Welcome to the first Tournament newsletter of 2026.

With lots of information and changes occurring in the tournament space we will be sending out a bi-monthly newsletter to keep Tournament Organisers updated. Newsletters will be released after the bi-monthly TAG team meetings in February, April, June, August, October and December.

Should an immediate update be required an additional Newsletter update may be sent out in between these dates. So, you can easily access the newsletter, it will also be uploaded to the Tournament Management Resources located on Rev Sport.

It is important to read each newsletter update carefully to stay up to date with the latest requirements and changes. So, make that cup of tea or coffee, sit back and take your time to absorb all of the information at hand and as always please do not hesitate to reach out if you have any questions.

Over the Christmas /New Year break our wonderful Cath has decided to take a step back from being chair of the TAG. We would like to thank Cath for her dedication over the years to ensure Tournaments have been supported around the nation. We are also truly grateful that Cath has decided to remain on the TAG team, and we look forward to her continuing to share her knowledge and experience with the team.

This has also seen a restructure of the TAG to align with other PA advisory groups.  Where a PA staff and board member work with a group of advisory members from around the States. 

As our advisory group consists of 5 members with 4 of them being Queenslanders, we would love representatives from other States to have a voice on TAG. If you would like to be a part of TAG, please submit your interest in the following online google form by the 28 February 2026.

As of the 1st March 2026 the new Participants Code of Behaviour Policy (Events and Tournaments) will come into effect where players will face disciplinary action for repeatable offences.

Further information on the implementation of this policy including a new Tournament Director report will be sent out in the coming weeks. In preparation for this we request you familiarise yourself with the Behaviour Policy and if you have any questions please reach out.

A new editable pdf injury report has been uploaded to the tournament management resources. The injury report records the base requirements for any player wishing to complete an insurance claim and provides PA the evidence to verify claims. It is important that medics complete this report either electronically or on paper.

In the future the new TD tournament report will allow you to upload the report directly but, in the meantime, injury reports are to be emailed to tournaments@pickleballaus.org.

Please save the injury reports as the players surname and first name and the month year e.g. Gray Kerry Feb 26

In January the officiating committee sent out a new 2026 rules update to sanctioned tournament coordinators and directors. If you have not seen this recording, please take the time to view the recording. In the recording a few rules and questions related to the operation of tournaments were covered for us to further provide updates.

• 5th Tie Breaker rule – this has now been added to Pickleball Tournaments software, so you do not need to get out the calculator in those close ones!
  

• Line Marking – a reminder where possible all Pickleball court lines should be marked the same colour. If taping lines, the tape needs to be as close to 50mm as possible (most tapes are 48mm) – sometimes if the tape is not clear it can help to double tape. This way lines are clear and visible to players and referees.
  

• TD player expulsion – TD’s are able to remove a participant from a tournament for technical fouls and breaches in the behaviour policy. Further guidance on this will be coming out in correlation to the Behaviour Policy.
  

• The New GPF rules have further classified player eligibility to the two-bounce rule for wheelchair, adaptive standing and hybrid events. In the rules overview video, it talked about identification of the player for the opponents and officials. We will be working with the inclusion committee on guidelines for this but until then, it is recommended that in the briefing of these events players are instructed to specify before their match if they are using the two-bounce rule. If players prefer some identification, we recommend using a wrist band.

Click here for Rules Update Recording – you will need to login to Rev Sport to view

As of October 2025, the DUPR allowance period based on a players DUPR reliability has stopped. Players must now play in the DUPR bracket as at the close of registration for the tournament – there are no exceptions or allowances to this including accuracy rating, injury or that 0.01 difference.

Players who are self-rated incorrectly and do not have a DUPR rating yet and are being blocked from entry will need to contact Pickleball Tournaments to update their self-rating.

To help manage players requests and expectations we have included the following question in the User Defined section of Pickleball Australia template. If you are not using the template we recommend you include this in your User Defined questions.

I acknowledge that at the time of entering this tournament that my rating (DUPR), allows me to enter into the chosen skill level.

At the close of registration, should my rating no longer sit within the parameters of the event I have entered, the Tournament Director has the authority to move me into the appropriate event. 

Doubles pairs MUST enter into the skill rating of the highest rated player in the pair.

