Capital Area Pickleball Association
Serving Dane County Wisconsin

This summer, Madison School & Community Recreation (MSCR) will be running a series of adult pickleball classes on Wednesday afternoons from 2-4 pm between May 20 and August 5, 2026, at its MSCR West facility, located at 7333 West Towne Way, Madison, WI, 53719. These classes did not make it into the original MSCR course catalog, so I offered to help publicize them.

Each class requires a separate registration. You can take one or take them all! Each class will be taught by a professionally certified pickleball instructor. I have posted the classes below, as well as a skill level guide, so you know which, if any, would be appropriate for you.

For all clinics: Please bring water and clean tennis shoes with non-marking soles. Eye protection is encouraged. Paddles and balls will be provided.

To register, go to MSCR.org and then either enter the name of a class below or the number you see below following the name of a class you are interested in. Classes are $15 for Madison residents and $23 for non-residents.

Skill Level Guide

Beginner: New to pickleball or still learning the basic rules, scoring, and fundamental strokes. Limited match experience.

Advanced Beginner: Understands basic rules and scoring, can sustain short rallies, and is working on consistency, court positioning, and shot selection.

Intermediate: Consistent with most basic shots, understands basic strategy and positioning and  ready to incorporate more advanced tactics such as shot variation, partner dynamics, and court awareness.

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Pickleball 101: Everything You Need to Know to Start Playing! (Beginners) – 3 Different Dates to Choose From!

May 20 (53074)

June 24 (53705) or

July 22 (53076)

Description:

Let’s learn how to play pickleball! Learn everything you need to know to start playing—whether socially or competitively. We cover the basic rules, scoring, and court positioning, followed by a hands-on introduction to key skills and strategies used in gameplay. Participants also have the opportunity to play a game to practice what they’ve learned.

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May 27 - Serves & Returns (Beginners & Advanced Beginners) (53077)

Build a strong foundation for every point! This clinic covers the rules of legal serving along with techniques to develop more consistent and effective serves. Players learn how to execute purposeful returns that allow them to move confidently to the kitchen line and establish control of the rally. The two-bounce rule and effective court positioning after serving and returning will be reviewed and reinforced through drills and gameplay.

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June 3 - Backhands (Beginners & Advanced Beginners) (53078)

Turn your backhand into a weapon instead of a weakness. This clinic focuses on improving all kinds of backhand shots, including groundstrokes, volleys, dinks, and third-shot drops. Build confidence and consistency so you can handle any shot that comes your way!

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June 10 - Volleying Skills & Strategy (Beginners & Advanced Beginners) (53079)

Win more points with confident, controlled volleys! This clinic covers a variety of volley types—including punch volleys, block volleys, topspin volleys, and angled volleys—along with strategies for effective game play. Learn how to volley more effectively and place the ball with intention to keep your opponents on the defensive.

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Skip June 17 - Training week

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June 24 - Pickleball 101 Beginner (53705) – see description above

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July 1 - Mastering the Soft Game (Beginners & Advanced Beginners) (53081)

Take your game to the next level by learning how to slow things down and play smarter (not harder!). This clinic focuses on third-shot drops, dinks, and volleys, with an emphasis on controlling the pace of play. Learn how to neutralize hard-hitting opponents by keeping the ball in the kitchen and how to use placement and patience to win points strategically.

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July 8 - Adding Spin to Your Game (Advanced Beginners) (53082)

Learn how spin can transform your shots! This clinic covers the fundamentals of topspin and underspin (slice), including when and why to use each. Topspin can add control and margin to aggressive shots, while underspin can disrupt your opponent’s rhythm.

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July 15 - Stacking & Poaching (Intermediate) (53083)

Elevate your doubles strategy with advanced court positioning and partner dynamics. This clinic discusses stacking—an alternative court positioning strategy often used to maximize partner strengths, such as when one player is left-handed or has a more-dominant forehand. Learn when and how to poach effectively to pressure and frustrate your opponents and take control of the rally.

