Pickles Announced as First Premiere Host of Inaugural MLP Amateur Team Draft and Championship Tournament
Draft to begin Saturday, July 9, and run for eight weeks
HANOVER, MA: Pickles NE, LLC, an indoor, first-of-its-kind, state-of-the-art, climate-controlled pickleball-only complex, announced today that it has been selected to partner with Major League Pickleball (MLP) and Dynamic Universal Pickleball Rating (DUPR) to offer the first ever MLP Amateur team-format draft and Championship Tournament.
The MLP amateur team format draft will allow players to qualify based on participation in a series of one-day, timed round robins held over eight weeks. Players will be grouped by DUPR into the appropriate round robin bracket and play as many matches as possible within a two-hour window. Players can participate in as few or as many weekend sessions as they like; the more matches played, the more likely to qualify for the draft.
Pickles will be holding both Saturday and Sunday match sessions, starting July 9. Players with ratings of 3.5 or 5.0 will compete on Saturdays, and players with ratings of 4.0 or 4.5 will compete on Sundays. Throughout the eight weeks, MLP and DUPR will send out national and regional updates of New England’s top pickleball players, highlighting the best of the best. The draft qualifying sessions will run from July 9 through August 28.
At the end of the eight-week season, the top eight male and top eight female players from each bracket (64 total players) will be drafted onto teams by MLP/DUPR Commissioners, to compete in the Championship Tournament, which will be held Labor Day Weekend (September 3 and 4). In this format, two male players and two female players will comprise each team, and compete in a four-team playoff. First place in each division receives $2,000 per team ($500 per person).
A rating algorithm engineered for pickleball players, DUPR is the most accurate and only global rating system in pickleball. All players, regardless of their age, gender, location, or skill, are rated on the same scale between 2.000 and 8.000 based on their match results.
“Pickles is the gold standard of pickleball clubs nationwide,” said Jill Braverman, CEO of DUPR. “Their innovative spirit embodies the mission of both MLP and DUPR. We cannot thank Pickles enough for all of their hard work, willingness to challenge the status quo, dedication to the sport we all love so much and their willingness to accept our invitation to be the inaugural premiere host of this game-changing nationwide event.
“The sport of pickleball is, quite literally, better because of Pickles!” she added.
“Pickles is dedicated to continuing to provide cutting-edge technologies and solutions that enhance the player experience, and DUPR is at the heart of this mission,” added Brooks Wiley, MLP commissioner. “We’re really excited to offer our technology to Pickles members for free, and provide the tools, products, and support to fundamentally change the way pickleball is played at clubs worldwide.”
MLP and DUPR plan to announce 49 other exclusive sites throughout the country over the upcoming days. Pickles will serve as the exclusive location for entry into the amateur draft for the entire Northeast.
Pickles was founded in 2021 by Lisa DeMeritt and Wanda Melampy – two women with a love for the sport of pickleball and the observation that there is a definite lack of indoor courts exclusively dedicated to the sport of pickleball in New England.
“There are currently hundreds of thousands of players on the DUPR platform worldwide, and growing every day!” said DeMeritt. “It’s rewarding to know we can play a small part in helping advance the game here in our corner of New England.”
“We are thrilled to partner with Major League Pickleball and DUPR for the amateur team draft and Championship Tournament,” added Melampy. “It’s an honor to be named an exclusive MLP location, and we look forward to building the momentum to what promises to be the greatest pickleball summer yet!”
