Ready to shake things up on the court but not quite ready for a tournament?
Pickleball is all about fun and games but it doesn’t have to be the same old games over and over again!
There are fun twists and variations that you can do to keep things exciting...
Challenge Court
If you belong to a club or a group that organizes games and are looking to add an extra layer of “entertainment” for their players, a Challenge Court is a great option. The club that I’ve been overseeing is playing around with ways to ensure that players get challenging games.
We have been separating the courts roughly by experience but also decided to include the Challenger’s Court.
Before implementing this system I had experienced it at a location in California that had so many courts that the group was looking to add an extra option and not just the bin rotation system. I also recommended it to a small club that had a wide mix of skill levels.
We’re running this on days when we’re at maximum capacity (32 people) and only have 4 courts. Ideally, though, it's best to run this kind of court when you have 5 of them to utilize.
How it Works
The idea behind this concept is that two players can challenge two others to a game. The winning team will stay on the court for a second game and the next team in line challenges them.
In our case, a team cannot stay on the court for more than two games in a row, but the maximum can be set to another amount.
We found that most teams won’t actually want to stay on the court for more than two games (to 11, win by 2) because the idea is that they are getting good, competitive rallies; so they probably will want a break anyway.
If, after the first game, the team being challenged loses they come off the court and the new reigning team stays on – and no matter the outcome of the second game that team will come off because they’ve hit the maximum.
When a team wins for the second time in the row (thus, the team challenging loses) then both teams leave the court and the entire system resets itself.
This is always a great thing because you really don’t want a group of 4 occupying the court for more than 15-20 minutes at a time. If there are a lot of players then it’s good to set a limit to the games (either adjust the number of points to 9 instead of 11 and/or set a time limit).
The great thing about this option is that it’s not something that has to be implemented the entire session, it’s up to the organizers to decide whether there are enough people and there’s enough variety of skill levels to run the Challenger’s Court.
The other reason why it’s great is that it really provides a level of competition that some people are constantly looking for. Anyone can challenge anyone.
The first time we ran this at the club, a relatively new player to the game decided to shoot her shot and jump into the mix. She found a partner of a similar skill level and they decided to take on the winning team.
When it Doesn’t Work
- If people do not follow the “if you lose you come off” rule and decide to stay on and pretend like they won. If you don’t have enough courts or players.
- When a player wants to participate but can’t find a partner – we always recommend that a person finds a person before putting their paddle in line, the system really doesn’t work when there’s an odd number of paddles in the bucket.
Round Robin
This is a fun way to run organized because it can be as “for fun” or competitive as you want to make it. Essentially, “round robin” (RR) is a way of rotating individual players so that they are playing other individuals.
This can also be done in a team format, where teams will rotate and play one another. This option does require a bit more organization and pre-planning than the Challenge Court.
The Organizer
There needs to be someone to take the lead when trying out a round-robin. I’ve done RRs with one court and two or more courts as well.
Ideally, you want to run this with the exact amount of players required (ie. with two courts you will want eight players). Having an odd number (like nine or eleven players) is doable with one player or more having to rest during matches.
How it Works
For simplicity, we’re going to use two courts and eight players as an example. This RR will be individual-based, so the organizer will need to assign each person a participation number (one through eight).
Once they have that number the organization is pretty straightforward mainly due to the fact that there are plenty of online RR template generators that are free to use.
The image below is an example of an eight-team template with seven full rounds of games. Keep in mind “Team” can represent an individual or pair.
Photo credit: Print Your Brackets
An average game to 11 points, win by 2 is roughly 15 minutes. So, with only two courts/two matches running per round that’s approximately 30 minutes per round equaling 3.5 hours of playing.
If you have access to free courts then all you need are eight people with 3.5-4 hours of time, but if you have to pay for these courts then everyone should be expected to pitch in on the expense; either way, the organizer will have to take some time finding enough people to participate.
It’s very easy to increase the level of competitiveness in a round-robin: the organizer can calculate wins, losses, and overall points to determine the end rankings.
The more competitive you go the more intense the games will eventually get and there’s always an option to have a play-off situation too, to really determine a final winner or winning team. You can include prizes, awards or cash for the winners as well.
Byes
A bye is simply a break If and when you find yourself with an odd number of players or teams, or perhaps running with not enough courts for the amount of participants, the online generators will create a bye per person, which in my experience, everyone appreciates the break.
Mini Games
There are creative variations of pickleball that are a great option if you don’t have the resources or you’re part of a group of players who don't have the interest to try a Challenge Court or Round Robin. Last year, I wrote an article listing some of the Mini Games that I lean towards. You can check out that article here!
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