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July 22 - Pickleball 101 Beginner (53076) – see description above

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July 29 - Lobs & Overheads (Beginners & Advanced Beginners) (53084)

Add variety and confidence to your game with lobs and overheads! Learn when and how to send up effective lobs, as well as proper overhead technique for winning more points. Get tips on safe footwork, so you can track and hit overheads without putting yourself at risk of falling. Partner communication and court positioning when defending against lobs are also discussed.

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August 5 - Drives & Drops (Advanced Beginners) (53085)

Not sure when to drive versus drop? This clinic breaks down the decision-making behind third-shot selection. Learn when to use a powerful drive versus a controlled drop and develop the techniques to execute both shots effectively. Great for players looking to add strategy, versatility, and intention to their game.

Registration opens this Wednesday, April 1, for the 2026 Madtown Pickleball Open! The Madtown is Wisconsin’s largest annual outdoor pickleball tournament. This year, the tournament will be held from July 10-12, 2026, at Wyndham Hills Park in Sun Prairie, but in the event of inclement weather, Pickleball Kingdom in Sun Prairie will serve as the indoor backup venue. Organizers are expecting over 400 players to participate, some of whom will be coming in from out-of-state. Anyone age 18+ in skill levels 3.0-5.49 can register! This is a USA Pickleball-sanctioned tournament, and scores will be entered into DUPR. Registration will remain open through July 5. Early bird pricing ($60 registration fee + $20 per bracket fee) is available from April 1-30, with general event pricing ($75 registration fee + $20 per bracket fee) in effect from May 1-July 5. Your registration helps to fund the Madison Area Sports Commission Youth Grant, which gives kids with financial limitations the chance to play sports. I hope to see you at the Madtown! Keep pickling!

This summer, Madison School and Community Recreation (MSCR) will launch a youth beginner pickleball instruction program for kids going into the 3^rd – 9^th grades. Classes will be taught on Madison’s west side at the pickleball courts in Elver Park and on the east side at the courts in Door Creek Park.

There will be 4 two-week sessions of classes that families can choose from. The classes will be taught Monday – Thursday mornings. One class will be held from 9:30-10:15 am, and another class will be held from 10:30-11:15 am. To clarify, a given child only has to register for one 2-week session and one 45-minute class period each day of that session.

The sessions will run as follows:

Session 1: 6/22/2026 – 7/2/2026

Session 2: 7/6/2026-7/16/2026

Session 3: 7/20/2026-7/30/2026

Session 4: 8/3/2026 – 8/13/2026

Registration for Madison residents will open at noon on April 6, 2026, and at noon on April 20, 2026, for non-residents. You can register your child at mscr.org.

Paddles and balls will be provided for free for kids to use during the class.

Parents: please ensure your child arrives for class wearing some form of eye protection, which could include sunglasses. They should also wear tennis shoes with non-marking soles and bring something cold to drink.

Do you have a Dynamic Universal Pickleball Rating (DUPR) that you believe is too low and does not adequately reflect your actual abilities as a player? Would you be willing to pay to have the chance to reset it? If so, good news—you are in luck!

For the first time ever, players will have a limited opportunity to try and reset their DUPR rating. Here is how it works. First, register for the Reset through the DUPR website or app. This will require a one-time, non-refundable payment of $34.99. Then, between March 16 and May 17, 2026, play at least 8 matches with 2 different partners (doubles), or 8 matches against 2 different opponents (singles). You must ensure that the matches are part of a league, tournament, or organized club play where the organizer submits scores to DUPR; self-reported matches do not count. After you complete the required matches, DUPR will automatically calculate your Reset rating. Your Reset rating is calculated using only matches played during the window. When the Reset Period ends, DUPR will assign you whichever rating is higher—your original rating or your Reset rating, so there is no downside to participating in the program.   

Good luck, and happy pickling!

The 2026 Baird CAPA Cup Tournament will be held Friday, August 14, 2026, through Sunday, August 16, 2026, at Pickleball Kingdom in Sun Prairie! Pickleball Kingdom is located at 463 Broadway Drive, in Sun Prairie, WI, 53590. More details, including registration information, will be posted on the CAPA website in a couple of months, but for now, please save the date! Hope to see you there!

