Austin Deaf Pickleball

The tournament will be November 7-10, 2024 at Dreamland at 2770 W Hwy 290 in Dripping Springs, Texas 78620.

To play at NDPT, you’ll need to create a pickleballbrackets.com (PBB) account!  Be sure to fill out your profile completely, including:

1. Full name
2. Birthdate
3. Address (including city, state, and zip code)
4. Phone number (text number)
   • opt in for text notifications as the National Deaf Pickleball Tournament (NDPT) will text you updates about your matches
5. Emergency contact information
6. Self-rating (3.0, 3.5, 4.0, etc.)
   • PBB requires that you “self-rate” your skills as you set up your profile. Make sure your self-rating is not lower than your DUPR. If your DUPR has a “no rating” or if your DUPR has 16 games or less (which makes your rating unreliable), go ahead and self-rate.

Troubleshooting is key! Have you tried the following:

1. Opt in to receive texts in your PBB profile
2. Add the PBB text number (844-999-0071) to your address book in your phone
3. Turn off wifi and use your service provider data plan

We will enter all match results to DUPR, you can download their app (iOS or google play) and create your profile — super easy! Be sure to fill out your profile completely, including:

1. First and Last name
2. Location (address)
3. Birthday
4. Phone number (text)
5. Click on “Play” and search for – and join the National Deaf Pickleball Tournament (NDPT) Club

DUPR will create a temporary account with the results under the player’s email used in pickleball.com. This allows for the results to successfully publish on DUPR for players that did link, even if other players they play against haven’t linked. Once the player who hasn’t linked completes the linking process, the tournament results will be automatically added to their DUPR.

The official ball for the tournament will be the Selkirk Pro S1.

To commit to inclusive pickleball, we created a work-around for registration on PBB platform. Ignore “Coed” and sign up for events that is the best fit for you in terms of skill and age.

You can register for different skill brackets across various events within .5 — for example, you can sign up for 3.0 Singles, 3.5 Doubles, and 3.0 Mixed.

• Age: always move down, following the younger partner.
• Skill: always move up, following the higher skilled partner.

If your partner is ranked higher than you, you’d follow your partner’s rank. If you’re higher than your partner, then your partner will follow you. It doesn’t really matter which event you got a medal in last year because you might be playing with a different partner, haven’t played in over a year, you’re injured and recovering, or etc. Sign up for the event that you feel you are the best fit for. You can always edit your registration later.

Skinny singles uses half of the pickleball court (learn more here). Over the years, NDPT has reserved Skinny Singles events for players aged 50+. Players aged 50+ can choose to sign up for regular Singles and play against players under 50. Players under 50 cannot sign up for Skinny singles. Skinny Singles is fun! You can watch this video and that video to get an idea.

Sign up for the events you want and find a partner within 7 days from the day you registered. PBB will automatically move you to the waitlist if you do not have a partner after 7 days. When your partner registers and selects you as their partner, you’ll start moving up the waitlist and into the event when a spot opens up. 

If you’re waitlisted for all events, PBB will not charge you. If you’re waitlisted for some, you’ll pay for registration and for the events that you are in, except for the waitlisted events. Once you’re off the waitlist, PBB will send you an email notification to pay for the event. You have 7 days to pay for the event before you lose your spot and go back on the waitlist. It is important to confirm your partner even if you’re on the waitlist, because once other partnerless teams are moved to the waiting list, PBB will move complete teams off the waiting list and into the event.

Based on the data from NDPT 2023 in Arizona, we decided on a specific number of teams allowed per event. It depends on the demand for such events. With 16 courts, we will monitor closely to see if any events max out during the open registration window. If this happens, we may adjust the capacity for a specific event to allow players from the waiting list to register for that specific event.

1. Create a DUPR account, and play in events that will add results to DUPR so over time, your rating becomes more reliable. The more matches, the better.
2. Not enough games in DUPR? You can check your PBB rating.
3. Not enough games in PBB? You can self-rate on PBB.

Tip:  Pickleballbrackets.com will only allow you to register within .5 of your Self-Rating.  So if you rate yourself as a 3.0 player, you can sign up for 3.0 and 3.5 events.

