FROM THE USAPA
USAPA Unveils New Membership
Package
BY JUSTIN MALOOF
Not only has the sport of pickleball continued its meteoric rise in overall popularity, 2016 was a tremendous growth year for USAPA. Membership increased a whopping 63 % last year and is now over 17,000 members. While 63 % growth is an impressive number, last year was certainly not an anomaly. Since 2013, USAPA membership has increased 325 %!
Given the exponential growth, some may say,“ Don’ t tinker with success.” However, we are constantly evaluating and looking for ways to make improvements where possible. Over the past year, we turned our attention to our membership program. In mid-December, we launched the new member software, giving members an instant, fully automated registration process, 24 / 7 access to member profiles and other significant upgrades. With the new system in place, we are now ready to implement phase two— a new, simplified member package. Typically, the announcement of a new member package is synonymous with a rate hike. However, I’ m happy to report that USAPA’ s new member package will actually include rate reductions for 1-year, 3-year and 5-year members!
Yes, you read that right … a rate reduction. Under the new program, set for launch on February 1, one-year USAPA memberships and renewals for all members will be $ 20! Multi‐year members will enjoy a three-year membership for only $ 54 and five-year memberships will be reduced to only $ 90. Lifetime memberships however will be increasing to $ 500. Members spoke and we listened! We’ ve heard the member t-shirts were nice but not a deciding factor. Tournament players were also looking for a reduced, no-benefits“ tournament membership” similar to other sports. While a tournament membership will not be offered, for only $ 20, USAPA players
can register for as many sanctioned tournaments as they want and receive full member benefits.
USAPA Member Benefits as of February 1:
• FREE E-mailed Copies of Pickleball Magazine( 6 per year)
• 50 % Discount( Off Cover Price) of Mailed Subscription of Pickleball Magazine
• $ 10 Discount on USAPA Net System
• Seasonal Discounts on USAPA Merchandise
• USAPA e-Newsletter( 6 per year)
• Member Discounts( hotels, rental cars, restaurants, pickleball retailers)
• USAPA Rating for All Sanctioned Tournaments( coming in 2017)
• Secondary Medical Insurance for USAPA-Sanctioned Tournaments
• Printable USAPA Membership Card
• Member Access to New“ Look-Up” on USAPA Website
• Member Access to New“ Partner Search” on USAPA Website
• Member Access to New“ Referee Trainer Guide” on USAPA Website
• Member Access to New“ Referee Handbook” on USAPA Website
In addition to the above package, members will also have the option to upgrade and add items during their online registration. Members will be able to add a men’ s or women’ s USAPA impact pullover, USAPA hat or visor and / or a hard copy subscription to Pickleball Magazine. Again, these upgrades will be optional but will reflect a member discount. We hope the reduced, simplified membership makes joining USAPA easier and will enable us to continue our exponential growth! •
6 TO SUBSCRIBE CALL 724.942.0940 OR GO TO THEPICKLEBALLMAG. COM