Ratings

Why do ratings matter?

We want you to have fun and learn and grow in pickleball. Self-rating yourself too high, beyond your capability level, will not make pickleball fun for you or other members.

Playing pickleball with like-skilled players will allow everyone to be competitive and improve their play and enjoyment. When players’ skills are mismatched, it is frustrating for all players.

All EPC scheduled play is organized by player ratings so like-skilled players play with and against like-skilled players.

Player ratings at 2.0 and 2.5 are self-ratings. Learn to Play lessons are for beginners with little or no experience and only a rudimentary understanding of the game. Upon completion of Learn to Play, members will be helped to self-rate themselves as 2.0 or 2.5.

Players at 3.0, 3.5 and 4.0 must have a Club Rating or Tournament Rating to participate in club events at those levels.

Players at 4.5 and 5.0 must have a Tournament Rating.

Pickleball Canada website contains an excellent description of the skills you must master for each rating level.

Once your registration is accepted and your rating is confirmed, your rating will be changed on the Edmonton Pickleball Club Org database (this website), and in CourtReserve. You can check your skill rating in CourtReserve in My Profile.

How can I get a higher club rating?

EPC offers Ratings Clinics for members who want to challenge for a higher rating. The club will announce the dates and times for rating clinics as soon as they become available. These events are scheduled in CourtReserve. Registration is like other events except that it opens earlier than just 7 days ahead. Since registration for each event is limited to 8 members, they tend to fill within minutes, if not seconds.

There will be a nominal charge to the member for the player's initial Rating Clinic. The club partially subsidies the fee for a member's first Rating Clinic each year. Subsequent Ratings Clinics later in the same year are the choice and responsibility of the member.

PROVISIONAL RATING

The concept is purely our own and is not based on any recommendation or model from anyone or any organization.

PURPOSE:

Members at every level are capable of playing a level up but have not had the opportunity to get rated due to availability, schedule, cost, etc. The reason doesn’t matter. They are held back and it makes many members unhappy, them and the members they play against. Provisional rating provides an alternative to typical skills rating. It gives many members the opportunity to play at an appropriate level with minimum delay.

PROVISIONAL RATING – HOW IT WORKS

A member cannot put forth a request to the Board to be considered Provisional. Only other members can formally recommend it.
It takes two members to recommend another member as Provisional, on the basis that he/she would be competitive and do reasonably well compared to existing lower tier members of the level sought (all players).
At least one of the recommenders must be from the level sought.
If the second recommender is from the level just below, he/she must be recognized as a higher tier player at that level.
There’s no time limit for keeping a Provisional status.
The President or designate updates the CourtReserve Skills Rating accordingly.

That’s it. The recommended member now has a Provisional rating in CourtReserve and can register at that level.

At events, members with Provisional status will identify themselves by clearly adding a “P” in the far right of the box by their name on the Attendance List.
There’s also a caveat - the status will be revoked if the skills set and play of the Provisional member are reported as simply not up to par in a formal complaint. There’s no time limit for that.
The President or Ratings director would inform the player and move him/her back to his/her original rating level immediately.
If a Provisional member is moved back, the decision is final for the current year. There’s no appeal process, no discussion, no argument, no information shared.
Important - the formal recommendations for Provisional must be in writing, and so is the formal complaint by another member, of sub-par skills set and play by a Provisional player. See Documentation Process below.

DOCUMENTATION PROCESS and HANDLING:

To simplify tracking and filling of the documents, the only acceptable process is;

A member emails his/her recommendation to another member that will support him/her and cc the recommended player.
The subject of the email to be; “First Name Last Name for n.n Provisional”, clearly identifying who is recommended, and n.n being the level sought (example: 3.5)
The second member supports the recommendation, adds his/her comments to the email and forwards it to president@edmontonpickleballclub.org.
The email thread is filed in the President’s directory. Only Board members may have access to it.
The member’s skills rating in CourtReserve is changed to n.n. Provisional for easy traceability. The recommenders, rating and date are added to the Note field for easy cross reference.
A formal complaint (email) to president@edmontonpickleballclub.org about a specific Provisional player will be filed as above and kept confidential, and the skills rating in CourtReserve changed back to the previous setting.

DURATION:

The motion to allow Provisional Ratings stated that it would be reviewed and reaffirmed monthly. Basically, the Board can modify, pause, cancel or rescind Provisional Status if it doesn’t return the expected outcomes.

END

Registrants and Waitlisted Members to a Rating Clinic

If you are either registered or waitlisted in CourtReserve for a rating clinic with In-A-Pickle, or you simply want to prepare to eventually be rated, the following documents will help you understand the process.