Pickleball Open Play Rules

Adult Open Play

General Guidelines for Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays

Intended for adults (age 16 or older).

To Begin

Place your paddle in one of the racks, stacking left to right.

Court Rotation

After your match, place your paddle back in the designated racks, “victors” or “challengers”, depending on the outcome of your match. When you re-enter the court, split up such that you play with a new partner.

Side Note: IF there is a court available, one court may be designated as the “competitive court” and can be used for twosomes playing/staying together. This will be dependent on court availability.

When courts are busy and we have a lot of players waiting, we will play to 9, so that the courts can turn over faster.
We may use the “developmental” rack for those players that are fairly new and need a less competitive court to improve their skills. We are assuming that these players have some familiarity with the game and scoring.

Etiquette

The spirit of Open Play is that everyone gets to play with different players in a recreational and fun setting. The objective of Open Play is to have people learn from playing with others. There is no rearranging of paddles so that people stick together.

If a “competitive court” is used, those players will use their own rack and monitor their own court.

Saturday Adult Open Play Rules

Saturday Open Play Pickleball is dedicated to all players who have had greater than an elementary level introduction to pickleball play, score keeping, etc. You will assess your own proficiency and can play on ANY court you wish. Here are guidelines:

Level 1 is the lower level player who already knows how to play and score but wants to improve their skills. Lessons are available at Wagon Wheel for true beginners.

Level 2 is the medium level player who has a bit more proficiency and skills.

Level 3 is the advanced level player, who maybe plays tournaments, and is strategically proficient.

No more than 4 courts will be dedicated to the Level 3 players. The remaining courts (usually 8) will accommodate the other skill level players and will be managed by a volunteer coordinator. Because there may be a smaller number of Level 3 players in attendance on any given Saturday, one or two courts assigned to Level 3 may be allocated to Levels 1 and 2. This will help manage crowding if there are not enough Level 3 players, which is rare.

The courts available for Level 1 and 2 players will also be dictated by the mix of players present on any given Saturday. Courts may be combined for Level 1 and 2 players. There are racks at each group of four courts to be used for stacking paddles. No paddle rearrangement please. As you enter the court you will play with four people and as you come off the court, VICTORS (winners) should stack on the left and CHALLENGERS (losers) should stack on the right. When you re-enter the court to play you will split and play with new people each time.

Even though the advanced courts will be self-regulating, this is still OPEN play but at a higher level of skill.

Winners will STAY on the court (you are not required to split) as the next twosome comes on to play.
The “losers” will exit the court and restack their paddles.
After the second win, players must exit the court and get into the regular paddle rotation with everyone else.

Courts will be rotated each Saturday so look for the sandwich board that designates which area is for advanced play.

We want to have fun, be inclusive, and play some good pickleball. Please remember that the people managing the courts are volunteers and be respectful!