Regional Pickleball Organizations: An Overview

You know the PPA Tour. You know MLP. You know APP. But there are also pickleball organizations that keep things local.

As the sport’s popularity increases, local organizations have sprouted up across the country to govern pickleball on a more localized scale to more fully address regional-specific concerns and opportunities, providing players with resources, local connections and an informal, but organized, structure for pickleball tournaments hosted at local and regional levels.USA Pickleball Regional Associations

USA Pickleball Regional Associations

As the largest pickleball governing body in the country, USA Pickleball (USAP) is responsible for organizing large-scale tournaments as well as local events, which includes creating a governing body for each region across the U.S. USAP currently splits the country into 12 regions, with each region responsible for organizing pickleball tournaments ranging from local events to regional championships. Each regional organization provides resources to local players as well. Some regions contain as few as two states (the West is made up of Hawaii and California, while the Mountain region has Utah and Nevada). The Great Plains region, meanwhile, oversees the sport in seven states (Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Colorado, and Wyoming). The regional governing bodies provide Pickleballers informative resources available in their state, including but not excluded to finding courts, discovering tournaments, clarifying USAP rules, and/or connecting with local clinics. .

As a national 501(c)(3) organization, USAP is a not-for-profit dedicated to promoting the sport’s growth at national, state, and local levels. With roughly 70,000 members across the country, USAP awards over $40,000 a year in grants to local, youth and collegiate pickleball organizations. In 2022 alone, USAP issued 72 grants to local pickleball communities throughout the U.S.

Each region hosts an annual amateur championship for the best players in the area. Gold and silver medalists from these regional pickleball tournaments move on to USAP's Diamond Amateur Championships. This year's event took place in Holly Hill, FL with over 1,000 participants taking part in 3,000 matches.

Independent Organizations

In addition to USAP, several states and regions have independent pickleball governing bodies that often start out as grassroots efforts to organize the local pickleball community before turning into something larger. Not every state has a singular organizational structure – in fact, at this time, most don't – but those that do are emerging as forces influencing the pickleball at state and national levels.

Southern Pickleball Association

The Southern Pickleball Association (SP) made headlines in December when it hosted the first- ever tournament at the newly built largest indoor pickleball facility in the world in Macon, GA. But Southern Pickleball has been at this for years (in Pickleball years, that is). SP was founded in 2021 by impassioned pickleball enthusiasts Paul Midkiff, Eddie Gomez, and Mark Spackman. Initially, the organization – then called the Georgia Pickleball Association (GPA) – ran tournaments exclusively in their home state. But eventually, when players from neighboring states started calling to organize tournaments in their states as well, the trio decided to turn the GPA into a regional organization serving the Southern U.S. SP now hosts pickleball tournaments and leagues across the region, currently operating in eight states, with a regional league drawing enough participants to field 26 teams across six skill level divisions.

Rocky Mountain Pickleball

Rocky Mountain Pickleball (RMP) operates a series of tournaments across the Rockies region. Founded in 2019, the series’ first-run tournament was hosted in Steamboat Springs, CO, with its second event hosted in Arvada, CO. After a year hiatus in 2020, the circuit returned in 2021 adding its flagship event, Denver’s Rocky Mounty Championships, along with the New Mexico Open in Albuquerque. The Rocky Mountain Championships have grown to include over 800 players across five days at the expansive Clement Park Pickleball complex – and the organization is just getting started. In January 2024, RMP is adding a new tournament, the Rocky Mountain Winter Open in Denver.

California Pickleball Association

California is only one state, but with 39 million residents, it’s practically its own region. The California Pickleball Association (CAPA) hosts tournaments and leagues throughout the Golden State. CAPA has turned into a tour de force statewide, hosting seven tournaments last year alone. Its 2023 Orange County Open drew over 500 participants. The organization is more active in the southern half of the state than the north, however, so Bay Area residents might take issue with its name. Last year's circuit only featured tournaments in La Habra and Fountain Valley – both in the greater Los Angeles and Orange County area.

Diamond State Pickleball Club

On the opposite end of the spectrum from California is Delaware, the sixth smallest state in the country. But that doesn't hinder the Diamond State Pickleball Club (DSPC). In case you weren't (Del)aware that Delaware's nickname is the Diamond State, now you are. The DSPC is a non-profit with over 200 members. The club schedules matches and tournaments across the state, while running clinics and promoting the country's fastest growing sport as well.

Michigan Pickleball Association

On the country's northern border, the Michigan Pickleball Association (MPA) promotes pickleball across the state. The non-profit aims to connect pickleballers to tournaments, leagues, lessons, and facilities. In the winter, that last piece is especially important in a state with such cold weather. The group has served 5,000 pickleballers in Michigan. Memberships cost $24 a year for amateurs and $96 a year for pros, clubs, and groups.

Arizona Pickleball Players League

In 2012, the super-sinister-sounding East Valley Interclub League (EVIL) started in Phoenix, AZ. The team-based league was so successful that it expanded to the entire state by 2019. Now called the Arizona Pickleball Players League (APPL) – which has a less diabolical and more fruity ring to it – the organization operates leagues in five regions across Arizona. Each season culminates with APPL’s state championships. Nearly 5,000 (!!!) players have participated in the organization so far. Think Roger Goodell's job is hard? The APPL runs 26 different leagues divided by skill level, age, and gender. With pickleball’s health benefits, they should have a new saying in Arizona: an APPL a day keeps the doctor away.

Florida Pickleball Leagues

Following in APPL’s footsteps, Florida Pickleball Leagues (FLPI) took the team format to the Southeast. Split into four regions across the Sunshine State. It follows APPL's model of splitting its state into regions, before running a series of leagues divided by age, gender, and skill level. The league is relatively new and still growing. FLPI’s most recent season ended with a series of regional pickleball tournaments, but the league’s 2024 schedule includes a date for a potential state tournament, so stay tuned.

Getting Even More Local

Some areas even have a dedicated pickleball organization for a single city or metro area. There are simply too many of these to list herein, but suffice it to say the clubs and organizations range from registered non-profits to informal Facebook groups, from some of the biggest cities in the country to Main Street USA. These organizations do a lot of the heavy lifting similar to their statewide counterparts, but at a more localized level, organizing tournaments, running clinics, connecting local players while promoting the sport.

Reach out to local pickleballers to see if your community has one – chances are it does. You know what they – if you want to get something done, as a busy person (aka a pickleball enthusiast)!