The sport of pickleball is becoming increasingly popular in the entire world, which is evident from the rapidly changing statistics. The number of players both amateur-enthusiasts and professionals are expected to rise exponentially in the coming years. Pocket-friendly and standard equipment for play, well curated courts, non-discriminatory guiding governance with an underlying philosophy of “no country left behind” will be a key to the bright future of the sport of pickleball.

Since its inception, The International Pickleball Federation (IPF) is rapidly working towards the goal of making it an Olympic sport. This document is a major step towards it. The initiative of IPF in conceiving this document is to develop and deploy unanimous equipment standards manual for pickleball community across the globe. Many regions in the world have starkly different microclimates. It’s a scientifically well-established fact that the mechanical and viscoelastic properties of polymeric materials and composites are sensitive to climatic conditions and it has certain effect on performance of sports equipment made out of these materials. Taking into consideration this factor, it is important to set equipment standards which will match diverse microclimates across the globe and meet expectation of all the countries. In this context, we at IPF believe that it is important to modify standards and test parameters that were established in past taking into consideration climatic conditions of only one geographic region / continent.

One of the primary goals of IPF is to ensure that equipment manufactured for pickleball sport meets specifications and playing characteristics that strengthen the sport, provide consistent performance, and foster fair competition both in the market and on the court. This document describes the specifications to guide companies that are involved in the manufacturing / trading / marketing of pickleball equipment who seek certification of their products for usage in IPF sanctioned official tournaments, with those qualifying bearing the ‘IPF Approved’ seal.

The 2023 Equipment Standards Manual is available as a PDF below.

Equipment Standards Manual