Technology
The technology behind the game
NPL built its own competition platform because nothing else could run the sport properly. Today that platform - LADER - powers leagues, tournaments and clubs around the world.
Built by NPLNPL Proprietary Pickleball Technology
LADER is NPL's tournament, league and club-session platform - born inside the league to run our own professional competition, and now live for organisations worldwide. Tournaments, leagues and social sessions in one modern system, built for every racquet sport with a focus on pickleball.
Tournaments - any format, any size, drag-and-drop control
Leagues - standings, stats and season management
Club sessions - from 4 players to 500, launched in minutes
Live scoring - paperless referee app, live scores on any device
Registration & payments - players register and pay in one flow
DUPR integrated - results flow to players' official ratings automatically
Who it's built for
Venue owners
Schedule and automate every session, manage players, record scores - and flex the same system for socials and corporate bookings.
Clubs
One home for every session and player - track club activity, keep player stats, and give new members a way to find and join in.
Tournament organisers
Pools, knockout and unlimited elimination brackets, live scoring, streaming and automated court allocation - in one build.
Leagues
Any format, any team size. Rally or traditional scoring, mixed and split age divisions, full stats and social share - built in.
10 - 5,000+
players per event - club nights through to national majors
Every format
singles, doubles, teams, ladders - and formats that don't exist yet
All racquet sports
built for the future of racquet sports - pickleball first
Who runs on LADER
- ahm NPL Pro Tour & Division 2 (Australia)
- Pickleball Aus
- Canadian National Pickleball League (CNPL)
- Global Sports (India)
- AO Pickleball Slam '26 - full event technology: live scoring, event management and broadcast screens
- PARK Racquet Club (QLD)
- Clubs and events across Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the USA and Europe
Run a tournament, league or session
If you organise pickleball - a club night, a local league or a national major - LADER handles the whole build. Everything below is set up on lader.sport.
Run a tournament
Pools, knockouts and unlimited elimination brackets, seeding, court allocation, live scoring and draws players can follow from their phone.
Run a league
Any format and team size, rally or traditional scoring, fixtures, standings and season-long stats handled automatically.
Run club sessions
Social and open play from 4 to 500 players - rotations, ratings-based courts, registration and payment in one flow.
What LADER handles
- Registrations and entries, with online payment
- Draws, pools and brackets - any format, drag-and-drop control
- Automated scheduling and court allocation
- Paperless referee app and live scores on any device
- Standings, stats and player histories
- DUPR results submitted automatically
- Broadcast and venue screens
- Communications to entrants before and during the event
Official Ratings Partner for all NPL Events
Every NPL match is DUPR-rated.
DUPR is the global rating standard for pickleball - 2 million+ rated players across 183 countries, and the Official Ratings Partner of the National Pickleball League. Your rating is your passport: it's how sessions, tournaments and leagues put you on the right court, anywhere in the world. DUPR is integrated into all parts of the LADER platform.
Playbypoint
Our clubs run on Playbypoint.
Playbypoint has been NPL's club-technology partner since 2023 - our club management platform across the venue network, with white-label booking, memberships and payments behind The Jar, PARK Racquet Club and our Powered by NPL venues. It's the same platform powering 1,000+ clubs in 35+ countries.
The Jar went from zero to 20,000+ players in its first 18 months on the platform.
Technology is one of NPL's five pillars - from the broadcast screens at our finals to the app you book your court with.