The United Pickleball Association (UPA) and UPA Pro Player Committee President Zane Navratil have established the UPA Player Fining Committee in an effort to bring more clarity and transparency to the fining process.

The committee will oversee the fining guidelines and amounts for specific offenses related to player conduct but will not be involved in any contract-based issues.

Although Navratil was instrumental in the committee’s organization, he will not be a member. That responsibility has been given to pro player Allyce Jones, PPA Tour COO Conner Ogden, and senior pro Steve Deakin.

“The goal of the committee is to actually protect the players, as well as implement certain things like fines for cheating and whatnot,” Navratil explained. “The idea was basically that fines had previously come out of thin air. Some of them are codified in the [PPA Tournament Handbook], and some aren’t.”

The committee’s first task is going through the handbook and evaluating the fines and regulations that are already in place.

That aforementioned PPA Tournament Handbook outlines several different infractions that can result in a player being fined: late withdrawals, no-shows, inappropriate apparel, and a myriad of general player conduct violations (think paddle abuse, vulgar language, etc.)

One unregulated area that is not explicitly addressed in the handbook is cheating.

Accountability for bad line calls has continued to stay at the forefront of the pro game in 2025, and Navratil expects the committee to face this issue head-on in the coming months.

“One of the biggest priorities is putting in place a policy regarding cheating, and this is absolutely coming,” he affirmed. “I think if you asked players, over 90% would want some policy to deter cheating.”

For now, though, the committee, which was formed in November, is focused on evaluating the handbook.

“The goal at the start is to try and get the systems in place. Let’s build the handbook and get that to a spot we’re all comfortable with. Then, as new issues come up or as the committee foresees issues, they will create policies for that. We’re just trying to get away from the one-off fines coming out of nowhere,” Navratil said. “We want to have fines that make sense and that pass the sniff test from the player side.”

Be on the lookout for more clarity in player fines coming in 2026.