The UPA-A is cracking down on fashions which are grittier than testing requirements permit. Manufacturers whose paddles fail will face escalating fines and different penalties. Repeat offenders could possibly be faraway from the Permitted Paddle Checklist completely.
Since new rules went into impact on September 1 of this yr, all paddles used on the skilled stage are held to a better efficiency customary for energy and spin.
And but, practically two months later, some fashions wielded by professionals are failing on-site testing, producing extra spin than they’re allowed by the brand new letter of the legislation.
The consequence: They’re promptly faraway from play. If the issue persists, says a brand new edict launched by the United Pickleball Affiliation of America, fines approaching $50,000 could possibly be subsequent.
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So paddles handed testing, now they’re failing?
For a paddle for use at PPA or MLP occasions, it should seem on the UPA Licensed Paddle Checklist. Full cease. No exceptions.
This implies it is gone via the UPA-A’s new testing protocols and been assigned a singular mannequin quantity, an alphanumeric code between three and 10 characters used all through the certification and compliance ecosystem, permitting the lab to trace, confirm, and implement requirements extra effectively.
It additionally permits for extra seamless on-site testing at occasions.
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The brand new Go-No-Go Machine weighs simply 12 kilos and may check a paddle in beneath 60 seconds, enabling fast and intuitive on-site paddle testing at 1000’s of occasions nationwide.
The mannequin quantity is the important thing to enforcement and accountability. As soon as a paddle is licensed and carrying a mannequin quantity, the UPA-A says, it is locked in from future tweaks and modifications.
Producers are testifying that any paddle carrying that very same Mannequin Quantity is equivalent in building, supplies, and efficiency to the unique model of the paddle which was licensed with the distinctive Mannequin Quantity.
The system is designed to make sure the identical fashions that handed preliminary testing are those being performed on skilled courts thereafter.
That, we have realized, has not all the time been the case. The system is working.
How are paddles failing onsite testing?
In a phrase: spin.
The aim of the UPA-A’s certification protocol is to make sure that all paddles stay compliant “all through their lifecycle within the market.”
However already, paddles throughout a handful of manufacturers have examined exterior the allowable threshold for spin, regardless of crusing via preliminary testing.
Now, the UPA-A is taking them out of circulation primarily based on two standards.
- Floor roughness studying exceeds 25% of the studying of the paddle(s) initially submitted for UPA-A Certification
- Paddle floor displays a special materials composition or end than what was initially submitted and permitted throughout certification
UPA-A wouldn’t name-drop particular manufacturers, however confirmed to The Dink it has been six separate producers to this point.
New UPA-A paddle guidelines went into impact 9/1/25. We now have confiscated and examined a variety of paddles from onsite testing and are working with manufacturers to make sure they continue to be eligible for play. Particulars of how we implement and proceed beneath. https://t.co/0th9fS1Ub4
— United Pickleball Affiliation (@UnitedPBAssoc) October 20, 2025
What is the UPA-A doing about it?
Quarterly starting in January 2026, the UPA-A will embark on a brand new Paddle Compliance Protocol.
This is the way it’ll work:
- Every quarter, three manufacturers will likely be chosen at random (manufacturers won’t be chosen greater than as soon as per yr)
- One mannequin will likely be chosen from every model primarily based on prior testing outcomes, onsite information collected, and “participant and group suggestions”
- The UPA-A will then buy 5 paddles of the chosen mannequin from quite a lot of impartial retail channels – direct from the model, on-line distributors, retail shops, and so forth.
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Many high professionals are left questioning whether or not they can play their very own paddles. All of it comes right down to the UPA-A’s new certification requirements, and the way paddle manufacturers selected to play the sport.
If two or extra of the 5 paddles fail subsequent testing, the producer will likely be despatched a Discover of Non-Compliance. Fines and de-listing may additionally consequence, primarily based on a Penalty Schedule, which the UPA-A launched on October 20.
For the rest of 2025, a primary offense will include a $1,000 positive whereas penalties for a number of offenses may attain $10,000 and include the specter of suspension from the permitted paddle listing.
Starting in 2026, issues escalate considerably: “A 3rd violation will set off an investigation the place penalties may quantity to suspensions, elimination from certification listing, and/or extra fines.”
The positive quantity: As much as $50,000.
