Terms of Service

These Terms of Service (“Terms”) are an agreement between you and Jason Bernados, an individual developer based in Cagayan de Oro City, Misamis Oriental, Philippines, who operates Athlos (“Athlos”, “we”, “us”). They cover the Athlos website and app and everything you do on them (the “Service”).

By creating an account, or by tapping “I agree” when asked, you accept these Terms and our Privacy Policy. If you don't agree, don't use the Service. We record which version you accepted and when.

• You must be at least 13 years old. We delete accounts we learn belong to someone younger.
• If you are 13 to 17, you may use Athlos only with the consent of a parent or legal guardian, who accepts these Terms on your behalf and is responsible for your use of the Service, including any payments. You confirm this consent when you accept these Terms.
• One person, one account. Accounts are personal and may not be sold, shared or transferred.
• You may not use Athlos if we have previously banned you, or if the law prohibits you from using it.

• Give accurate information and keep it current. You are responsible for everything done through your account, so keep your password private.
• ID verification is optional but required for rated matches, tournaments, messaging and some other features. You may only submit your own valid ID. Submitting someone else's ID, or a fake or altered one, is fraud: we will ban the account and may report it to the authorities.
• Your Athlos ID and Athlos Pass (and, for officials, your Referee ID and card) identify you. They are personal and non-transferable. Letting someone else use your pass, or using someone else's, is prohibited.
• Tell us right away at athlosph@outlook.com if you think your account has been used without your permission.

Athlos is a platform for recording pickleball matches and ratings, running and joining clubs and tournaments, checking in at venues, and connecting with other players.

• Athlos does not own or operate venues, supervise play, provide equipment, coaching, medical services or insurance, or organize events, unless an event page says Athlos itself is the organizer.
• Athlos ratings, levels, rankings and referee certifications are Athlos's own. They are not official rankings or licenses of any national or international pickleball governing body, and Athlos is not affiliated with any such body unless we say so.
• We may add, change or remove features. We'll give reasonable notice before removing a paid feature you are currently paying for.

Pickleball involves physical exertion and a risk of injury, including sprains, falls, being hit by a ball or paddle, heat illness and, rarely, serious injury. You take part in any match, event or activity you find, join or record through Athlos voluntarily and at your own risk. Check with a doctor if you have any health concern, warm up, use proper footwear and eye protection, and stay hydrated.

Venues, organizers and the people you play with are responsible for the conditions they control. Athlos doesn't inspect venues or vet players beyond the checks described in these Terms. To the extent the law allows, you release Athlos from claims arising from injury, loss or damage that happens while playing or attending events, except where it is caused by our fraud, bad faith or gross negligence, which the law does not allow us to exclude. For players under 18, the parent or guardian accepts these risks on the player's behalf.

• Only organizers verified by Athlos can create tournaments. Organizers are independent: they are not our employees or agents, and each organizer is solely responsible for their event: its rules, schedule, venue and permits, safety, prizes, and conduct at the venue.
• Entry fees are paid directly to the organizer (for example to their GCash). Athlos does not collect, hold or transfer entry fees and is not a party to that payment. Refunds, cancellations and prize disputes are between you and the organizer, although we may help with records we hold (payment references and confirmations).
• Organizers who see players' real names, payment references or check-in details may use them only to run that event, and must keep them confidential and comply with the Data Privacy Act. Misuse is grounds for removal of organizer status and a ban.
• Organizers must describe events honestly, including fees, formats and prizes, and must not cancel paid events without refunding players under the terms they published.

• Referee certification on Athlos is based on a rules quiz, references and the information applicants provide, reviewed by Athlos. It recognizes experience on our platform; it is not a guarantee of any official's competence and not a license from a governing body. Certifications last one year and may be revoked.
• In tournaments, the winner reports the result and a tournament referee confirms it. Players cannot confirm tournament results themselves. Officials' decisions on scores are final within Athlos, subject only to the dispute process in the app.
• Officials are not employed by Athlos. Organizers and officials arrange any payment for officiating between themselves.

Anyone may join clubs. Creating a club is free during the beta; later it may require a one-time setup fee and Athlos Pro. Club owners and moderators manage their members, matches, announcements and club chat, and must follow these Terms when doing so. A club owner is responsible for their club's content and moderation.

