Within a club, Ratings and Ranks are very convenient. When events are organized and play is provided it is nice to be able to match players with each other.

There are problems with that:

• Not all players have ranks
• Only a small percentage of players participate in tournaments where ranks can be calculated
• The National ranking systems are in constant flux and require individuals to submit the result of their matches (at a cost)
• Clubs resort to self rankings which is very subjective and variable

Solution:

The club should run ladder tournaments which allow players to match themselves against other players in the club. Ratings then become irrelevant as the rankings within the club are in relation to the members of the club.

A regular ladder tournament, once a week, or even smaller ladder tournaments during the week, could have the effect of ranking all players within the club.

Players who want ratings for outside tournaments could ask players within the club who have ratings, what their rating is. They would then have some kind of more objective way to estimate their own rating.

There is a club that uses this system now and players enjoy it. See Stouffville Pickleball Players for more details.