As we enter our next indoor season at GMCF we are making a shift in how we name our player levels on Player Lineup. In the past we have used the descriptors of "Beginner", Intermediate" etc. to delineate what level of play should be expected at that specific time. This has so far been an OK way to guide people, but this year we are going to try to get a bit more empirical about how we categorize ourselves through the use of the DUPR rating system.

If you are not familiar with DUPR it is an app/website that allows players to enter results into their system and receive a rating on your level of play. The system is steadily being adopted throughout the U.S. and we have been leaning into it for a couple of years now. The great thing about DUPR is that it takes the subjective assessment out of the picture and just uses pure performance metrics to assign a rating. There is a lot of information about DUPR on the site: www.dupr.com under the FAQ page.

Once you establish an account with DUPR (it's free) you will find the ability to add Green Mountain Community Fitness as an affiliated club - please take this step. To establish your first rating you simply need to play a game against other people who have a rating and then enter the results. Much of our GMCF community already has a rating as we have been entering scores from our events for awhile now. The system also has a new "Reliability" rating which improves as you feed more and more data (results from games) into your profile.

So more on DUPR later, but for now I wanted to point out the naming convention and make some observations. Pickleball is at its best when playing with people who are at a similar level, which is why we establish standing games with level designations. By using numbers (ex. 3.0 to 3.5, or 4.5+) to define those levels it should be easier for people to categorize themselves accurately and choose the games that best fit their level of play. We can also note that player levels are on a continuous spectrum, so a 3.95 player should feel comfortable in either the level above, where they may be on the weaker side of the field, or the level below where they should feel close to the top of that group's players. But these numbers can also help us recognize that a 3.5 player will likely not fit well with a 4.0 to 4.5 group. We absolutely love to see some overlap between the different game levels and want to see players moving up as their skills develop, along with better players joining lower level games to impart some experience into our community.

And all of this starts with a DUPR rating! Until you get one, please join the level you feel best suits your perceived ability. In time we would love for you to establish a rating, and over time we want to improve that rating's Reliability score so that you are confident your DUPR aligns with your true abilities. This can only happen through engaging in the system, entering scores, and hopefully using the system to motivate you towards improving your game! We will be hosting some events that will allow you to play with some structure, letting GMCF do the data entry. But we also encourage motivated players to find some rated players, play some games, and as long as you all agree PRIOR to those games to record your scores afterwards, get your rating going!

Also, please note that we did not change the previous color relationship with each level - They still go from Green to Yellow to Orange to Dark Blue to Light Blue in ascending order.

Thanks,
Nick