For Tournament Directors we recommend that on the close of registrations in the attendees section you complete an ‘update ALL Player ratings’ and download the ‘export player w/ events (flat file)’ report. This will provide you with a record of players DUPR ratings and event entries at close of registration.

It is great to see fun and alternative events, such as split age and hybrid events, where space and time allows. To ensure all non-core events remain fun and players' DUPR ratings are not impacted, results are not to be uploaded to DUPR.

Players can then support the events without worrying if it tanks their DUPR rating or alternatively entering it and smashing other players to increase their DUPR.

To ensure match results are not uploaded to DUPR for these events, in the event settings select the slider to No (grey) next to Results to DUPR.  We also recommend that this is noted in your event details and in the Subtitle of the event i.e. “Match results are not uploaded to DUPR.”  If you are adding a new tournament, we have already updated our templates to reflect these changes.

If you are offering these events and your registrations are already open and you would like to discuss this, please email tournaments@pickleballaus.org

As there is no DUPR rating for Skinny Singles, Pickleball Australia sanctioned events are to use the players doubles rating to rank players into appropriate events. We understand this is frustrating and we are working with Pickleball Tournaments to see if we can initially import players' doubles ratings into the self-rating area for Skinny Singles. Once this is done the Pickleball Tournaments will apply their rating scales based on match results.

Until then, we have added the below subtitle to the Skinny Singles in the PA templates. If you already have a file open or are not using the template, we recommend adding the below subtitle to all Skinny Single events: 

Player entry for this event will be based on a player’s doubles DUPR rating. To avoid being moved and missing out please enter the event based on your Doubles DUPR rating.

All sanctioned Tier 2 – 6 tournaments must offer AR events. This is  to be the highest bracket in an AR age / ability event (ie Open (Pro), U18, 19+, 35+, 50+ (senior Pro), 60+, 70+, Wheelchair, Para Standing Para, PWID).  Where possible the highest event must stand in each age group (even if it is merged with the bracket below - please see example below). If this is not possible due to limited registrations, then players must be notified prior to merging that AR points for their registered event will not be available. For example:

Example 1: 35+ Men’s Singles 3.5 – 3.9 has 9 registered, the 35+ Men’s Singles 4.0+ (AR) has 1 registered the merging of events to be 10 players in a 3.5+ (AR) event would preserve the AR event.

Example 2: 35+ Men’s Singles 4.0+ (AR) has 2 registered but the next event down is the 35+ Men’s Singles 2.99 and under with 4 registrations. The event therefore needs to be merged with the 19+ Men’s Singles 4.0+ (AR) with 3 registrations. In this case the 35+ registrants will need to be advised that they will not be eligible for 35+ AR ranking points.

If you have questions or would like to double check before merging events please reach out the tournaments advisory team.

With ever increasing online stores and manufacturers of paddles we are coming across players who are not aware they need to use an approved paddle at a PA sanctioned tournament. To help address this we have added the below question to the User Defined section in Pickleball Tournaments.

We also strongly recommend the Tournament Directors save the links to the UPA-A and USA paddle list on their web browser for quick and easy access should a paddle be challenged at your tournament.

APPROVED PADDLE UPA & USA

I acknowledge that I must use a UPA / USPA approved paddle to participate in this event. It is my responsibility to ensure that my paddle is on the UPA/USPA approved lists and should my paddle be challenged and found not to be approved any results I received in a match may be forfeited.

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

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

Please note: Temu paddles are not approved to use in sanctioned tournaments. 

The Paddle testing equipment is in transit and on its way to Australia, however once it reaches our shores there are still a number of factors such as training and management of the equipment that needs to occur so bear with us as the journey continues to evolve.

The TAG team is in the process of reviewing the sanctioning policies and processes in preparation for 2027 sanctioning applications.

If you have any feedback or suggestions regarding the tournament sanctioning policy or process, we would love for you to complete the Online Sanctioning Review Form.

We are continuing to evolve the new PA website and will be looking at adding additional tournament information over the coming months – last week saw the inclusion of the Player FAQ page – check it out and if you know of another question you are frequently asked please let us know and we can add to the page.

