If you have ever shown up to a doubles game and immediately realised you were either coaching three beginners or scrambling to keep up with three competitive players, you already understand why Padelya cares about levels.
The wrong level mismatch ruins a game. The beginner does not improve because the rallies last one shot. The strong players are not challenged. Everyone leaves with a worse experience than they would have had with friends. So Padelya does two things: it asks you what you actually do on court to place you, then it lets your results correct that placement over time.
Where your first level comes from
Not from a self-rating. A short technical questionnaire asks what you do, stroke by stroke: do you hold the rally, do you play the ball off the back glass, do you hit a bandeja, how often do you play, how long have you been playing. You never see a number while you answer, and you are never asked to name a level.
Your technical level is then the median of the axes you answered — not the sum. That choice matters: one flattering answer does not lift the result, one weakness does not sink it, and adding questions makes the measurement finer instead of mechanically higher (the known defect of questionnaires that stack bonuses). A few modifiers apply on top — how long you have played, how often, whether you get through rounds in competition — and prudent caps keep a four-month-old player from landing in the advanced bands.
The result is written with a low confidence: a starting point, not a verdict.
How it moves: Glicko
Glicko is a rating system originally designed for chess by Mark Glickman. It does two things that a simple label does not. First, it gives you a numerical rating that updates after every match — points up when you beat stronger players, points down when you lose to weaker ones. Second, it tracks how confident the system is in your rating: five matches leave a wide uncertainty band, fifty leave a tight one, and the system uses both numbers to decide how far your rating should move.
On Padelya, every match with a score entered moves your level, weighted by the average level of the team across the net — your partner does not enter your own calculation. Your first ten matches move you faster, so the system places you quickly. After a match, the other players can also rate your level; we keep the median of what they say and pull your number toward it — a long way while your confidence is low, almost not at all once it is established. Peer feedback can never push confidence past 95%, so match results always keep the last word.
You can also lower your level yourself from My level on your profile if you were placed too high. You cannot raise it — going up is played on court.
The six bands
The rating lives on a 0-to-7 scale, and we map it onto six visible bands so you never have to read a number to know who you are paired with:
- Beginner — learning the rules and rallying. 0 to 2.
- Intermediate — confident rallies, casual play. 2 to 3.
- Experienced — regular partners, established routine. 3 to 4.
- Advanced — competitive, club-tier results. 4 to 5.
- Very advanced — strong club and regional level. 5 to 6.
- Expert — federation ranking or pro level. 6 to 7.
The band is the word you see everywhere: in the filters, on the match cards, on your profile. Open matches let the host set a band — or accept all levels — and players outside it cannot join. That keeps the experience honest for both sides: the host gets the game they wanted, and the joiner is not out-classed.
Why not just a self-declared 1 to 5
We tried the short version first: one question, four answers, a number written straight to the profile. It did not survive contact with reality — "I play tournaments" covers everything from a first club event to the national circuit, and a self-rating stays a self-rating however you phrase the question. Asking what you do instead of what you are is slower to answer and far harder to game.
What you should not read into your rating
Two things. First, the rating is for matchmaking, not a leaderboard — we do not show city-wide rankings, because that would invite people to optimise for the number rather than for a good game. Second, the confidence band matters: if you have played three matches, your rating is mostly uncertainty, so do not be discouraged when it moves around. After ten or fifteen matches it settles, and it tends to be a sharper picture of where you are than your own self-perception.
If you ever feel the system is mis-rating you, head to the help center and write to us. The model is not magic, and we would rather hear about a real edge case than have you grumble at a number on screen.
Now go play. The rating updates whether or not you are watching it.