barnes: "You don’t report to Connor (Pardoe, President of the UPA)?"

Aspes: "No, I do not."

Barnes: "That’s clearly not true, but you can say that."

Aspes: "Are you telling me I’m a liar?"

(This is where there was a little discourse and Bicancic brought the conversation back to the UPA-A structure and independence.)

Aspes: "I think that it's important that we are independent. I feel very good about the way we act internally."

"I recognize that we need to move towards an independence and being a non-profit, and I think that will bring a lot of confidence in the system. We are happy to move towards that. We said that we would do that this year, and we are actively taking steps to do so."

Multiple standards from manufacturer's perspective

JOOLA was the first manufacturer to receive the interim UPA-A certification and has paddles that are co-certified by both USA Pickleball and the UPA-A. Bicanic wanted to know Gordon Kaye's perspective on both paddle certification standards toward the end of the panel. (p.s use code "thedink10" to save 10% on Joola)

Bicanic: "Gordon (Kaye), as an organization that has chosen to release paddles to multiple different standards… would you prefer to only have one organization and one set of standards?"

Kaye: "I think everyone would. That’s the goal here: convergence. There's no question, as a manufacturer you want to manufacture only to one standard.

I think having one global standard is absolutely the right thing for everyone in this room. The preference is to have these two guys (Aspes and Schmits) work it out."

Bicanic: "Two men enter - one man leaves."

Kaye: "No, two men enter - twenty million people benefit."

The final word

Ultimately, it was Barnes who was given the last word.

Tom Barnes: "Our (Selkirk) major concern is twenty years from now. One goal of my brothers and I before die, is we want to see our paddles in the Olympics. We want to see pickleball in the Olympics, let's say. We cannot do that with the current fragmentation of standards.

"We don't want it to go in the ways of racquetball and be crushed via conflicts of interest and infighting and regulatory capture. We have to unify and go in one direction. That cannot happen if the bottom line of the investor and intention of the investor, is just to make money by whatever means necessary - that will crush our sport. That is an existential threat to our sport.

"The biggest threat is private interests putting the industry in the wrong direction. That is the biggest threat we face. Fragmentation of standards is one symptom of that."