We recognise that the growing tournament demand currently outweighs the number of experienced Tournament Coordinators and Directors around the country. To help grow and develop our tournament coordination teams we are looking at creating and implementing a training and accreditation system. This would include simple online training modules, shadowing of experienced TC/TD’s and being shadowed by an experience TD.

If you are interested in having input and helping develop our training and accreditation system, please let us know. Alternatively, if you are a new TD/TC and would like to shadow an experienced TD please let us know as we have already had offers of coordinators willing to help out.

Keep an eye out in the future for  a TC/TD feedback form on Pickleball Tournaments. We are keen to get an understanding of the features you use in Pickleball tournaments, what you would like to see added (the wouldn’t it be great if…ideas) as well what you would like to learn more about.

We will then collate this information and work with Pickleball Tournaments to look at the key areas of development and training for Australian tournaments.

This year APC will be giving away golden tickets at all State Championships to the gold medal winners of AR events. This will provide the winner with free and reserved entry to the equivalent AR event at the APC. Check out this week’s PA newsletter for more information.

Each fortnight PA sends out a Newsletter to all members. We would love to include a tournament review article, good news article and a tournament update (helpful tip etc).

If you have an article or suggestion on a topic you would like to see included please email this in to tournaments@pickleballaus.org and where possible we will slot this in.

If you have been in your Pickleball Tournaments file over the last couple of days you may have noticed there are some new settings under events, this is so Pickleball Australia AR ranking points are calculated and displayed within Pickleball Tournaments.

In most situations the top setting ‘Count for Ranking Points’ will need to be set to No as only events that are the highest bracket in an AR age group/ability in Tier 2 - 6 tournaments should say yes and count towards AR Ranking points. Currently the default has been switched on to Yes but we have requested this be changed. Please check your events prior to finalising to ensure you have the correct selection.

The next three selections: Paraplegic (will be changed to Para Standing), Wheelchair and PWID events. These events can be ticked as appropriate when offering these events. If these events are AR events it is important that only one event is ticked. 

We will provide further information regarding event settings to cater for AR points once the Pickleball Tournaments team have completed the development.

Please see below information that was included in our last PA Newsletter.

The 2026 Australian Masters Cup (AMC) is gearing to be a must-do league this year for pickleballers all over Australia. With over 50 clubs registered to participate, this is certain to deliver bigger and better player engagement than the very successful 2025 season. Right now, clubs are feverishly creating their league files in pickleball.com, and promoting their club leagues amongst members, and interest is piquing across the country.

Many clubs and players are new to AMC in 2026, and getting across the ins-and-outs of registering and signing up for sessions can be challenging. That's why we've created a series of very handy player tools to help along the way.

First up players need to join their club's"virtual" platform in the pickleball.com site, this quick and easy guide helps to make this task simple and efficient.

Secondly, players then need to register for their club's AMC League, which has been created inside the virtual club.

With these 2 simple tasks completed, players will be ready and raring to go, starting off their campaign to be part of the 2026 Australian Masters Cup winning team. Are you and your club registered? Head to the pickleball Australia AMC webpage for more information and details

The 2026 Q2 Head Referee and general referee appointments have been made. To see these visit:https://www.revolutionise.com.au/pickleballaus/officiating-and-rules/2026-appointments

Additional referees can apply or be added but preference is given to those who submit their appointments prior to the cut-off date. Please ensure you advise any potential volunteer referees to apply well ahead of time.

The process for selection is for referees to nominate themselves quarterly approximately 3 months prior to the events. Q1 and Q2 are now set with Q3 nominations being called for in April with Q4 in July/Aug. The Head Referee should contact you 4 - 6 weeks before the event to discuss the specifics for your event. You can contact them earlier if you wish.

Each event has a WhatsApp group created by PA which you can be added into or join yourself. This allows you to communicate with the officiating team. If you have any questions regarding this process or the selection, please emailofficiating@pickleballaus.org

Thank you for taking the time to read through all the changes and updates within the Pickleball Tournaments sphere. If you have any questions or feedback do not hesitate to reach out to tournaments@pickleballaus.org 

Please remember to familiarise yourself with the new Rules and Behaviour Policy, provide feedback regarding the sanctioning policy/process and submit your application to become a TAG member!

We look forward to continuing to work with you throughout the year.

Kerry Gray & Tournament Advisory Group