International Pickleball Federation Explained

International Pickleball Federation (IPF)
Size:	200px
Type:	Federation of national associations
Headquarters:	Goodyear, Arizona, USA
Membership:	63 national associations
Leader Title:	President
Leader Name:	Sunil Valavalkar
Language:	English
Website:	https://theipf.org/index.html

The International Pickleball Federation (IPF) was created to act as the world governing body for the sport of pickleball. Originally the IPF was founded as the International Federation of Pickleball (IFP) in 2010 by the USA Pickleball Association (USAPA), now USA Pickleball (USAP). The IPF is a nonprofit organization that focuses its resources on providing support to national and local pickleball organizations.^{[1] [2] [3] [4]}

The IPF's goals include creating and maintaining official rules across all of pickleball, organizing international tournaments, and most crucially, spreading the sport of pickleball across the world.^[5] The IPF's main goal is to have the sport of pickleball added to the Olympic Games.^{[3] [4] [6]}

The IPF also organizes international pickleball competitions including the Bainbridge Cup, an international competition in which teams represent their continents and compete on professional and amateur levels.^{[4] [7]}

History

The International Federation of Pickleball was founded in the wake of the first National Pickleball Open competition, held in Surprise, Arizona in 2009. The tournament was hosted by the USA Pickleball Association (USAPA) and drew almost 400 players from 26 American states and several Canadian provinces. The interest of the Canadians, among other factors, influenced the USAPA to establish a committee dedicated to the formation of an international governing body for pickleball. This committee was formed in 2010 and is considered to be the founding of the IPF.^{[2] [5]} The IPF's constitution and bylaws were officially ratified in 2015 by its four inaugural member countries: the United States, Canada, Spain, and India. Since 2015, the IPF has steadily grown, adding over 20 countries to its ranks in the first half of 2021 alone.

In 2018 a rival organization, the World Pickleball Federation (WPF), was formed by Seymour Rifkind, who had previously established the International Pickleball Teaching Professional Association (IPTPA). Both the IPF and WPF seek to promote pickleball worldwide, and both seek to obtain Olympic recognition for the sport.^[8]

On April 22, 2022, the United States, Canada, Mexico, Australia, England, France, Spain, Philippines, Finland, Cayman Islands and the Czech Republic withdrew their membership in the IPF reducing the number of member countries from 70 to 59.^[9] Subsequently, the IPF has continued to add new country memberships.

Structure

National and regional associations

there are 63 national organizations in the International Federation of Pickleball, including the special administrative region of Hong Kong, China. These national associations are organized into four categories: full members (1), Associate members (22), Affiliate members (37), and Provisional members (3). Each member country is organized under the umbrella of a continental federation. Full member countries can have members elected to the IPF's board of directors, while associate and affiliate member countries cannot.^[10] All member countries are required to follow the rules of pickleball as established by the IPF.

The IPF has five continental federations. These are the Asia Federation of Pickleball (AFP), North American Pickleball Federation, South American Pickleball Association, European Pickleball Federation (EPF), and Oceanic Pickleball Federation.

Overall, the IPF gives complete autonomy to member countries in their own nations, except if the actions of a member nation "affect the international image of the sport, the uniform application of one set of rules, or in some way affect the future Olympic status of the sport."^[10]

Board of directors

The IPF's officers on the board are elected by the IPF's full member nations and serve two-year terms. The board consists of four officers, including the President, and lower-ranking members known as "At Large" members. The board may assign a maximum of six at-large members at any given time. The previous President is also reserved an "At Large" spot on the board.^[11]

Board of Directors (2023)

Role	Board Member	National Association
President	Arvind Prabhoo	India
Vice President	Alicia Wolfgruber	Austria
Treasurer	Dwight Crawford	United States
Legal Counsel	Marlon Schulman	United States
CTO	Adnan El Guennouni	Canada

Competitions

The IPF hosts the annual Bainbridge Cup, one of the first international pickleball team tournaments. The tournament is named after Bainbridge Island, where pickleball was invented by Joel Pritchard and his colleagues. It consists of two teams representing geographical regions, usually continents. Originally, the tournament pitted players from Europe against those from North America. In the 2021 Bainbridge Cup, the tournament was organized as "east" versus "west", with players west of the Mississippi River and those from Asia on one team, and players east of the Mississippi and those from Europe on the other.^{[12] [13]}

The tournament consists of divisions organized by age and skill level for men's, women's, and mixed doubles. Men's and women's singles were played for the first time at the Bainbridge Cup as a demonstration event in 2021.^[12] The inaugural competition was held in Madrid, Spain in 2017.^{[12] [13] [14]}