Use this as a guide:

• 3.0 Event:  DUPR rating up to 3.24
• 3.5 Event:  DUPR rating between 3.25-3.74
• 4.0 Event:  DUPR rating between 3.75-4.24
• 4.5 Event:  DUPR rating above 4.25

We understand your DUPR rating may fluctuate between now and the start of the tournament; sign up for the most appropriate skill level. DUPR ratings will be used to seed the pools. The match coordinator may move you to another skill level based on your DUPR rating, especially if your rating is more than .5 above or below the event bracket you registered for.

• Austin Airport (AUS) is about 50 minutes from Dreamland
• San Antonio Airport (SAT) is about an hour and 10 min from Dreamland
• Fort Worth Airport (DFW) is 3 hours and 45 min from Dreamland
• Houston Airport (IAH) is 3 hours and 15min from Dreamland

We do not have a hotel block — you can search the internet for hotels near Dreamland, consider renting an AirBNB/VRBO, or try nearby campgrounds. 

• Holiday Inn Express & Suites Dripping Springs
  • 8 min to Dreamland
  • 52 min to airport
• Courtyard by Marriott Austin Dripping Springs
  • 8 min to Dreamland
  • 52 min to airport 
• Sleep Inn & Suites
  • 10 min to DreamLand
  • 50 min to airport
• The Liney Moon
  • 8 min to DreamLand
  • 55 min to airport 
• Infinity Ranch
  • 8 min to Dreamland 
  • 55 min to airport 

There are food options at Dreamland as well as local restaurants nearby. Most of the restaurants are within a 5-10 min drive from Dreamland such as: Grand Slam Pizza, Thundercloud Subs, El Rey Mexican Bar & Grill, Taste of Nepal, Railroad Bar-B-Que, Whataburger, and more. Google is your best friend.

The internet is your best friend but you could consider:

• Henly RV Park (8 min drive from Dreamland)
• The FItz RV Resort (10 min)
• Cottonwood Creek RV Park (11 min)
• Yeager Creek RV Resort (13 min)

Players will need to arrange their own transportation during the tournament, shuttles will not be provided. Public transportation is not as available in Dripping Springs. You should consider renting a car.

Email austindeafpb@gmail.com and we’ll give you early access to register to guarantee your spot!

Due to extremely high prices, the need to purchase flights in advance, and the non-refundable nature of international flights, international players are allowed to register earlier to secure their registration in the national tournament.

Unfortunately, we cannot answer that question until after registration closes and after the match committee reviews the number of participants in each event.  For example, we may need to consider merging events. From there, we can determine the start time of each event. We will update via email to all registered players at least a week before the tournament.

Current schedule is:
Thursday, November 7: Singles & Skinny Singles
Friday, November 8: Doubles Scramble (also known as rotating doubles)
Saturday, November 9: Fixed Doubles
Sunday, November 10: Mixed Doubles

Plan on a full day: 8 AM to 8 PM for each day, Thurday-Sunday — your event may take between 3-4 hours. Players will get an email with details of their event(s) at least a week before the tournament.

Some locations require you to download the TeamReach app on your phone to see the latest news and updates.

• Austin Deaf Pickleball (TR code: ASL)
• Austin Pickle Ranch 
• Austin Tennis Center has open play (TR code: ATCPickleball) or SUPR DUPR (TR code: SUPR-DUPR)
• BAPA
• Bouldin Acres 
• CTX Fieldhouse (TR code: CTX-FH-PB)
• CTX Fieldhouse DUPR (TR code: CTX-FH-DUPR)
• Dick Nichols: first come first serve (bring net)
• Eastside Paddle Club: membership required
• The Fieldhouse @ Crossover
• Mary Moore: first come first serve (bring net)
• Pan Am
• The Pitch
• Rosewood: first come first serve 
• South Austin Rec Center (SARC): first come first serve (bring net)
• Vets Park Cedar Park (TR code: Vets)

Non-binary players are invited to register in whichever events they want to play in. Unfortunately, Pickleball Brackets (registration platform) forces players to choose a gender. Austin Deaf Pickleball is committed to inclusion and will allow players to choose whichever events they believe is the best fit for them.

When you register for our tournament, select “I NEED” a partner so people can contact you directly to discuss. Learn more how here.

Appreciate your eagerness! Email austindeafpb@gmail.com and we’ll get back to you. There will be different committees that cover different aspects of the tournament.