If you’ve ever played a game of competitive singles pickleball, you know the feeling: you’re sprinting toward the sideline like your life depends on it, lunging for a passing shot that feels miles away, only to realize you’ve left the entire other side of the court wide open.

The Professional Pickleball Association (PPA) recently announced that it will be introducing a narrower court for pro singles play on a trial basis at its upcoming professional Challenger Series events in Houston, TX, Harbour Island, FL, Newport Beach, CA, and Opelika, AL. The modified court will bring the sidelines in by 1.5 feet on each side (3 feet total). So, instead of being 20 feet wide, the court will now be 17 feet wide.

On a full-width court, singles is dominated by the "power game." Because there is so much ground to cover, players are forced to hit hard, deep drives to keep their opponents pinned back. The nuanced dinks and resets that make pickleball unique often disappear in singles; it’s simply too risky to move to the kitchen line when you have 20 feet of width to defend alone. By trimming 1.5 feet off each side, we may see more dinking, and the PPA may be helping move pickleball back toward its roots, rewarding strategy as well as swiftness and stamina.

Although no earth-shattering changes were made, USA Pickleball has updated its 2026 Official Rulebook to revise and clarify certain rules. The most significant updates for 2026 are as follows:

1. Scoring: The Rally Scoring "Freeze" is Gone

In previous years, in rally-scoring formats, the game-winning point could only be scored by the serving team. This often led to a "freeze" where a leading team could get stuck on the next-to-final point for several rotations.

For 2026, Rules 4.B and 14.A.2 provide that the game-winning point in rally scoring can now be scored by either the serving or receiving team. This eliminates the freeze, ensuring that the momentum of the rally determines the end of the match, rewarding the team that wins the rally, regardless of who served.

2. Serving: Clarifying Spin and Upward Arc

The 2026 rules provide additional clarity regarding what constitutes a legal serve.

• Rule 7.B.2 now explicitly states that you cannot manipulate the ball with your hand or fingers to add spin during the release. You can, however, apply spin with your paddle at the moment of contact for the serve.
• Rule 7.C adds the word "clearly" to the volley serve requirements. The rules now state that the upward arc, the paddle head position (below the wrist), and the contact point (below the waist) must all be clearly visible and legal. This shifts the benefit of the doubt in officiated matches. If a serve is "borderline" or too close to call, referees are now encouraged to rule it a fault because it was not clearly legal. This is intended to curb the trend of "sidearm" serves that skirt the “waist-height” rule.

3. Sportsmanship: Expanded Official Authority

USA Pickleball is tightening the screws on "gamesmanship" and conduct.

• Rule 22.A now gives referees the authority to issue verbal warnings or technical fouls before the match starts. This includes the warm-up period and pre-match briefings.
• Rule 22.L allows ejections for violence. The 2026 language is more explicit regarding physical violence or property damage. Tournament directors can now eject players for acts of paddle or ball abuse that cause injury or damage to the venue.

4. Court Play: Line Calls and "Net Post" Clarifications

• Rule 8.F.3 requires that "out" calls must be made promptly. This clarification discourages players from waiting to see if their partner returns the ball before deciding to call a ball out. If the call isn't signaled or voiced immediately, the ball is considered in.
• Rule 10.C.5 clarifies that if a ball legally crosses the net, bounces in the opponent's court, and then spins or blows into the net post, it is no longer an automatic fault on the hitter. It is treated as a dead ball, and since it already bounced in, the hitter wins the rally.

5. Spectator Involvement

The language regarding spectators has been upgraded from a recommendation to a mandate.

• Whereas the rulebook previously stated that players "should not" consult spectators on line calls, Rule 8.J now says players "must not" consult spectators. If a player asks a fan or bystander for help with a call, they could be issued a warning or penalty for violating this rule in an officiated match.

6. Ball Out of Pocket

Rule 24.B.1 clarifies that if an extra ball is visible to an opponent or falls out of your pocket during a rally, it is a fault.

To see the full list of rule changes, as well as the reasons for the changes, visit the 2026 USA Pickleball Rulebook Change Document.

