Privacy Policy

Last updated: 25 July 2026

The World Pickleball Federation (“WPF”, “we”, “us”) is committed to protecting your personal data. This policy explains what we collect through this website and our member portal, why, who we share it with, and the rights you have.

Who we are

WPF is operated by World Pickleball Association NFP, a not-for-profit organisation registered in Illinois, USA (2 Lyngby Court, Riverwoods, IL 60015). For any privacy question or to exercise your rights, contact info@worldpickleball.org. We are the data controller for the personal data described below.

What we collect

• National federation applications (the membership form): organisation name, registration number, not-for-profit status, requested membership class, country and continental confederation, and your contact details (name, role, mobile, email, website/social) and the development indicators you provide.
• Contact enquiries: your name, email, subject and message.
• Member portal / World ID: account email, name, date of birth, country and password; where the member is a minor, the parent/guardian’s details and consent (see our Child Privacy Notice).
• Technical data: IP address and standard server logs, and cookies / local storage described in our Cookie Notice.

Why we use it, and our legal bases

• To review and administer membership applications and operate the member registry — performance of a contract and our legitimate interests in running the federation.
• To respond to enquiries you send us — our legitimate interests.
• To operate the member portal and issue a World ID — performance of a contract with you, or, where the member is a minor, based on the parent or guardian’s consent given on the minor’s behalf (see the “Children” section below and our Child Privacy Notice).
• To support safeguarding, integrity and (as it develops) anti-doping — legal obligation, public interest and our legitimate interest in a safe, clean sport, applied with particular care and a documented assessment whenever the individual concerned is a minor.
• To keep the website and portal secure — our legitimate interests.

We do not sell your personal data, and we do not currently send marketing emails or run advertising. With your consent, we use privacy-conscious analytics (Google Analytics) to understand how visitors use the site — see our Cookie Notice for details and how to opt out.

Special category data

Where our safeguarding and anti-doping activities require us to process special category data — for example health information relevant to a therapeutic use exemption — we do so with your explicit consent and, for individuals in the United Kingdom, under the anti-doping in sport condition in Schedule 1 to the Data Protection Act 2018. We keep a short internal policy document governing this processing, available on request.

Who we share it with

We use trusted service providers who process data on our behalf under data-processing agreements: Microsoft Azure (website, portal and database hosting) and Microsoft/Azure Communication Services (transactional email), under the Microsoft Products and Services Data Protection Addendum; GoDaddy (domain / DNS); Forward Email (forwardemail.net — delivers mail sent to our public address to the WPF secretariat, under its data-processing terms); Google (the optional page-translation widget, only if you choose a language); and OpenStreetMap (map tiles). National federation application details may be shared with the relevant continental confederation as part of the review. Each confederation makes its own decisions about how it uses that data, and can be contacted directly using the details on our Confederations page. We may disclose data where required by law.

International transfers

Our systems are hosted in the United States. Where you are in the EEA or the UK, transfers of your data outside your region rely on appropriate safeguards. Microsoft is certified under the EU-U.S., UK Extension to the EU-U.S., and Swiss-U.S. Data Privacy Frameworks, and also includes the Standard Contractual Clauses in its agreements with us. Forward Email’s Data Processing Agreement also includes the Standard Contractual Clauses. You can ask us for more detail on the safeguard that applies by writing to info@worldpickleball.org.

How long we keep it

We keep membership and member-account data for as long as your membership or account is active, and for up to seven years afterwards, to meet our legal, governance and record-keeping needs. Safeguarding and anti-doping records are kept for up to ten years, matching the time limit set by the World Anti-Doping Code (or twelve months for routine whereabouts information and unfinished therapeutic-use-exemption paperwork). Enquiry messages are kept for up to two years. Further detail is available on request.

Your rights

Depending on where you live, you may have the right to access, correct, erase, restrict or object to our use of your data, to data portability, and to withdraw consent at any time. To exercise any of these, email info@worldpickleball.org. If you are in the EEA or UK and believe we have not handled your data properly, you may also complain to your local data-protection supervisory authority (in the UK, the Information Commissioner’s Office).

Children

Pickleball is a sport for all ages. Children under 13 cannot register an account directly; a parent or guardian must set up and consent to the account. See our Child Privacy Notice for how we handle minors’ data.

Changes

We may update this policy as our services and legal obligations evolve; the “last updated” date above shows the current version. Questions? Contact info@worldpickleball.org.

See also our Cookie Notice, Terms of Use and Accessibility Statement.