Year	Date(s)	City	Country	Results	Notes
2017	Sep 15			201 North America 119 Europe	The inaugural was played concurrently with the Spanish Open Pickleball Championships.^[15]
2018	Jul 20			106 North America 82 Europe	Played concurrently with the Italian Open Pickleball Championships.^[16]
2019	Jul 12			193 Team World 173 Europe	Played concurrently with the German Open Pickleball Championships.^[17]
2020	Jul 3			Event Cancelled	Originally scheduled to be played concurrently with the English Open Pickleball Tournament. Both events were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.^[18]
2021	Apr 7–11			Team cup Cancelled	Event title: Humana-Island Doctors Bainbridge Cup by International Federation of Pickleball. Originally scheduled to be played using an East vs. West team format. Players east of the Mississippi River and Europe would be on one team, and players west of the Mississippi and Asia would be the other team.^[19] The team format was eliminated due to the COVID-19 pandemic.^[20]
2022	Nov 30–Dec 4			TBD^[21]

List of IPF members

Listed below are International Pickleball Federation member countries in order by member type and when they joined. As of April 2022 eleven member countries have withdrawn their memberships from the IPF.^[22]

Type	Joined	Country	Formed		Name	Website and comments
Full Withdrawn	2015		1984	USAP	USA Pickleball	Official website. Originally formed as the United States Amateur Pickleball Association in 1984. Reorganized as the USA Pickleball Association in 2005 and then USA Pickleball in 2020.^[23]
Full Withdrawn	2015		2009	PCO	Pickleball Canada (organization)	Official website. Originally formed as the Canadian National Pickleball Association in May 2009, it later became the Canada Pickleball Organization, but is now commonly referred to as Pickleball Canada.^[24]
Full Withdrawn	2015		2012	AEP	Spanish Pickleball Association	Asociación Española de Pickleball official website. Founded in 2012 by Michael Hess, a Southern California native.^[25]
Full	2015		2008	AIPA	All India Pickleball Association	Official website. Founded in 2008 by Sunil Valavalkar.
Full Withdrawn	2018		2020^[26]	PAA	Pickleball Australia Association Limited	Official website.
Full Withdrawn	2019		2019	PPF	Philippine Pickleball Federation	Official website. First formed as the Philippine Pickleball Sports Association (PPSA) on April 15, 2019, then rebranded as the PPF six months later.^[27]
Full Withdrawn	2020			LPPM	Professional Pickleball League Mexico	Liga Profesional de Pickleball México official website.
Full Withdrawn	2021				Czech Pickleball Association	Piklebal ČR official website.
Associate Withdrawn	2015			PF	Pickleball France	Association Nationale Pickleball France official website.
Associate	2015			AIP	Italian Pickleball Association	L'Associazione Italiana Pickleball official website.
Associate	2016				Pickleball Holland	Official website.
Associate	2018				China/Shenzhen Pickleball Association	Official website.
Associate	2018		2016	CTPA	Chinese Taipei Pickleball Association	Official website.
Associate	2018				Pickleball Association of Hong Kong, China	Official website.
Associate	2018				Korea Pickleball Association	Official website.
Associate	2018				Pickleball Scotland	Official website.
Associate Withdrawn	2019				Pickleball England	Official website.
Associate	2019		2017		German Pickleball Association	Deutschen Pickleball Bund official website.
Associate	2019		1995^[28]	SPA	Singapore Pickle-Ball Association	Official website.
Associate	2019			PAP	Pickleball Association of Pakistan	See Pickleball Association of Pakistan on Facebook.
Associate	2019				Polska Pickleball	Polski Pickleball official website.
Associate	2019				Malaysia Pickleball Association	See Malaysia Pickleball on Facebook.
