Pickleball Competition: tournaments and match analysis

Competition baseline, ratings and DUPR

In simple words

Before you play for a medal, you need to know where you stand. A rating is a number that helps put you in a group of players at your level. Your own match numbers show what to practise.

Before this course: Pickleball Skills: dinks, drops and doubles strategy (course 10.2.2), which builds on Pickleball Fundamentals (course 10.2). This course assumes you can dink with control, hit a third-shot drop, block and reset, understand doubles scoring (0-0-2) and positions, and you already film and tally your errors. If any of that feels shaky, go back to course 10.2.2 first.

Key facts

In Canada, Pickleball Canada uses DUPR (Dynamic Universal Pickleball Rating) as its official rating system for all sanctioned events. If you play in another country, check which rating your national pickleball body uses (see In your country in Lesson 2). Club-run tournaments are not required to use it, but it is recommended (Pickleball Canada).
Pickleball Canada's older rating, the CTPR, was permanently discontinued as of November 2025 and was not transferred to DUPR. Ratings are built only from matches recorded in DUPR going forward (Pickleball Canada).
Players need to play DUPR events consistently, because how recent a match is matters to the rating. A player without an active rating shows as non-rated (NR) (Pickleball Canada).
Pickleball Canada members are registered in DUPR at signup. To send results to DUPR, the player's DUPR account must be linked to their pickleball.com account, and the player turns DUPR sharing on (Pickleball Canada).
A rating is a guide to find fair matches, not a measure of your worth. If you think your rating is wrong, ask for a review through DUPR's Player help centre.
Your own competition baseline is a set of numbers you count yourself:

Baseline number	How to count	Example goal
Serves in	Serves in / serves hit x 100	90 percent
Returns deep	Returns landing past the kitchen / returns hit	8 out of 10
Third-shot drops in the kitchen	Drops landing in the kitchen / drops hit	6 out of 10
Unforced errors per game	Misses on balls you had time to hit	Fewer than last game
Kitchen faults per game	Count them	Zero

Step by step

Check whether you have a DUPR account. If you are a Pickleball Canada member, you are registered at signup (check your account; names can differ by version).
Read the DUPR link steps on Pickleball Canada's DUPR FAQ page.
Play or film one full game with permission from the other players.
Count the five baseline numbers in the table.
Choose the one number that would help most and write one goal for it.
Write down your DUPR rating (or NR) and the date, to compare later.
Check: you have five numbers, one goal and a dated rating note.

Watch it

LESSON 01Competition baseline, ratings and DUPR

LESSON 01 / ANIMATED LESSON / AI VOICE00:00 / 01:00

Voice

Read the video script

[Host] "Before competition, know where you stand."
[Text on screen: DUPR] "Pickleball Canada uses DUPR as its official rating for sanctioned events."
[Text on screen: Not rated is NR] "No recent matches in DUPR? You show as non-rated."
[Screen: baseline table] "Count your serves in, deep returns, drops in the kitchen, unforced errors and kitchen faults."
[Host] "A rating finds fair matches. Your own numbers tell you what to train."

Try it now

Film one full game (with permission) and count your five baseline numbers. Write one goal and note your DUPR rating or NR with today's date.

ClaudeStuck? Copy a ready-made prompt for Claude

Copy this, open Claude, paste it, and Claude will walk you through the lesson step by step.

For a grown-up: Claude is for adults (18+). Copy this, paste it into Claude, and use the answer to explain the lesson to your child.

I'm learning "Pickleball Competition: tournaments and match analysis" on The Future Market. Lesson 1: "Competition baseline, ratings and DUPR".

What the lesson teaches:
- In Canada, Pickleball Canada uses DUPR (Dynamic Universal Pickleball Rating) as its official rating system for all sanctioned events. If you play in another country, check which rating your national pickleball body uses (see In your country in Lesson 2). Club-run tournaments are not required to use it, but it is recommended (Pickleball Canada).
- Pickleball Canada's older rating, the CTPR, was permanently discontinued as of November 2025 and was not transferred to DUPR. Ratings are built only from matches recorded in DUPR going forward (Pickleball Canada).
- Players need to play DUPR events consistently, because how recent a match is matters to the rating. A player without an active rating shows as non-rated (NR) (Pickleball Canada).
- Pickleball Canada members are registered in DUPR at signup. To send results to DUPR, the player's DUPR account must be linked to their pickleball.com account, and the player turns DUPR sharing on (Pickleball Canada).
- A rating is a guide to find fair matches, not a measure of your worth. If you think your rating is wrong, ask for a review through DUPR's Player help centre.
- Your own competition baseline is a set of numbers you count yourself:
- Baseline number - How to count - Example goal

The exercise I'm working on:
Film one full game (with permission) and count your five baseline numbers. Write one goal and note your DUPR rating or NR with today's date.

I'm stuck. Please:
1. Explain the main idea in plain, simple words with one everyday example.
2. Walk me through the exercise one small step at a time. Ask me what I've done so far before giving the next step.
3. Don't just give me the final answer. Help me do it myself, and check my work when I share it.
4. This is for learning only. Remind me to check with a licensed professional before I make a real decision about my own money, health or legal situation.

I'm a parent helping my child (about 8 years old) with a lesson called "Competition baseline, ratings and DUPR" from the course "Pickleball Competition: tournaments and match analysis".

Here's what the lesson says:
Before you play for a medal, you need to know where you stand. A rating is a number that helps put you in a group of players at your level. Your own match numbers show what to practise. Before this course: Pickleball Skills: dinks, drops and doubles strategy (course 10.2.2), which builds on Pickleball Fundamentals (course 10.2). This course assumes you can dink with control, hit a third-shot drop, block and reset, understand doubles scoring (0-0-2) and positions, and you already film and tally your errors. If any of that feels shaky, go back to course 10.2.2 first.

The activity:
Film one full game (with permission) and count your five baseline numbers. Write one goal and note your DUPR rating or NR with today's date.

Please explain this so an 8-year-old understands: short sentences, a fun everyday example, and no hard words.
Then give me 3 simple questions I can ask my child to check they understood, and a way to do the activity together, one tiny step at a time.
Keep it general and educational. This is not advice for a real situation.

Open Claude

Sources

Pickleball Canada, DUPR FAQ: pickleballcanada.org/play-and-learn/tournaments/
Pickleball Canada, Official pickleball rules: pickleballcanada.org/play-and-learn/official-pickleball-rules/

My notes

I learned this