Format & Rules

Format

• 2 separate levels – Premier and Challenger (see details on levels below).

• 8 teams in each level.

• A team consists of 2 female and 2 male players. Note: 3 additional players per team are allowed as substitutes. See below for more information on substitutes.

• Each team plays every other team once over 3 separate Sundays. Click here for schedule.

  • • Each match consists of 4 games – Women’s doubles, Men’s doubles and 2 Mixed doubles games.

• The top four teams at the end of the league stage then advance to Championship Sunday to decide the league champions, 2nd, and 3rd place teams. The bottom four teams play against each other to decide the 5th to 8th place standing. Click here for schedule.

• All scores will be entered into DUPR by the league organizer. DUPR is the ratings partner of Calgary Pickleball League.

• All players must have a DUPR account with a minimum of 5 validated matches. 

• Each team must have a team captain and team name.

 Premier level is a DUPR 18 event

• DUPR ratings of all four players in a team cannot add up to more than 18 at the time of registration. For example – A team may have all 4 players with a rating of 4.5 or 2 players with 4.75 and 2 players with 4.25 rating or any other combination provided the combined rating is below 18. 

• To ensure competitive play, the combined rating of all 4 players cannot be less than 16. For example, a team with all 4 players with a rating of 3.90 will be ineligible to play in the premier level as their combined rating will be less than 16.

Challenger level is a DUPR 16 event

• DUPR ratings of all four players in a team cannot add up to more than 16 at the time of registration. For example – A team may have all 4 players with a rating of 4.0 or 2 players with 4.25 and 2 players with 3.75 rating or any other combination provided the combined rating is below 16.

• To ensure competitive play, the combined rating of all 4 players cannot be less than 14. For example, a team with all 4 players with a rating of 3.40 will be ineligible to play in the challenger level as their combined rating will be less than 14.

Scoring

• Each game will be played according to MLP style rally scoring format.

• Games will be first to 21 points, win by 2, no cap.

• All teams are expected to know the rules of MLP style rally scoring. Teams are encouraged to refer to MLP games on YouTube to refresh themselves on the rules. Note: Unlike MLP, freeze rule will not be implemented and drop serve will be allowed.

• Each team is allowed one 1-minute time out per game. During the time out, teams are allowed to switch the position of their players. They must inform the other team of this change. Remember you can switch players only during the time out called by your team.

Dreambreaker (Tie-Breaker)

• If the two teams are tied 2-2 after 4 games, MLP style singles dreambreaker will be used to decide the team that wins the match.

• In MLP style singles dreambreaker, all four teammates take turns playing singles for 4 points at a time. After a total of four points are scored in the rally scoring, the next two players will play singles and so on until the score reaches 21. 

• Dreambreaker winner is the first to 21 points, win by 2, no cap.

The Toss

• At the beginning of a match, toss will be conducted by the team captains.

• The winning captain can choose one of the 4 options below. The other team captain then chooses one option among the remaining 3 options and so on until all the choices are exhausted.

  • • To play men’s or women’s doubles game first.

    • To react to other team’s mixed doubles pairs.

    • To serve or return.

    • To choose which end to play.

• The dreambreaker will consist of another toss for the below:

  • • The team that loses the toss announces their first singles player first. 

    • Then the team that wins the toss announces their first singles player. These steps then repeat until the order of all 4 players on each team is announced. 

    • Next, the team that loses the toss decides if they want to serve/receive. 

    • Next, the team that wins the toss decides which end to play.

League Points Scoring

• One point will be awarded for each game win.

• Six points will be awarded for each match win. For example – If a team wins all 4 games in a match, they will be awarded 10 points (4 for game wins and 6 for match win).

• The four teams that accumulate the highest number of points at the end of league stage will advance to Championship Sunday for championship play offs. The bottom four teams play against each other to decide the 5th to 8th place standing.

• If two or more teams are tied on points at the end of league stage, head-to-head result will be used to decide which team advances to play offs. 

Substitutes

• Each team is allowed up to three substitutes to fill in for other team members provided the team DUPR remains within the permissible range for each level.

• A player cannot substitute for more than one team. 

• The team captain must notify the league organizer at least 3 days prior to the match the substitute will be used in.

• The league organizer will take the final decision if a substitute is allowed or not.