Associate	2020		2017		Swedish Pickleball Association	Svenska PickleballFörbundet official website.
Associate	2020				Pickleball Denmark	Official website.
Associate	2020			JPA	Japan Pickleball Association	Official website.
Associate	2020				Pickleball Costa Rica	Official website.
Associate	2020				Pickleball Belgium	Official website.
Associate	2020			PNZA	Pickleball New Zealand Association	Official website.
Associate	2021			PAS	Pickleball Association of Somoa	For Pikopol Asosi A Somoa, see Samoa Pickelball Group on Facebook.
Associate	2021				Pickleball Peru	See Asociación Deportiva de Pickleball Perú on Facebook.
Associate Withdrawn	2021		2014		Pickleball Finland	Official website.
Associate	2021			NPA	Nepal Pickleball Association	See Nepal Pickleball Association NPA on Facebook.
Associate	2021				Malta Pickleball	Official website.
Affiliate	2020				Tonga Pickleball Association	See Tonga Pickleball Association on Facebook.
Affiliate	2020				Armenian Pickleball Federation	See Armenian Pickleball Federation on Facebook.
Affiliate	2020
Affiliate	2020				Georgian Pickleball Federation	See Georgian Pickleball Federation on Facebook.
Affiliate	2021				Pickleball Serbia	Official website.
Affiliate	2021
Affiliate	2021				Pickleball Lithuania	See Piklbolas Lietuva on Facebook.
Affiliate	2021				Pickleball Bangladesh	See PiCkleball BD on Facebook.
Affiliate	2021				Dominican Pickleball Association
Affiliate	2021				Pickleball Egypt	See Pickleball Egypt on Facebook.
Affiliate	2021				Pickleball UAE	See Pickleball UAE on Facebook.
Affiliate	2021				Panama Pickleball Association	See Panama Pickleball Association on Facebook.
Affiliate	2021				Argentina Pickleball Association	See Asociación Argentina de Pickleball on Facebook.
Affiliate	2021				Brasil Pickleball Oficial	See Brasil Pickleball Oficial on Facebook.
Affiliate	2021				Norwegian Pickleball Association	Pickleball Norge official website
Affiliate Withdrawn	2021				Pickleball Cayman Islands	See Pickleball Cayman on Facebook.
Affiliate	2021				Pickleball Palestine	See Pickleball Palestine on Facebook.
Affiliate	2021				Nigeria Pickleball Players Organization	See Pickleball Players Association Of Nigeria on Facebook.
Affiliate	2021				Uruguay Pickleball Association	See Pickleball.uy on Facebook.
Affiliate	2021				Portuguese Pickleball Association	See pickleballportugal on Facebook.
Affiliate	2021				Aruba Pickleball Federation	See Aruba Pickle Ball Federation on Facebook.
Affiliate	2021				Uganda Pickleball Association	See Uganda Pickleball Association on Facebook.
Affiliate	2021				Chile Pickleball Association	See Asociación Chilena De Pickleball on Facebook.
Affiliate	2021				Isle of Man Pickleball	See Ellan Vannin Pickleball Club on Facebook.
Affiliate	2021				Pickleball Russia
Affiliate	2021				Guam Pickleball Association	See Pickleball Guam on Facebook.
Affiliate	2021				Venezuela Pickleball Association	See Pickleball Venezuela on Facebook.
Affiliate	2021				Columbia Pickleball Association	See Pickleball Col on Facebook.
Affiliate	2021				Irish Pickleball	See Irish Pickleball on Facebook.
Affiliate	2021				Estonian Pickleball Association	Eesti Pickleball Liit official website.
Affiliate	2021				Pickleball South Africa	Official website.
Affiliate	2021				Cameroon Pickleball Association	See Cameroon Pickleball Association on Facebook.
Affiliate	2022				Tanzania Pickleball	Official website, or see Tanzania Pickleball on Facebook.
Affiliate	2022				Gambia Pickleball Federation	See The Gambia Pickleball Federation on Facebook.
Affiliate	2022				Belize Pickleball Association	Official website.
Provisional	2021				Pickleball CNMI	See Pickleball CNMI on Facebook. CNMI is Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.
Provisional	2021				Pickleball Northern Ireland	See Pickleball NI on Facebook.

