By Joe James
What’s the Story?
The Association of Pickleball Players (APP) and PicklePlay have announced a partnership to enhance the experience for pickleball enthusiasts.
The collaboration aims to seamlessly connect players with various aspects of the sport, from finding local courts and clubs to discovering events and fellow players with compatible skill levels.
PicklePlay has over 150,000 users and is a valuable platform for the pickleball community.
Its in-app features allow users to organise events and use tools such as PicklePlay Scrambles. The partnership's direct benefit is that these will be integrated into APP Tour events.
Both have indicated that further benefits will be unveiled in the coming weeks and months in what is an exciting collaboration for the sport.
PicklePlay is a leader in the pickleball community with access to over 32,000 courts for its users as well as over 2,000 private groups.
In December, it was announced that UTR Sports, the creators of the world’s most accurate pickleball system, had acquired PicklePlay to further expand player engagement.
This alliance promises to make pickleball easier to engage with for players of all levels from anywhere.
The Recap
PicklePlay, the number one pickleball app and the Association of Pickleball Players (APP) have announced a partnership which is aimed at strengthening the experience and accessibility of pickleball for players.
PicklePlay has over 150,000 users and is a go-to for many players when finding fellow players with similar skill levels as well as local courts, clubs and events.
A benefit of the partnership is that PicklePlay Scrambles will be offered to players competing in APP Tour events around the country, which, according to the APP, will extend players’ court time during competitions.
Pickleball Scramble is a round-robin event where players play against and with each other.
Players sign up as individuals and play against and with every other player, with scrambles being offered for players of all ability levels.
In a recent announcement, PicklePlay explained that Pro members can run a round-robin or scramble ladder league within their club or group for a limited time until the release of their Club+ Membership.
In December 2024, UTR Sports acquired PicklePlay as part of a broader vision to create a seamless global network of pickleball players, organisers and events.
The aim is for all levels of abilities to find opponents and track progress with the option to participate socially, recreationally or competitively.
PicklePlay’s Founder, Blake Renaud, explained that this would allow for their plans to be accelerated this year.
UTR Sports is the official ratings, ranking and technology partner of USA Pickleball and the APP.
The World Pickleball Verdict
The new partnership between the APP and PicklePlay should be welcomed as an exciting deal that will continue to bypass the organisational complications of sport through successful user-friendly apps and allow players to focus on what matters: playing pickleball.
Having APP, the world’s first-ever pickleball tour, as a partner adds credibility to PicklePlay’s app.
Furthermore, being acquired by UTR last year only continues to highlight the usefulness of being able to access players, events, organisers and courts all in one place.
Often, a barrier to recreational sport in its most basic form is that people feel overwhelmed and put off by not being able to find a local club or players of their skill level. But, with this partnership, this conundrum is easier to solve, and as promised in the announcement, this should just be the beginning.
A focus on the scramble format is something for players to be excited about, especially given that it is being recognised and made available on APP tours.
Something like the scramble is where pickleball’s uniqueness shines through. There aren’t many sports, if any, with this amount of popularity that offers software, as well as the physical ability to take part in such a refreshing and fun round-robin tournament.
The collaboration of APP and PicklePlay can only be perceived as a benefit for every single pickleball player around the world.