In this paper we consider how the following three objects are related: (i) the dual polar graphs; (ii) the quantum algebra U q (sl 2 );(iii) the Leonard systems of dual q-Krawtchouk type. For convenience we first describe how (ii) and (iii) are related. For a given Leonard system of dual q-Krawtchouk type, we obtain two U q (sl 2 )-module structures on its underlying vector space. We now describe how (i) and (iii) are related. Let denote a dual polar graph. Fix a vertexx of and let T = T(x) denote the corresponding subconstituent algebra. By definition T is generated by the adjacency matrix A of and a certain diagonal matrix A * = A * (x) called the dual adjacency matrix that corresponds to x. By construction the algebra T is semisimple. We show that for each irreducible T-module W the restrictions of A and A * to W induce a Leonard system of dual qKrawtchouk type. We now describe how (i) and (ii) are related. We obtain two U q (sl 2 )-module structures on the standard module of . We describe how these two U q (sl 2 )-module structures are related. Each of these U q (sl 2 )-module structures induces a C-algebra homomorphism U q (sl 2 ) → T. We show that in each case T is generated by the image together with the center of T. Using the combinatorics of we obtain a generating set L, F, R, K of T along with some attractive relations satisfied by these generators.