• Prices are shown in Philippine pesos before you pay. We may change prices for future purchases; a change never affects time you have already paid for.
• Athlos Pro is a pass for a fixed period shown at purchase. It does not renew automatically. Paying again adds time on top of any time you have left.
• The club setup fee is a one-time fee that lets you create one club.
• When you pay by GCash or QR Ph, you send the payment and a reference; we activate your purchase after we confirm it against our records, usually within 24 hours. Never send your PIN or one-time codes to anyone, including us. We never ask for them.
• Refunds: payments are for digital services delivered immediately on activation and are non-refundable, except that we will refund you if (a) we cannot activate what you paid for, (b) you were charged twice or the wrong amount, or (c) you paid a club setup fee and did not create a club, if you ask within 30 days. Nothing in these Terms limits any right you have under the Consumer Act of the Philippines (Republic Act No. 7394) or other law.
• If we ban an account for breaking these Terms, unused Pro time and fees are forfeited, to the extent the law allows.

• Who you book with. When you book a court, your contract for the court time is with the venue. Athlos provides the booking system and records the booking. The venue runs the court, sets its prices and hours, and is responsible for the facility and its staff.
• Holds and payment. A booking holds the slot for the time shown. You pay the venue directly by GCash (Athlos does not receive your court payment today) and upload your receipt. Booking fee: each booking made in the app carries an Athlos booking fee of ₱25, once per checkout even when you book several courts. It is shown before you book and included in the same GCash payment to the venue, which passes it on to Athlos. Bookings made at the venue's desk carry no fee. A hold that isn't paid in time is released automatically. If you paid after your hold ran out, send the receipt anyway: you keep the slot if it is still free; otherwise you are owed a full refund.
• Automatic refund rules. Refunds are decided by fixed rules, not case by case:
  • the venue declines or cancels your booking, or doesn't confirm your receipt before play time: 100%, booking fee included;
  • you paid after your hold expired and the slot was taken: 100%, booking fee included;
  • you cancel before the day of play (Philippine time), or while the venue is still reviewing your receipt: 100% of the court price; the booking fee is not refunded;
  • you cancel on the day of play, or don't show up: no refund.
• Who pays the refund. Until Athlos processes court payments itself, the venue holds your money and must send any refund due to your GCash within 48 hours. If it doesn't, the venue automatically stops receiving app bookings until it pays. When the venue marks a refund sent you can confirm it or tell us it didn't arrive; a refund you don't dispute within 5 days is treated as received. Only disputes are reviewed by a person. Athlos is not the payer of venue refunds, but we will use these tools and, where needed, remove a venue that doesn't pay.
• Fake receipts. Uploading a receipt for a payment you didn't make, or claiming a refund you aren't owed, is fraud. We ban the account and may report it.
• Venue chat. You can message a venue from its page. Messages go to the venue's single account, which the venue may share with its staff. Don't send passwords, PINs or one-time codes in chat.
• Open play. Venues and clubs post open play sessions and run them. A venue's fee is paid to the venue at the venue; ask the venue about refunds if you can't attend. If you join and can't make it, leave so the next player on the waitlist gets your spot. At a club's session, the club's staff check you in by scanning your Athlos Pass and call games from a queue; when you're called, accept within 3 minutes or you go to the back of the queue. Open play is casual unless a certified Athlos referee officiates the session.
• Live streams. Organizers, venues and clubs can show a Facebook or YouTube live video on Athlos. The host is responsible for the video: they must have the right to film and stream at the venue, tell players they are being streamed, and get a parent's or guardian's permission before streaming minors. The scoreboard under a stream is kept by the host; a tournament's official result is still confirmed the usual way. Report a stream that breaks these rules and we will take it down.
• Venue ratings. Only registered accounts with a confirmed email can rate a venue, once per venue. Rate honestly from your own experience. We may remove ratings that are fake, abusive, or posted by someone connected to the venue or a competitor.

You agree not to:

• Harass, threaten, bully, stalk, dox or discriminate against anyone, or post hateful, violent, sexual or obscene content.
• Contact a minor for any sexual or exploitative purpose, or groom, solicit or share sexual content involving a minor. We have zero tolerance: we ban the account, preserve the evidence and report it to the Philippine National Police, the NBI and other authorities as the law requires.
• Impersonate anyone, create fake or duplicate accounts, or pretend to be a verified organizer, referee or Athlos staff.
• Post other people's personal information, or photos of other people without their permission.
• Send spam, scams, chain messages or unsolicited advertising.
• Use Athlos to organize or promote illegal gambling, including betting on matches.
• Scrape, copy or bulk-collect data; access accounts or areas you aren't allowed to; probe, overload or disrupt our systems; or reverse engineer the Service, except as the law expressly allows.
• Use the Service for anything unlawful, or help anyone else break these rules.

There is no tolerance for objectionable content or abusive users. You can block any player, and report any player from their profile or any message from the chat. We review reports within 24 hours, remove content that breaks these rules and suspend or ban the accounts responsible.

