Listen to this articleBelow is our recent interview with Grant Jackson from The U.S. Open Pickleball League:
Q: Could you provide our readers with a brief introduction to your company?
A: The U.S. Open Pickleball League (USOPL™️) is an association of dedicated professionals and volunteers within the American pickleball community. The USOPL™️ is home to the annual “National Pickleball League Open” (NPL OPEN™️) Championship, a tournament played between the best players from the USOPL’s regional tournaments.
USOPL™️ encourages pickleball players to play in organized drop-in session, known as “open play” allowing players of different abilities to play together and hone their skills. While the “open play” format is common in the sport of pickleball a USOPL™️ membership ads a competitive element to “open play” games making them more fun and enjoyable, while helping players connect with other players to play more pickleball.
Q: Any highlights on your recent announcement?
A: With over 2,500 pre-season sign-ups we are off to a good start. The USOPL™️ is now engaging with other leagues, tournaments, and local clubs to offer their members a discounted sign-up price and a chance to play in the USOPL™️ regional finals and secure a place in the NPL Open™️ Championship at the end of the year should the player qualify.
When USOPL™️ members play games in other tournaments, local leagues, or clubs those games count towards their USOPL™️ ranking when they play another USOPL™️ member.
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Q: Can you give us more insights into your offering?
A: USOPL™️ offers Two 2 Divisions – Singles or Doubles. Members can join one or the other, or they can join both. Each USOPL™️ membership comes with a free score keeper to track all pickleball games played by our members. Score recording has been streamlined to make it easy to record game scores while on the pickleball court.
While the U.S. Open Pickleball League is all about fun and encouraging league members to play more recreational games, with more opponents, at the end of the season that changes and things heat up.
The top 10% USOPL™️ ranked players (divided by region, rating, gender, age) are invited to play Regional Tournament games. Winners of the regional tournament divisions are then invited to play in the official, invitation only, “NPL Open™️,” an annual tournament with big prize money. Members invited to the regional tournaments will play other league members of a similar skill level.
The USOPL™️ is the sole NPL Open™️ approved feeder league, a USOPL membership is required and is the only way for a pickleball player to stand a chance of securing an invitation to play in the annual NPL Open™️ Championship.
Q: What can we expect from your company in next 6 months? What are your plans?
A: We are in the process of upgrading our ambassador program to make every USOPL™️ player a league ambassador. USOPL™️ members can invite other players to join the USOPL™️ and receive a 10% discount off their annual league fees. The inviting member will receive a 10% commission on all membership fees when their invited player joins USOPL™️ using their username as a referral and discount code, commission payments to members can be used to renew, upgrade membership or to purchase USOPL™️ swag or products from the USOPL™️ store. In addition to launching the USOPL™️ online store, we will soon be launching the USOPL™️ social media portal for all things pickleball. All USOPL™️ members will receive early access to the platform and their usernames will carry through to their social media profiles.
Our existing ambassadors will receive a 20% commission on all players recruited to USOPL™️ in 2023, this commission extends to all other leagues, tournament and pickleball clubs that recruit players to USOPL™️.
USOPL will be announcing Junior League programs during the summer of this year, where our ambassadors will on hand to help train and coach the next generation into the game of pickleball.
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Q: What is the best thing about your company that people might not know about?
A: The best aspect of a USOPL™️ membership is it’s the most fun anyone will have playing pickleball. All recreational games played count towards a league ranking, meaning those last minute, early morning or weekend games count when played against other USOPL™️ members. There are no set teams or matches to be played. League members choose who to play and when to play, members can play against any USOPL™️ member anywhere in the United States, with the game played counting towards their league ranking. Even games played on a cruise liner outside of the U.S. count when played against other USOPL™️ members.
The USOPL™️ software has simplified the way in which players score their games. Each player chooses their own unique username, and shares that with their opponent for scoring purposes. There is no wading through multiple players with the same name in the hope of selecting the correct opponent or teammate. To avoid sandbagging and incorrect scores we have implemented a reporting system for users to flag and contest any inconsistency with scores submitted.
