Hello all and welcome to the inaugural Night Owls Pickleball league. The first round of matches kick off on Monday 18th at 8.30pm.

There will be 12 players present at this first night and I will be there to oversee the admin side, hand out the Penn 26 balls and also keep things running smoothly. I will not be involved in contentious decisions or refereeing of any sort – this must be done by the players on court.

Once the second week kicks off, all of the players will have played once and therefore management of game nights will be your own responsibility.

Playing Rules: We will follow the USPA rules for game play. There will be a different scoring system to what you are used too. Instead of sets, we will be playing 15 minute games. At the end of the 15 minutes (recorded by a visible digital timer) the total score will be recorded. It may be 25-12 or 10-10, so it is fair to say that every point counts.  Here are some important points to consider:

• The team that wins will gain 3 points (each player) for the league ladder.
• If a game ends in a draw, all four of the players will be awarded 1 point each.
• Total amount of points scored and concede will be recorded for every player. If two players amass the same amount of points – their point difference will be used to determine the league positions.
• Contentious calls must be sorted out between the four players on the court. Please do not involve anyone else. For a ball to be called out – it must be clearly out and shouted ‘out’ at the time. Please show sportspersonship and be the bigger person for contentious shouts. Play let if you all can’t decide. Scores must be called out before the ball is served.
• Foot faults – these should be called by the player (or partner) who commits them. Again, be the type of player who can admit to their own faults.
• No time outs are allowed and time wasting is considered against the spirit of the league.
• If there is more than 5 seconds left on the timer when the last play finishes – the next serving player must serve one more ball even if the timer is up when they do so. This is a measure to stop time wasting and create fairness.
• If a player is late for a match – the opposing team will gain a point for every minute until they arrive.
• There will be a 5 minute warmup time before the first match. The first match will be begin at 8.35pm. There will be 2 minutes break between games for refreshments and toilet breaks.
• This is be timed by a visible digital interval timer in the hall. 
• In the unfortunate case of an injury to a player – the score will be recorded at the end time of the game and we will endeavour to replay the missed matches at another game night. 

We have 17 players in the league, meaning that out of the 14 weeks of the season, you will play 10 game nights. Each player will play 48 games over the season (5 games a night, 3 games on the final game night when all players will be present).

I will publish league standings each week on the WhatsApp group. 

The players who are playing each game night will be announced via the group chat on the Tuesday before the game night – then the fixtures will be announced on the morning of the Monday game night. If you are unable to make it to game night due to a last minute issue – please try and line up your own substitute who will replace you. If that doesn’t work out – contact the group chat and we will try and find a replacement for you. All games your ‘sub’ are included in count towards your league points tally. 

I am using an app called MatchUp! which is available on iOS only. It randomly picks the doubles for the matches and we will enter the scores into the app on the game night. It will produce the league table based on the scores.

If there are any particular weeks that you know you can’t play between now and the 18th December – please private message me and I’ll note them down.

To save on accounts admin we will be taking court time payments upfront for half of the league campaign. The second payment will be taken at the half way stage. Please note – all charges for the league have been used to cover expenses, this is non profit making scheme. 

Any questions – private message me and I’ll get back to you ASAP. We all suffer from WhatsApp group chat overload – so please read through all of the information here to check over details and if there is something I have missed please contact me.