Paddletrac is a mobile application designed to facilitate the return of lost pickle ball paddles by allowing users to generate a QR code tag for the butt cap of their paddles. The QR code allows the scanner to reach out to the owner with their information in order for them to return the paddle and maybe play a game in the future. Paddletrac also uses the Google API and geolocation to determine the number of available courts on nearby pickleball courts at a given time. Giving the user the ability to find empty courts for them to play on, or crowded courts with plenty of players for them to play with.

The Problem

An older friend from pickle ball approached us with the original problem. Spending a lot of time at the pickle ball court he noticed that paddles are often misplaced or left behind, causing inconvenience and frustration for players. This is unique to pickle ball because part of the culture of the game is leaving a paddle in a slot alongside other players paddles in order to wait in line for a pickup game. Doing some research of our own we found that 64% of players had misplaced their paddle at some point, had left it behind at a court, or had their paddle taken from their slot by another player accidentally. 87% had found a lost paddle on the court and expressed a desire to return the paddle to it’s original owner. Another problem we discovered among this group was that people had a hard time finding pickle ball courts near them that were not overcrowded, where they would have to wait for a long time to play. Approaching another group with the same problem, 50% of players said they would like to see a little bit of a crowd so they could go to the courts alone and pick up a game if they wanted to.

The Solution

Paddletrac is a low cost solution to help the pickle ball community return lost paddles. It creates a form of insurance for your paddle by shipping a waterproof QR-code tag to the user that can be attached to the butt cap of their paddle. Paddletrac also addresses the problem of overcrowded or empty courts by showing the user all of the nearby pickleball courts and predicting how many players are on a court at a given time.

A strong Community

When you sign up for Paddletrac a landing page is generated for you which allows visitors to reach out to you with their information. These notifications only come to you through the app and do not make your contact information public. A QR code is generated for you as well which leads to your unique landing page. You are immediately prompted to ship a waterproof tag containing this QR code to yourself upon creating an account which can be easily adhered to the butt cap of your pickle ball paddle. Paddles are often taken by mistake or discovered by another member of the tight-knit pickle ball community. This provides players with the opportunity to connect and support one another.

Finding a court

Pickle ball is America’s fastest growing sport in 2023. There are 36.5 million players in the United States and only 10,320 pickle ball courts available to the public. Paddletrac allows you to locate nearby pickleball courts you might not have known about and tell from a glance how many people are playing at the court right now. Using the Google API we are able to tell how busy a location might be at a given time, but using voluntary geolocation we can make this data more accurate. Paddletrac shows how many players can fit on a court and predicts how many players are currently filling those spaces. To make the data even more accurate we included the ability to check into courts when you arrive. Even if someone doesn’t turn on the location services on their phone they can still help to distribute the load of the pickleball craze.