Terms of Service

These Terms of Service (“Terms”) govern your access to and use of the website at iptpa.com, the IPTPA member portal and online academy, and your membership, registration and certification with the International Pickleball Teaching Professional Association (“IPTPA”, “we”, “our”, or “us”). By creating an account, registering for a workshop or certification, or otherwise using our services, you agree to these Terms. Please also read our Privacy Policy and Cookie Policy, which are incorporated into these Terms by reference.

1. Acceptance of these Terms

By accessing iptpa.com, creating an account, submitting a registration, or participating in any IPTPA programme, you confirm that you have read, understood and agree to be bound by these Terms. If you do not agree, you must not use our services. When you submit a registration that includes a checkbox or signature acknowledging these Terms, that acknowledgement constitutes your binding acceptance.

2. Who we are

The International Pickleball Teaching Professional Association is a professional certification body founded in 2015. We certify teaching professionals in pickleball worldwide, maintain a global standard for pickleball instruction, operate a public directory of certified instructors, and provide member education, ratings and related services.

3. Eligibility and your account

• You must be at least 14 years old to create an IPTPA account. If you are under 18, you certify that you will only teach lessons while being mentored by a current Level II Certified IPTPA Instructor until you turn 18, after which you are fully approved to teach on your own. Where a participant is a minor (for example, in the Junior Registry), the additional parent or guardian consent rules described in our Privacy Policy apply.
• You agree to provide accurate, current and complete information when you register and to keep it up to date.
• You are responsible for safeguarding your account credentials and for all activity that occurs under your account. Notify us promptly at info@iptpa.com if you suspect unauthorised use.
• You may not share, sell or transfer your account or any certification to another person.

4. Membership and certification

IPTPA offers memberships and tiered certifications (including Level I, Level II, Level III, the Certified Rating Specialist programme, and the Certified Junior Pickleball Instructor programme). Membership benefits, certification requirements and validity periods are described on the relevant programme pages and may be updated from time to time.

• Certification is personal to you, is granted at IPTPA's discretion in accordance with our standards, and remains the property of IPTPA in the sense that we may verify, suspend or revoke it as described in Section 8.
• Certain certifications and benefits begin when IPTPA records the relevant qualifying event (for example, recording a passing examination result) rather than at the time of payment.
• Memberships and certifications may require periodic renewal. Lapsed members may lose access to member benefits, including listing in the public directory, until renewal.

5. Workshops, testing and results

The following terms apply to IPTPA workshops, written examinations and skills testing. They reflect the agreement you accept when registering for a workshop:

• Any testing that you fail cannot be retested the same weekend. Retesting requires a separate testing location and tester, which comes with additional fees.
• Test results will be sent to the email address provided in your registration profile. Please allow up to two weeks following the workshop to receive your results.

6. Fees, payments and refunds

• Fees for workshops, certifications, memberships and other services are stated at the point of registration. By submitting your registration you authorise the charge.
• Payments are processed by Stripe; IPTPA does not store full card numbers. Your card will be charged upon completion of the registration, and the charge will appear as a payment to “IPTPA”.
• Where pricing varies by region or membership status, the price shown to you at checkout applies to your transaction.

6.1 Refunds (Level I workshops)

• Level I Workshop fees, less a $10 transaction fee, are refundable if you cancel up to two weeks before the On-Court Evaluation.
• If you cancel less than two weeks before the On-Court Evaluation, you receive a credit on your account toward a future On-Court Evaluation rather than a cash refund.
• Once you progress past the Introduction in the Online Course, no refund will be given for any reason (including if IPTPA cancels the workshop); you will be eligible only for a credit toward a future On-Court Evaluation.
• Where IPTPA denies certification because of inappropriate conduct during the workshop (see Section 5), the workshop fee is not refunded.
• Refund terms for other programmes, where applicable, are described on the relevant programme page.

6.2 Automatic renewal of subscriptions

Some IPTPA memberships and services (for example, the annual Rating Member subscription) are offered on an automatically renewing basis. Where you choose an auto-renewing subscription:

• We disclose the recurring price and the billing interval to you before you enrol.
• Your subscription automatically renews at the end of each term, and the payment method on file will be charged the then-current recurring fee, until you cancel.
• You may cancel at any time before the next renewal date from your member portal or by emailing info@iptpa.com. Cancellation stops future renewals and takes effect at the end of the current paid term; the current term is not pro-rated or refunded.
• We send a renewal reminder in advance of renewal where required by applicable law (including the Illinois Automatic Contract Renewal Act).

7. Acceptable use and conduct

You agree that you will not:

• Use our services for any unlawful purpose or in violation of any applicable local, state, federal or international law or regulation.
• Misrepresent your identity, credentials or certification status, or claim an IPTPA certification you do not hold or that has lapsed or been revoked.
• Interfere with, disrupt, or attempt to gain unauthorised access to our systems, accounts or networks, or upload malicious code.
• Scrape, harvest or collect information about other members except as expressly permitted, or use the Find a Coach directory for unsolicited marketing.
• Engage in conduct that is harassing, abusive, fraudulent, or otherwise detrimental to IPTPA, its members, or the integrity of the IPTPA certification.

