Despite pickleball’s historic growth over the past decade, the sport has faced a persistent challenge that could be prohibiting even further expansion: How to accurately rate players in a way that keeps games evenly matched and enhances the experience.

For Mike Barker, the solution didn’t exist – so he built one.

At first it started as a side-project to help organize matches at his four-court facility in Upstate New York. In order to make sure like-skilled players were on the courts with each other as much as possible, he teamed up with a programmer and algorithm specialists to create what would eventually be called VAIR, which stands for Visually Assessed International Rating.

The performance-based rating platform is designed to bring greater accuracy, transparency and structure to amateur and competitive play.

“As it started to grow and more people started using it, we realized how much more our system was capable of and what we could do with it on a larger scale,” Barker said.

Two years later, there are now thousands of players on the platform from across the U.S. and Canada, with more joining each day.

How it works – the VAIRified rating system

There has long been a fragmented ecosystem of ratings, leagues and tournament structures across all levels of pickleball. While multiple rating systems exist, many rely heavily on self-reported scores or limited datasets, often failing to capture the nuances of player performance across different formats, partners and competitive contexts.

For clubs and facilities, the consequences are tangible:

▪️ Mismatched play groups.
▪️ Frustration among recreational players.
▪️ Concerns around “sandbagging” in competitive environments.

“Most amateur players just want to fit in and play games where they belong,” Barker said. “It’s not fun for players to get thrown on a court together who aren’t at the same level. Our system is designed to solve that problem and help people enjoy the game as much as possible.”

VAIR uses skill assessment by trained experts alongside AI to combine “data science, probability theory and adaptive modeling to accurately account for age, gender, mixed play and wheelchair classifications.”

Players new to VAIR can start as either Recreational or VAIRified players, and the rating scale is familiar to most people – it goes from 2.000 to 8.000.

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The Recreational version is free, updating a player’s rating after each game to reflect performance. In order to get a VAIRified rating, players must have a significant number of games recorded across different formats (mixed doubles, gender doubles) and with different partners.

Alternatively, there are two ways players can get a VAIRified rating immediately:

VIDEO VAIRIFICATION

Submit a video to a VAIR Certified Rater, who will evaluate performance based on a number of factors and specific shots (serves, drops, drives, dinks, etc.). A scorecard is then created, and using AI a review is created that gives players comprehensive feedback on where they excel and areas for improvement. Get your Official VAIR Rating today.

DROP-IN VAIRIFICATION

Reserve a 1-2 hour session with multiple players and a VAIR Certified Rater. Similar to the video evaluation, the rater will provide an initial evaluation and AI will scrutinize the scorecard. Sign up for a drop-in VAIRification session today.

“Our raters are all very experienced players – 4.5 and above – who really know the game of pickleball well,” Barker said. “They know what to look for in a player, and then we have our AI system to help generate a score. It gives people an accurate starting point, and then their results will take them up or down from that point.”

Building a multi-dimensional player profile

Unlike single-number rating systems, VAIR generates a comprehensive profile for each player, including:

▪️ Age-based ratings
▪️ Gender doubles and mixed doubles ratings
▪️ Singles ratings
▪️ Recreational vs. competitive distinctions
▪️ An overall composite rating

The platform also includes dedicated classifications for adaptive athletes and serves as the official rating system of the United States Wheelchair Pickleball Association. There are also plans for VAIR to expand into other sports, including padel, badminton, skyball and table tennis.

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Adding context to results

Barker said the VAIR algorithm focuses on performance relative to expectations. By combining predicted outcomes with actual score margins, VAIR creates a dynamic rating environment that reflects competitive reality.

Barker said the ultimate goal of VAIR is to create competitive balance within a group or club, eliminate sandbagging concerns and help players track progress.

“Players don’t just want a number,” he said. “They want to know where they belong — and they want to feel confident that it’s accurate.”