Frequently Asked Questions

  • As our initiative grows and more schools want to participate, our costs increase. We are accepting donations for our non-profit and links can be found at the bottom of each page.

    We would also love to hear from you at info@uhspa.org if you'd like to volunteer your time reffing or helping staff at meets, or if you are a company wanting to partner with us.

  • A club is an organization within a particular school consisting of a group of youth who get together and play pickleball. They can be any level and of any experience. Anyone is invited to participate. The Club is overseen by a student advisor under the direction of a faculty advisor or parent advisor. Clubs should practice together every week and may use GroupMe to communicate. See the “Start a Club” page for more information.

    A team, on the other hand, is a competitive group of youth chosen from your club at tryouts to represent your school at a competition. For the 2025-2026 UHSPA season, a team is comprised of 8 players (4 males and 4 females) for each weekly meet. Coaches may choose to rotate different players from their club into their team at any time at their discretion. To register a Team for the League, click here.

  • Yes! Feeder Jr High and Middle School students will be able to try out for a High School team if they live in the boundaries of a School that has a Club. It is your responsibility to  contact that High School and find out about tryouts/club practices etc., or to help your High School form a Club.

  • No. You are welcome to submit a team for the UHSPA meets and State Tournament only AFTER forming a club at your school following the “Start a Club” process. Each team must represent a High School, and each High School must have a Club formed in order to compete in the meets and tournament.

  • Yes. You may try out for the High School in whose boundaries you live in. There is no minimum age requirement by UHSPA at this time.

  • Homeschooled youth are eligible to participate in the High School whose boundaries they live in. No exceptions. Please contact your local high school to see if they have formed a Club so you can participate.

  • No, sorry. This is by High School boundary only. Please grow your club and invite new friends to play so your school can participate.

  • UHSPA may allow a large club two teams only in the circumstance where there is an odd number of teams, and you have enough players to fill two teams without needing to forfeit. Please email us at info@uhspa.org if you would like to be put on the waitlist for a second team.

  • Please go to the “Start a Club” page to get details on how to start a pickleball club in your school.

  • We can only take teams that have an adult advisor. Part of the UHSPA initiative is to get pickleball sanctioned. In order to do this, we want to help schools get clubs set up at their high schools. A school advisor (teacher) is recommended, or parent volunteer. Please see the “Start a Club” page for more information.

  • UHSPA is collaborating with many indoor pickleball facilities to secure highly discounted court rates for students to have team practices after school. Please reach out to your local indoor club and ask if they offer a discount. You can also contact info@uhspa.org and we will let you know which Clubs are available close to you.

  • The State Tournament is for your high school team, consisting of 8 people (a Boys team, a Girls team, and two Mixed doubles teams) that will compete together in “meets” for eight weeks. At the end of the 8 weeks, the bottom ranked teams will play in our Division II State Tournament. The top ranked teams will play in our Division I State Tournament.

    The Individual State Tournaments will be held separately, and schools will choose their best male and female to compete in singles, their best boy and girl to compete in mixed doubles, and their two best boys and girls to compete in gender doubles. Guidelines and dates to submit names for the Individual State Tournament will be given at a later date.

  • Please contact us at info@uhspa.org and we can give you some ideas of how to help grow youth pickleball in Utah schools.

  • A school can bring 5 girls and 5 boys to a meet.

    Players will play in one event in each match. (Boys doubles, Girls doubles, Mixed 1 or Mixed 2) Players are not allowed to play in more than one event. This allows more team members to participate and encourages unity within the team. 

    In the second match of your meet against the second school, players may switch to a different event if desired. You can also play the girl and boy who didn’t play in the first match on the second one. Coaches can bring the same 8 (or 10) players every week, or rotate them with other players from the club.

  • Yes. if your coach wants to add new players after submitting the original roster on 10/15/25, he may email the roster information to info@uhspa.org. New team players cannot compete for 7 days while their information is being processed and verified. To compete in the State Championships, a student must have competed in at least two meets. 

  • As pickleball is growing in schools, it is helpful to have some kind of measuring tool. DUPR ratings are used in local leagues and tournaments as well as collegiate and pro pickleball events, and so it is only natural that we would use it in the High Schools as well. 

    We ask that each High School forms a Digital DUPR Club (link found here), which will help coaches rank their players from practice games and tryouts and know which players should make the team. The more that coaches use their Digital DUPR Club, the more accurate player's scores will become.

    Some higher level students are concerned about the new DUPR algorithm. UHSPA met with DUPR about this and were told that DUPR is developing a "DUPR Genie" tool that will let you put the players in and it will show the expected score for the match. It is important to understand that matches between teams that have more than a 1 point DUPR difference will not be calculated. As a general guide, a 0.5 rating difference often translates to a score around 11-5. You can click on this article which answers more questions.

Additional questions? Contact us.

info@uhspa.org

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