• Report only matches that actually happened, with the true score and the real players. Fixing results, “sandbagging” (playing below your level to get a lower rating), using another person's account to play or report, and colluding to move ratings are prohibited.
• A match is rated only when a certified Athlos referee officiates it: the referee records or confirms the result. Tournaments and open play run by clubs, organizers or venues without a certified referee are casual: they are recorded but never change ratings.
• We and the relevant officials may review, correct or void any match, adjust ratings, and remove achievements when the rules are broken or a result can't be verified. Ratings are calculated automatically from confirmed results and can change.
• Disputes about a result must go through the dispute process in the app. Officials' rulings there are final within Athlos.

• Messaging, follows and Paddle Taps are for ID-verified players. Messages from people you don't follow back arrive as requests you can decline.
• Players under 18 can only be messaged or tapped by people they mutually follow (verified organizers may reach certified referees to staff events).
• Messages are private between the people in the chat (or the members of a club chat) but are not end-to-end encrypted. Athlos admins read a message only when someone reports it, or when the law requires it.
• You can block anyone. Report anything that worries you from the message itself, or email athlosph@outlook.com.

You keep ownership of what you post: photos, messages, bios, announcements, evidence photos and so on. You give Athlos a non-exclusive, royalty-free license to host, store, display and process that content only to operate and improve the Service and to enforce these Terms. This license ends when you delete the content or your account, except for content others rely on (such as confirmed match results, shown as “Deleted player”), content we must keep by law, and copies in backups until they expire.

You are responsible for what you post and confirm you have the right to post it.

We may remove content, limit features, freeze, suspend or permanently ban accounts, revoke verification, organizer or referee status, and void results if we reasonably believe these Terms or the law were broken, or to protect players. Where it's safe and practical, we'll tell you why. You can appeal by emailing athlosph@outlook.com within 30 days; a different admin will review it where possible.

The Athlos name, logo, design and software belong to us or our licensors. These Terms give you a personal, revocable, non-transferable right to use the Service as intended, and no other rights. Don't use our name or logo to suggest we endorse you or your event without our written permission.

The Service uses third-party services, including sign-in with Google, Facebook and Apple, GCash and other QR Ph payment apps, map links, and our hosting and database providers. Your use of those services is also subject to their own terms. We aren't responsible for their availability or actions.

We work hard to keep Athlos accurate, secure and available, but the Service is provided “as is” and “as available”. To the extent the law allows, we don't promise that it will be uninterrupted or error-free, that ratings or match data will be complete or exactly right, or that other users, organizers, officials or venues will behave as they should. We are not responsible for what other users say or do, on or off the Service.

To the fullest extent permitted by Philippine law:

• Athlos is not liable for indirect, incidental, special or consequential damages, or for lost profits, data or opportunities.
• Athlos's total liability to you for all claims about the Service is limited to the greater of (a) the amount you paid Athlos in the 12 months before the claim, and (b) one thousand pesos (₱1,000).
• These limits do not apply to liability that cannot be limited by law, including liability for fraud, bad faith, gross negligence or wilful misconduct, and your rights under the Data Privacy Act and consumer protection laws.

To the extent the law allows, you agree to cover Athlos's reasonable losses and costs (including reasonable legal fees) arising from a claim by someone else caused by your breach of these Terms, your content, or an event you organize, except to the extent the loss was caused by us.

You can delete your account at any time in Settings. We may end or suspend your account as described in Moderation above, or if we stop offering the Service (with reasonable notice where possible). Sections that by their nature should survive, including those on liability, disputes and content others rely on, continue after your account ends.

We may update these Terms as Athlos changes or the law requires. For a significant change, we'll notify you in the app and by email and ask you to accept the new version before you continue; where practical, at least 7 days before it takes effect. Every version is dated and numbered. If you don't agree with a change, you can delete your account before it takes effect.

These Terms are governed by the laws of the Republic of the Philippines. If you have a complaint, email athlosph@outlook.com first; we'll try in good faith to resolve it within 30 days. If we can't, the courts of Cagayan de Oro City have jurisdiction, without taking away your right to go to the National Privacy Commission, the Department of Trade and Industry or any other authority, or to sue where the law lets you.

• These Terms and the Privacy Policy are the whole agreement between you and Athlos about the Service.
• If any part is found invalid or unenforceable, the rest stays in effect, and the invalid part is applied as far as the law allows.
• If we don't enforce a right right away, we haven't given it up.
• We may transfer these Terms to a successor that takes over Athlos (for example a company set up to run it) and will notify you if we do. You may not transfer them.
• These Terms are written in English, which prevails over any translation.

Jason Bernados, Cagayan de Oro City, Misamis Oriental, Philippines. Email: athlosph@outlook.com.