Paddlewar

Stackup Solutions helped PaddleWar replace spreadsheets with a production-grade, multi-tenant league platform powering modern racket sports competitions.

• Industry: Sports & Recreation
• Platform: Web (Laravel + InertiaJS)
• Audience: Public-facing consumer platform
• Users: Players, League Admins, Organizations, Facilities
• Live Since: 2+ years in production

Key Outcomes

• Centralized league operations across multiple independent leagues
• Automated scheduling with real-world constraints
• Secure, compliant annual membership payments
• AI-powered player rating recalculations post-match

Background

PaddleWar is a consumer-facing platform designed to modernize how recreational and competitive paddle sports leagues are run.

Before PaddleWar, league organizers relied heavily on Google Sheets to manage schedules, player rosters, payments, and communications. As leagues grew, this approach became brittle—introducing errors, delays, and mounting frustration from both administrators and players.

PaddleWar LLC set out to build a system that could scale across leagues, reduce operational overhead, and deliver a better experience for everyone involved—without sacrificing flexibility.

The Challenge

Business Challenges

• Scheduling matches manually across courts, facilities, and rest constraints
• Collecting annual membership payments outside a centralized system
• Increasing player complaints due to errors and poor communication
• Inability to scale operations beyond a handful of leagues

Operational Pain Points

• No data isolation between leagues
• High admin workload for every season setup
• Refunds, cancellations, and partial seasons handled manually
• Email communication fragmented and inconsistent

Technical Challenges

• Designing a multi-tenant architecture for independent leagues
• Building a scheduling engine that respected real-world constraints
• Ensuring payment security and compliance
• Integrating AI-driven player ratings without disrupting core workflows

The Solution

Stackup Solutions partnered with PaddleWar to design and build a production-ready league management platform optimized for real-world sports operations.

Platform Architecture

• Web-only application built with Laravel + InertiaJS
• Multi-tenant data model ensuring strict league isolation
• Role-based access across:
  • Players
  • Admins
  • Organizations
  • Facilities

Scheduling Engine

• On-demand schedule generation
• Algorithm adapted and extended to handle:
  • Home vs away balance
  • Court availability across facilities
  • Mandatory rest periods between matches
• Designed as one of the most technically complex components of the system

Player Ratings & AI

• Initial player ratings entered by users
• Post-match rating recalculations handled by an external AI backend engine
• Asynchronous integration to avoid blocking core workflows
• Automated updates surfaced back into league standings

Payments & Compliance

• Stripe integration for secure annual membership payments
• Support for:
  • Refunds
  • Partial seasons
  • Cancellations
• Compliance and security built directly into payment flows

Communication & Automation

• Google SMTP powering:
  • Transactional alerts
  • League and schedule notifications
• Reduced manual follow-ups and player confusion

Implementation Process

Phase 1: Foundation

• Replaced spreadsheet-based workflows with a centralized platform
• Implemented core user roles and permissions
• Established multi-tenant architecture

Phase 2: Scheduling & Payments

• Built and validated the scheduling engine under real league constraints
• Integrated Stripe with edge-case handling
• Automated membership lifecycle management

Phase 3: Intelligence & Scale

• Connected external AI rating engine
• Optimized performance for peak league seasons
• Hardened security and operational workflows

Results & Impact

After two years in production, PaddleWar now operates as a scalable league management system capable of supporting multiple independent leagues simultaneously.

Key Impacts

• Eliminated spreadsheet-driven scheduling and payment workflows
• Reduced administrative overhead for league operators
• Improved player trust through accurate scheduling and transparent ratings
• Enabled PaddleWar LLC to scale operations without linear increases in staff