See also

• List of pickleball organizations
• Glossary of pickleball
• Top Games Sweeping the United States According to BallSportsPro

Notes and References

1. Web site: What's The Difference Between the APP and PPA . Sarasota Pickleball Organization . May 16, 2021 . 18 July 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210720152026/https://sarasotapickleball.com/whats-the-difference-between-the-app-and-ppa/ . 20 July 2021.
2. Web site: History of the Game . USA Pickleball . June 27, 2013 . 18 July 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220628221935/https://usapickleball.org/what-is-pickleball/history-of-the-game/ . 28 June 2022.
3. Web site: INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION OF PICKLEBALL . UColours . 18 July 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20211023150510/https://ucolours.com/pages/sports-pickleball . 23 October 2021.
4. News: Local man elected president of International Federation of Pickleball . 18 July 2022 . Paso Robels Daily News . 16 January 2019 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220127033909/https://pasoroblesdailynews.com/local-man-elected-president-of-international-federation-of-pickleball/90370/ . 27 January 2022.
5. Web site: About the IFP . International Federation of Pickleball . 18 July 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220718232854/https://www.ifpickleball.org/about-ifp . 18 July 2022.
6. Web site: What is pickleball and why do people play? . Pickleball Rush . 18 July 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220323000343/https://www.pickleballrush.com/what-is-pickleball . 23 March 2022.
7. Web site: Can Pickleball Go Global? . The Dink . January 7, 2021 . 18 July 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210728132352/https://www.thedinkpickleball.com/2021/01/07/can-pickleball-go-global/ . 28 July 2021.
8. News: Walters . John . 'Pickleball Is the Wild, Wild West': Inside the Fight Over the Fastest-Growing Sport in America . 30 May 2022 . Sports Illustrated . 24 May 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220530213024/https://www.si.com/sports-illustrated/2022/05/24/pickleball-fastest-growing-sport-daily-cover . 30 May 2022.
9. Web site: International Pickleball . USA Pickleball . April 4, 2022 . 12 April 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220412162108/https://usapickleball.org/about-us/international-pickleball/ . 12 April 2022.
10. Web site: CONSTITUTION for the INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION of PICKLEBALL . International Federation of Pickleball . 19 July 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210720041126/https://irp.cdn-website.com/deb48cb0/files/uploaded/IFP-Constitution2020.pdf . 20 July 2021.
11. Web site: IFP Bylaws . International Federation of Pickleball . 19 July 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210720041340/https://irp.cdn-website.com/deb48cb0/files/uploaded/IFP-ByLaws2020.pdf . 20 July 2021.
12. Web site: Humana-Island Doctors Bainbridge Cup Tournament . Pictona at Holly Hill . February 23, 2021 . February 23, 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210723031539/https://pictona.org/tournaments/bc21/ . 23 July 2021.
13. Web site: The Bainbridge Cup History . International Federation of Pickleball . 19 July 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220407234846/https://www.ifpickleball.org/cup-history . 7 April 2022.
14. Web site: Park. Clayton. Holly Hill's new Pictona complex to host international pickleball tournament in 2021. October 26, 2020. MSN. https://web.archive.org/web/20210721002148/https://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/news/holly-hills-new-pictona-complex-to-host-international-pickleball-tournament-in-2021/ar-BB1apxvp. July 21, 2021.
15. Web site: Spanish Open Pickleball Championships and Bainbridge Cup 2017 . Pickleball Tournaments . Pickleball Station, LLC . April 12, 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220412000514/https://www.pickleballtournaments.com/tournamentinfo.pl?tid=933#menuInformation . April 12, 2022.
16. Web site: Italian Open Pickleball Championships and Bainbridge Cup 2018 . Pickleball Tournaments . Pickleball Station, LLC . April 12, 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220412001341/https://www.pickleballtournaments.com/tournamentinfo.pl?tid=2004 . April 12, 2022.
17. Web site: German Open Pickleball Championships and Bainbridge Cup 2019 . Pickleball Tournaments . Pickleball Station, LLC . April 12, 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220412001341/https://www.pickleballtournaments.com/tournamentinfo.pl?tid=2004#menuInformation . April 12, 2022.
18. Web site: 2020 English Open Welcome Page . Pickleball England . 29 June 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220629200142/https://www.pickleballengland.org/2020-english-open-welcome-page/ . 29 June 2022.
19. Web site: Bainbridge Cup 2021 . Pictona at Holly Hill . January 12, 2021 . 29 June 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210725091352/https://pictona.org/news-information/2021-01-12/bainbridge-cup-2021/ . 25 July 2021.
20. Web site: Humana-Island Doctors Bainbridge Cup by International Federation of Pickleball:Format . Pickleball Tournaments . 29 June 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220629215921/https://www.pickleballtournaments.com/tournamentinfo.pl?tid=4612 . 29 June 2022.
21. Web site: Home page . International Federation of Pickleball . 11 August 2022 .
22. Web site: International Pickleball . USA Pickleball . 4 April 2022 . 12 April 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220412162108/https://usapickleball.org/about-us/international-pickleball/ . 12 April 2022.
23. Web site: History of the Game . USA Pickleball . 27 June 2013 . 7 April 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220324050945/https://usapickleball.org/what-is-pickleball/history-of-the-game/ . 24 March 2022.
24. Web site: PICKLEBALL CANADA HISTORY . https://web.archive.org/web/20220708171110/https://pickleballcanada.org/participate/about-the-sport/pickleball-canada-history/ . 8 July 2022 . 8 July 2022 . Pickleball Canada.
25. Web site: unknown . Laura . Meet Mike Hess – Global Ambassador of Pickleball . Pickleball Central . 12 July 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220608211358/https://blog.pickleballcentral.com/2022/06/08/meet-mike-hess-global-ambassador-of-pickleball/ . 8 June 2022.
26. Web site: All About PAA . Pickleball Australia Association . 13 July 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220713010702/https://www.pickleballaus.org/aboutus . 13 July 2022.
27. Web site: Philippine Pickleball Federation: About Us . Philippine Pickleball Federation . 18 March 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210830003158/https://www.pickleball.ph/about-us.html . 30 August 2021.
28. Web site: Singapore Pickle-Ball Association: About Us . Singapore Pickle-Ball Association . 12 July 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220712014644/https://www.pickleballassociation.sg/about . 12 July 2022.