IPTPA-endorsed clinic at the Ocean Reef Club with instructors Seymour Rifkind, Kyle Yates, Simone Jardim
Descriptions and self-rates much higher than the person’ s true pickleball skill justifies. This issue will only magnify as our sport continues to grow.
As the leading pickleball teaching professional organization, IPTPA is in a unique position to help clarify and create consistency in assessing the proper skill rating for the non‐tournament player. Our instructors teach and evaluate players’ strengths and weaknesses every day across the country. Creating a consistent methodology to measure a player’ s skill throughout his / her development and implementing that procedure accurately will assure the pickleball community that a 3.0 player who has been rated by an IPTPA-certified rating specialist( CRS) in Florida is of like skill to a 3.0 player in California or New York. This program is directed at players who have not participated in USAPA-sanctioned tournaments and therefore DO NOT have an USAPA rating. Below are some of the immediate benefits this program will address:
1. IPTPA-endorsed clinics that attract players from different states or regions will have an easier time placing players in like-skilled groups when a non-tournament player has a skill rating that has been assessed by an IPTPA-certified rating specialist( CRS).
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2. Non-tournament players who travel and are looking for a game or group of like-skilled players can be confident of each other’ s skill level if they and the group of players they are joining have been given a rating by an IPTPAcertified rating specialist.
3. Clubs that are currently developing leagues with players who do not have an USAPA rating will have a resource to turn to for getting their participants an accurate skill rating.
4. As more non-tournament players have a comfort level that their current skill has been accurately assessed through an IPTPA rating specialist, they will be more willing to enter an USAPA-sanctioned tournament. They can be confident in entering the correct skill division.
In an effort to solve the current rating dilemma among non‐tournament players, IPTPA has developed a curriculum for IPTPA CRS. All current 4.5 and higher Certified Pickleball Teaching Professionals will automatically be eligible for the additional CRS( Certified Rating Specialist) designation after passing a written exam and familiarizing themselves with our three-part skill assessment protocol.
Any prospective 4.5 or higher USAPA player interested in becoming a Certified Rating Specialist should visit the IPTPA website for guidelines on how to become certified or contact rif @ iptpa. com. You do not need to be a Certified Pickleball Teaching Professional to be eligible for the CRS designation. •
JANUARY / FEBRUARY 2017 | MAGAZINE 49