Pickleball Kingdom private indoor pickleball courts expects to open its doors to players on January 11, 2026. The facility will be located at 463 Broadway Drive, Sun Prairie, WI, 53590. This opening date is about a month later than originally anticipated, due to some slight construction and weather delays. During the first week that the facility is open, Pickleball Kingdom will offer a free week of soft-launch play. For more information about the new Pickleball Kingdom, as well as membership rates, and to sign up to receive the latest updates, click here.

USA Pickleball recently designated the Dynamic Universal Pickleball Rating (DUPR) as its exclusive, official rating system. Previously, it had been using a rating system many people were unfamiliar with called Universal Tennis Rating-Pickleball (UTR-P). The UTR-P was mainly U.S.-based and was used to track wins and losses of players who primarily competed in official USA Pickleball-sanctioned tournaments.

By now using DUPR, USA Pickleball is embracing a much more widely-adopted, global rating system that uses a more sophisticated algorithm to calculate a player’s skill rating. Skill ratings are not just based on simple win/loss records but are also impacted by things like opponent ratings, the player’s actual margin of victory, and a comparison of actual to expected match results. DUPR’s algorithm is therefore able to provide a more precise measure of a player's true skill rating than UTR-P could. USA Pickleball’s adoption of DUPR therefore promotes fairer play and more accurate tournament seeding.

USA Pickleball's switch to DUPR further consolidates the sport’s use of DUPR as the preeminent rating system and is a critical step in the sport's maturation. The DUPR rating system will now be used by USA Pickleball, The PPA Tour, Major League Pickleball, Minor League Pickleball, Pickleball Canada, The Global Pickleball Federation, and thousands of other clubs and leagues around the world.

For more information about USA Pickleball’s adoption of DUPR as its official and exclusive rating system, click here.

With Washington (Bainbridge Island) being the birthplace of pickleball, it seems only fitting that the state would get its own specialty license plate to celebrate this unique aspect of its heritage. As of November 2025, Washington officially has a new “State Sport: Pickleball” specialty plate, cementing its place alongside Tennessee and Montana as having a license plate dedicated to the world's fastest-growing sport.

This wasn't an easy win, however. The journey to get a specialty pickleball plate took three years, beginning with a petition and legislative effort spearheaded by the Seattle Metro Pickleball Association (SMPA). The organization collected thousands of signatures and pushed for the plate through the state legislature before it was finally approved in an omnibus bill that consolidated several specialty plates.

The plate features a stylish design titled “Pickleball Rising,” created by local Seattle artist Jason Laramie. The design is inspired by the ferry ride leaving Bainbridge Island, with a pickleball rising like the sun over Washington, symbolizing both the sport's origins and its growing popularity.

For Washington's pickleball community, this new plate isn't just a decorative accessory; it's a means for funding the sport's future. Proceeds from the plate's sales will go directly to the SMPA to support the construction and maintenance of dedicated public pickleball courts throughout the state. This funding is crucial for sustaining pickleball's explosive growth and ensuring it remains accessible and inclusive for players of all ages and backgrounds.

While Washington may be the newest state to roll out a pickleball plate, it joins two other states that have already embraced the sport on their roads.

Tennessee offers a pickleball specialty license plate that helps support youth programs. The license plate was designed by a non-profit called the Tennessee Junior Pickleball Association (TJPA), and proceeds from plate sales are used to fund pickleball equipment purchases, teacher training, and program development in schools and parks across the state.

Montana offers a specialty “406” license plate, on which the “0” is in the likeness of a pickleball. The plate is sponsored by a non-profit called 406 Pickleball Missoula, Inc. Proceeds from license plate sales are used to support the promotion of pickleball within the state by funding activities like advocating for the sport, maintaining public courts, and developing qualified officials.

The growth of pickleball license plates in states like Washington, Tennessee, and Montana highlights the sport's increasing mainstream appeal and its ability to mobilize local communities. Enthusiasts are using their passion to create tangible, lasting impacts on the sport, all while showcasing their love for pickleball on the road.

The movement to support the sport through this unique fundraising method is a testament to pickleball's passionate community and its ability to drive positive change, one vehicle at a time. With the success seen in these states, it's fair to wonder which state will be next to get a pickleball license plate. Might I suggest Wisconsin?