It is already the end of April and it has been a busy start with 26 Tournaments / League events taking place so far this year and we are only ramping it up with over 100 sanctioned tournaments still to come in 2026.

As always there are some important updates coming to you in this newsletter but also some helpful tips to make running your tournaments easier.

Happy reading and if you have any questions or suggestions for the newsletter, please email these through to tournaments@pickleballaus.org

If a child's account was created in Pickleball Tournaments before the new parent-managed system in Pickleball Tournaments it must be linked to a parent account before May 1st 2026. Minor accounts that are not linked after the 1st May will no longer be accessible.

For further information on how to link a Minor account please click on the following link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvm3DiEQ5dw

Note: As Pickleball Tournaments is an American Software app a minor is considered to be anyone under the age of 17.

A reminder the Participant Code of Behaviour Policy was released on the 1st March 2026 and there are some new sanctioning requirements tournaments must adhere to.

For further information on tournament requirements and resources please refer to the Participant Code of Behaviour Policy Tournament Implementation Guide.

Reminder all injury reports must now be completed using the injury report form. This is the minimum information required for us to verify player insurance claims.

We strongly recommend that the link to this editable PDF or a printed copy is provided for medics to complete should there be any injuries at your tournaments.

Many of you may have seen the exciting update release from DUPR. The DUPR App now shows performance ratings including;mixed doubles ratings, age-based ratings and career high ratings.

These new features are exciting for players who want to further understand their event ratings. For further information on this update please refer to the DUPR blog: https://www.dupr.com/post/new-dupr-features-to-help-you-understand-your-game

Please note: although these stats are now available on the App they are not integrated into tournament software. The current Singles and Doubles DUPR ratings will still be used for event entries and ratings. The Doubles DUPR rating will be used to determine your event entry into Gender Doubles, Mixed Doubles and Skinny Singles events and your Singles rating will be used for Singles events.

It was great to have the paddle testing at the NSW Champs over the last weekend and we appreciate the team working with us as we streamline the process. Paddle Testing is now being overseen by our new Projects officer Michael Massih and he will be working with tournaments on implementing testing at Tier 3 and above tournaments this year. The machine being used is the Go-No-Go machine. If you are a Tier 3 and above event and would like to discuss the paddle testing with Michael please email him on michael.massih@pickleballaus.org

Approved Paddles - a reminder players must use paddles that appear on the UPA-A or USA approved paddles list at PA Sanctioned Tournaments. Please keep in mind paddles are added and removed off this list frequently so it is important that you check at the time of the tournament. We recommend that you add the below websites to your browser bookmarks for easy access during a tournament.

https://upaa.unitedpickleball.com/approved-paddles/

https://equipment.usapickleball.org/paddle-list/

Note: To ensure fair play and maintain clear, consistent equipment standards, UPA-A has established a defined limit on the allowable level of gloss, or reflectivity, on paddles. Please take note of this new rule, which will go into effect on April 30, 2026.

On the 8th April PA covered a Tournament Webinar for clubs as part of their Club Webinar Schedule. The webinar covered a large amount of base information for tournaments. The slideshow used for this webinar can be found in the tournament management resource page. 

The information provided in this slideshow will be the base for the future TC/TD Training and Accreditation programme.

If you are using player result entry and auto allocating courts you may come across a situation where you want to start a new event bracket but you have a final match to go on your allocated courts once the semi finishes. If you start the bracket and fill empty courts the system will allocate the new games to the finals court as soon as the semi final is finished leaving you with nowhere to play the finals. Below is an easy fix to stop this happening.

1. Before starting the new event click on the Hamburger and select Manage Location Courts from the Menu.

2. Find the court you want to play the final on. Click on the Aqua box below UT . Add an approx time frame i.e 30min/1hr that the court is unavailable for - this will allow you to assign the final but the system will not autofill the new bracket to the court. Note this does not need to be the length of the finals game but more the time required to assign the final to that court.
   
   

3. Start your new event bracket and fill courts - this will leave your finals court free but auto allocated games to all other assigned courts.

4. When the Semi-final is finished, manually assign the final to the court that you have set aside. 

5. Once the final is finished you should be able to click on fill empty courts and the system will auto allocate the new games to this court.

Note: If using Planner you will need to generate your planner again after this change for it to take the changes into account.

Many tournaments will send out their start times to players but forget that providing start times for spectators is equally important. There are two places spectators can look for start times. If possible we recommend updating both places once you send out start times. 

1. Once you have set and sent out start times to players go to the Edit Tourney: Basic Info screen. Scroll down and turn on Post Start Times Now (image 1), Save. This will activate the Start times on the Public Details page (Image 2).
   
   
   

2. The other place to edit and show start times is in the events themselves. This is best done after you have updated the start times but before you verify the events. Go to the events tab and at the top of the page click on edit list (image 1). Once the list comes up select Show Time in each event, then click save. This will update the date and time for each event in the public events tab.
   .......................

Please note how to find start times for spectators will be a Tournament Tip in an upcoming newsletter so players and spectators can use these tools to get to your events on time.

In each Pickleball Australia Members Newsletter we will be aiming to include a section on Tournament Updates/wrap ups and Tournament Tips for participants. This weeks tip is finding PA Sanction Tournaments - using the PA Website and Pickleballtournaments.com

Other topics coming up will include;

• Having the correct paddle - USA and UPA-A approved padded

• Finding Start Times and Who is on Court as a Spectator

• Wearing the Correct Gear

• AR Ranking Points - What are they and how do I earn them?

• Text Messaging and Player Result Entry

If you have other suggestions you would like to see in PA Newsletters please let us know and we will schedule these in. Below is a copy of this week's Tournament Tip.

Are you keen to enter a tournament but not sure how to find a PA sanctioned tournament near you? 

Check out the recently updated 2026 Pickleball Australia Sanctioned Tournament webpage. On this page is a list of all 2026 PA sanctioned tournaments which provide direct links to the tournament registration files on Pickleballtournaments.com

The great news is you can now search for key events ( i.e. <2.99 or hybrid events) or specific towns or locations (i.e. Sydney or New South Wales). Please note events are listed for tournaments where their registration file is open - so check back regularly to see if there are any updates.

Alternatively if you are on Pickleballtournaments.com you can search for sanctioned events by using the Sanctioned Filter. In the Find a Tournament screen look for the sanctioned icon below the search bar, click on this and select Pickleball Australia. This will narrow your search from the thousands of events around the world to only those events being held in Australia. 

Now that you have saved time searching for tournaments you can spend more time on the court preparing for them!

If you have specific tournament tips you would like included in the newsletter please email tournaments@pickleballaus.org to let us know.

Happy Pickling!

A reminder if you are not already a member of the PA Sanctioned Tournaments WhatsApp group make sure you join. This is a place where we post out any urgent notifications and for you to ask questions and share information amongst fellow TC/TD’s.

That is a wrap for April’s Newsletter - keep up the great work with tournaments and as always if you have any questions or feedback please do not hesitate to contact the tournament team via tournaments@pickleballaus.org

Kerry Gray & Tournament Advisory Group