8. Suspension and revocation

IPTPA reserves the right to suspend or revoke a member's certification, membership or account access for any action or behaviour that is deemed detrimental to the association or that violates these Terms or any state and federal guidelines. Where practicable, we will give notice and an opportunity to respond, but we may act immediately where we consider it necessary to protect members, the public, or the integrity of the certification. Suspension or revocation does not entitle you to a refund of fees already paid.

9. Find a Coach directory

If you are a certified IPTPA professional, certain information may be published in our public Find a Coach directory as described in our Privacy Policy. You are responsible for the accuracy of any optional profile content you choose to publish and for keeping it appropriate and lawful. We may remove profile content that violates these Terms.

10. Communications

By maintaining an account you agree to receive transactional and operational messages necessary to provide the service (for example, account, payment, examination and renewal notifications); you cannot opt out of these while your account is active. Marketing emails are sent only with your consent and can be unsubscribed from at any time. Full details, including the categories of email and how to manage your preferences, are set out in our Privacy Policy.

11. Intellectual property

The IPTPA name, logo, curriculum, course materials, handbooks, rating tools, website content and associated trademarks are owned by IPTPA or its licensors and are protected by intellectual-property laws. We grant you a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable licence to access and use our content for your own personal, non-commercial use in connection with your membership or certification. You may not copy, redistribute, resell, publicly display, or create derivative works from IPTPA materials without our prior written permission.

12. Third-party services

We rely on third-party providers to operate our services (for example, Microsoft Azure for hosting, Stripe for payments, Mailgun for email, and Zoom for webinars). Your use of features powered by these providers may also be subject to their terms. We are not responsible for the acts or omissions of third-party providers beyond our reasonable control. Links to third-party websites are provided for convenience and do not constitute endorsement.

13. Disclaimers

Our services are provided on an “as is” and “as available” basis. To the fullest extent permitted by law, IPTPA disclaims all warranties, express or implied, including warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement. We do not warrant that the services will be uninterrupted, error-free, or secure, or that certification will lead to any particular professional, employment or financial outcome.

14. Limitation of liability

To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, IPTPA and its officers, directors, employees and agents will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential or punitive damages, or any loss of profits, data, goodwill or other intangible losses, arising out of or relating to your use of (or inability to use) our services. To the extent liability cannot be excluded, our total aggregate liability arising out of or relating to these Terms will not exceed the amount you paid to IPTPA in the twelve (12) months preceding the event giving rise to the claim. Some jurisdictions do not allow certain limitations, so some of the above may not apply to you.

15. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify and hold harmless IPTPA and its officers, directors, employees and agents from any claims, liabilities, damages, losses and expenses (including reasonable legal fees) arising out of your misuse of the services, your violation of these Terms, or your violation of any law or the rights of a third party.

16. Changes to the service and these Terms

We may modify, suspend or discontinue any part of our services at any time. We may also update these Terms from time to time to reflect changes in our practices or applicable law. The “Last updated” date above always reflects the version in force. Where a change materially affects your rights, we will provide notice (for example, by email to active members or a notice on this page) before it takes effect. Your continued use of the services after a change becomes effective constitutes acceptance of the revised Terms.

17. Governing law and disputes

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Illinois and applicable United States federal law, without regard to conflict-of-laws rules. You and IPTPA agree that the state and federal courts located in Illinois will have exclusive jurisdiction over any dispute arising out of or relating to these Terms or our services, except where the mandatory consumer-protection laws of your country or state of residence provide otherwise. Before bringing any formal proceeding, you agree to first contact us at info@iptpa.com so that we can try to resolve the matter informally. Nothing in these Terms limits any non-waivable statutory rights you may have as a consumer, including under the Illinois Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act.

18. General

• Entire agreement — these Terms, together with our Privacy Policy, Cookie Policy, and any programme-specific terms you accept at registration, constitute the entire agreement between you and IPTPA regarding the services and supersede any prior agreements on the same subject.
• Severability — if any provision of these Terms is held to be invalid or unenforceable, that provision will be limited or removed to the minimum extent necessary and the remaining provisions will remain in full force and effect.
• No waiver — our failure to enforce any right or provision will not be deemed a waiver of that right or provision.
• Assignment — you may not assign or transfer these Terms or your account without our prior written consent. We may assign these Terms to a successor in connection with a merger, acquisition, reorganisation or sale of assets.
• Force majeure — we are not liable for any delay or failure to perform caused by events beyond our reasonable control, including natural disasters, outages, or acts of government.

19. How to contact us

• General enquiries: info@iptpa.com
• Privacy and data-protection requests: privacy@iptpa.com
• Our registered postal address is available on request.