Regulation or Revolution at racquetX

RacquetX is the world's premier industry event for Racquet sports (Tennis. Padel, Pickleball) and this year (2025) was held in late March in Miami.

It's a pivotal time in pickleball - as we have a turf war of standards organisations and governing bodies on our hands.

I was fortunate to work with Kate Wilson (aka The Mayor of Pickleball) to put together a panel of industry heavy hitters to discuss the nuances of paddle regulation and the industry pushback against it.

The guests were:

  • Carl Schmits, CTO (USAP)
  • Jason Aspes, President (UPA-A)
  • Tom Barnes, Co-Owner & Director of R&D (Selkirk)
  • Gordon Kaye, Chief Experience Officer (Joola)
  • Rafael Filippini, Founder/CEO (Gearbox)

And I got to ask the questions.

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Key Takeaways

My personal take is that this is all pretty straightforward. Pickleball is huge and getting bigger all the time.

As ever it's all about the money.

UPA wants control of the sport and will stop at nothing to get it. Their chosen strategy is to lean into their pro league and bully paddle companies into paying egregious fees to participate.

All the while pretending that they are somehow being victimised themselves because all they're trying to do is to police the professional game and everyone else is free to do what they want.

But don't take my word it - watch the video for yourseves.

RacquetX panel

This is 5min clip of key points and highlights of the panel. Video quality is slightly lowered due to reframing. The full video (57min) is available here.