Child Privacy Policy

Version 1.0 — Effective date: 20 June 2026

1. Protecting Young Players

The World Pickleball Federation (“WPF”) welcomes players of all ages and is committed to protecting the privacy, safety, and personal information of children and young people.

This Child Privacy Policy explains how WPF collects, uses, and safeguards personal information relating to members under the age of 18.

WPF seeks to apply a high global standard of child privacy protection informed by internationally recognised privacy principles and applicable data protection laws, including the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) of the United States, Article 8 of the European Union General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), and other applicable privacy legislation. Where local law provides greater protection, WPF will comply with the applicable legal requirements.

2. Members Under 13 Years of Age

As a general rule, WPF does not permit children under the age of 13 to independently register for membership or create an online account.

Where an individual indicates that they are under 13 years of age during the registration process, WPF will require a parent or legal guardian to complete the registration and provide the necessary parental consent before membership can be established.

A parent or legal guardian who is a registered adult WPF member may create and manage the child’s membership through their own Member Portal.

As part of WPF’s safeguarding policy, children under 13 are normally managed under the supervision of two authorised adult guardians. This is an organisational safeguarding requirement adopted by WPF and is not intended to replace or modify any legal guardianship rights under applicable law.

As a general rule, WPF does not assign separate login credentials or maintain an individual email address for members under 13 years of age.

3. Members Aged 13 to 17

Members aged 13 to 17 may create an individual WPF account where permitted by applicable law. Before full access to membership services is granted, WPF requires the consent of a parent or legal guardian where required by applicable law or WPF policy.

The parent or guardian must be a registered adult WPF member and must complete the required consent process before the junior member account is fully activated.

Unless otherwise required by law or WPF policy, only one authorised parent or guardian is required for members aged 13 to 17.

4. Identity Verification

WPF does not ordinarily require children or junior members to upload passports, birth certificates, or other government-issued identity documents solely for the purpose of creating or maintaining membership.

WPF primarily relies on parental or guardian declarations and consent. However, WPF reserves the right to request reasonable supporting information where necessary to verify eligibility, investigate suspected fraud, comply with applicable law, protect the integrity of competitions, or safeguard the welfare of participants.

5. Information We Collect

WPF collects only the personal information reasonably necessary to administer membership, athlete eligibility, rankings, tournament participation, education and certification programmes, safeguarding obligations, and other legitimate sporting activities.

Information relating to children is processed only for legitimate organisational purposes and in accordance with this Privacy Policy and applicable law.

Guardian-child relationships are treated as confidential and are not displayed in publicly accessible member profiles except where required for operational or safeguarding purposes.

We do not use a minor’s personal data for marketing, advertising, profiling, or automated decision-making, and we do not run analytics or tracking aimed at children. We keep a minor’s account data for as long as the membership is active and for up to seven years afterwards, for governance and record-keeping purposes.

6. Parents’ and Guardians’ Rights

Subject to applicable law, parents and legal guardians may:

• review the personal information held about their child;
• request correction of inaccurate or incomplete information;
• manage applicable consent settings;
• request deletion of personal information where legally permitted; and
• contact WPF regarding any concerns relating to their child’s privacy.

WPF may retain certain information where necessary to comply with legal obligations, safeguarding responsibilities, dispute resolution, anti-doping requirements, disciplinary processes, financial record-keeping, competition history, or other legitimate organisational interests.

Requests concerning children’s personal information will be handled with appropriate verification procedures to protect the child’s privacy and security.

See also our Privacy Policy, Safeguarding and Cookie Notice. For any question about a child’s personal information, contact info@worldpickleball.org.