Child Privacy Policy

Version 1.2 — Effective date: 10 September 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.

For members under 13, WPF holds the child’s name, date of birth, gender, country of residence, and World ID. WPF does not collect an email address, a mobile telephone number, a photograph, an emergency contact, or an external rating identifier for a member of this age.

For members aged 13 to 17, an email address, mobile telephone number, photograph, and external rating identifier are optional; membership is complete without any of them.

WPF does not collect a separate emergency contact for any member under 18. A young member’s authorised guardians serve that purpose, and WPF already holds their contact details on their own member records. Holding a second copy on the child’s record would duplicate information about a child and could become inaccurate without anyone noticing.

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.

WPF holds a young member’s personal information for as long as the membership is active. Where a membership is deleted, that personal information is erased — see section 7. Separately, and for up to seven years, WPF retains governance, competition, safeguarding, and financial records in which a member may be referenced, as required for record-keeping, dispute resolution, and applicable legal obligations. Those records are not a copy of the member’s profile.

6. Photographs

WPF does not hold a photograph of any member under 13 years of age.

A member aged 13 to 17 may have a photograph on their membership record. A photograph is always optional and may be added or removed at any time through the Member Portal by the young member or by an authorised guardian; membership is complete without one.

Where a photograph is held, it may be used for:

• the young member’s membership credential;
• competition and event administration, including confirming identity at events and identifying entries, draws, and results;
• WPF announcements, meaning the publication of results, event coverage, and federation news; and
• public WPF pages, such as rankings, draws, and certification listings, wherever a WPF service is built to display photographs.

A photograph is publicly visible. Where one is held, it may be seen by anyone. Adding a photograph is the agreement of the young member and their guardian to that, and there is no separate setting that keeps it private. A young member who does not want their photograph published should not add one, and either they or their guardian may remove it at any time.

A photograph of a member under 18 is not used for third-party advertising or commercial promotion. Where WPF wishes to make such use, it will seek the guardian’s separate agreement, which may be declined without affecting the membership.

A photograph is never published together with a young member’s contact details, nor alongside the identity of their guardians.

WPF may remove a photograph that it considers unsuitable — including one showing another child, or one that is not a likeness of the young member — and will tell the guardian when it does. Removing a photograph does not affect the membership.

7. Ending a Membership

An authorised guardian may close a young member’s membership at any time through the Member Portal.

A deletion request does not take immediate effect. The account is suspended at once, and those responsible for the member are notified — both guardians for a member under 13, and the young member together with their guardian for a member aged 13 to 17. Any person so notified may cancel the request within three days, after which the deletion is completed and cannot be reversed.

On completion, the young member’s name, date of birth, contact details, and any photograph are erased. Three things do not survive as identifying information but are retained for the reasons given:

• the World ID is permanently retired and is never issued to any other person, so that it cannot be reused;
• a one-way encrypted form of any email address held is retained, so that the same address cannot be silently re-registered against a deleted record; it cannot be converted back to the address; and
• any title or published competition placing remains part of the public sporting record. A result that was public when it occurred remains part of the history of the sport, and other members’ records depend upon it. Guardians are informed of this in the Guardian Consent Statement before they consent, not at the point of deletion.

8. 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 privacy@worldpickleball.org.