Some Fun Ideas For a Pickleball Party
Oftentimes you might find yourself in a situation where you have a bunch of people wanting to play pickleball, but all of them are of different ages and skill levels. Well, in that case, why not have a pickleball party? Here are some funny pickleball party ideas, with no limit to how many players you can have!
Rotating Partners
This is one of the best ways of playing if most of the players don’t know each other. Teams of two are randomly picked (this can be done in any way, may it be through drawing names, or by using an app) and pitted against each other. The individual point every player scores are written down and the match is played as a regular doubles match would.
After everyone has finished playing one match, teams are again picked at random, and the entire process is repeated. This is done until either one player reaches a specific score that’s already determined before, or there has been a set number of times the process has been repeated. For example, if it’s decided that the players will rotate five times, after which the party will end. Of course, the player with the most points at the end wins.
Mixed Rotating Partners
This party idea is more or less the same as the rotating partners one, with one key difference. Instead of the partners being completely random, two different pools of players are made. The first one consists of players that are skilled and experienced, while the second one has those that are beginners or haven’t been playing for too long.
So partners are picked at random, but every team always has one player from pool A and one from pool B. Similar to the above idea, the individual points every player scores are written down, and the match is played similarly to how any double match would. After every player has played a match, the partners are randomly picked again and the process repeats itself.
When the party’s over (Either when the time runs out, or a certain number of loops have been completed), instead of there being only one winner, there are two. One from pool A and one from pool B. This makes the tournament more fun and fair for everyone involved.
Mixer
Another very good tournament idea if you’re looking to introduce people to one another is the mixer. Instead of making two pools determined by skill level, the two pools are determined by gender. Every team is made randomly, but they always have one man and one woman.
Just like every other idea, the points are written down individually for every player, and the partners are randomized again after a match has ended. However, instead of a tournament, this idea is more of a party with the main goal being to introduce people to each other.
Pickleball Card Round Robin
If you’re wondering how to run a pickleball tournament when all you have are high-level players, then let us introduce you to round robin format or pickleball round robin as we like to call it. To start with, you need some cards (standard playing cards). How many cards you need depends on how many courts you have.
Say there are four courts in the place you’re playing, then the four players that get the ace card will play on court #1, those with the two numbered cards will play on court #2, and so on. As for what will determine the partners, the red suit players (hearts and diamonds) and t c he black suit players (clubs and spades) will both be paired together.
In the unfortunate scenario that there are an odd number of players, or if there aren’t enough courts to cater to every player, the players being left out will be given a bye. However, they will also be given a prioritized first pick for the next game to ensure they aren’t left out again.
Similar to the other two tournament styles, points will be counted individually for every player, as it wouldn’t be fair otherwise. After every 8-minute or so match, the courts and partners will be randomly picked again, and this will continue until the session ends.
It’s best to set a predetermined time limit or score cap so everyone knows when the session will end, as opposed to playing until someone has to leave, or players start getting tired. This will also bring out the competitive nature of many players, as they’ll know what to do to win, and the approximate time they have to do it.
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Fun Pickleball Tournament Ideas From USA Pickleball Association
USAPA itself has also put out several playing formats for players looking to change up how they play with their friends. The most fun ones are listed below for you all to try
Musical Courts
What better way to determine how long a match lasts than by a good song? This round-robin play format has players find any open court and any free player. When they’ve found both, all they have to do is play a song on one of their phones and play as they normally would.
As soon as the song stops, they find a new court and partner and repeat the process. Instead of a score base system, this is more of a fun activity for players who want to enjoy several games of pickleball all the while being able to meet new players.
Hello/Goodbye
Another round-robin play format, hello/goodbye is very similar to some of the other tournament ideas we’ve listed above. However, after playing a match with a randomized partner, the winning team moves up a court, while the losing team moves down a court. The teams are then split and new randomized teams are made depending on what court the players are on.
At the end of the session, the player who managed to stay at the number one court the longest is declared the winner and is given bragging rights until the next time everyone gets together and plays this incredibly fun tournament.
Paddle-in-line
If you have a bunch of players but only one court to play on, then a very good way of playing would be the paddle-in-line format. Any time someone new comes in while a match is going on, they keep their paddle on a table, desk, or even on the floor. Players that come after them place their own paddles behind that one, effectively forming a line.
As soon as one match ends, the winner stays, the loser goes to the end of the paddle line, and the person at the front of the line gets on the court. This keeps the line moving and ensures that whoever comes first gets to play first too.
Random Draws
Our final pick for the USAPA party ideas is random draws. As the name suggests, every player’s name is written down and put in a hat, and names are drawn randomly to make teams of two.
Every team then randomly goes against other teams, with the partners staying the same for the entire session (although some prefer to change them after every match) At the end of the session, the team with the most wins under their belt is declared the winning team
Preparing your first Pickleball tournament? Here are some tips: “How to run a pickleball tournament“
Random Ideas Found on Reddit
Let’s be honest here. Reddit is full of some of the most creative minds to be found anywhere on the internet. Because of this, we thought a list of the most fun pickleball tournament ideas couldn’t possibly be complete without a few Redditor ideas. Below are some of the most interesting ones we found.
Non-Elimination Tournament (HayMrDj)
Most tournaments have players competing either for the first position, or maybe the top 3. Not with this idea though. Here, everyone competes for a final place instead of just winning. For example, let us say you have 16 pairs of players playing in the tournament for spots in the quarter-finals.
Instead of ending the tournament for the losers and eliminating them as soon as they lose, we place them in an identical draw where they get to play for the chance to finish 9th. The same logic is applied to every player, and at the end of the session every player walks away with a specific position/place instead of just the winners.
Three-Legged Tournament
Pretty self-explanatory, but also extremely intelligent when you think about it. Teams of two are picked randomly for this tournament idea as well. However, instead of being able to play as they want, one player’s right leg is tied together with their partner’s left leg. Every match is played like this until the session ends and the team with the most wins walks away the victor.
Of course, there are some dangers to playing like this, especially when the players have to cover long distances (and it might be borderline impossible to pull off unless one player is right-handed and the other is left-handed), but nonetheless, this sounds like one of the most fun pickleball party ideas, and we can’t wait for you to try it!
So What Are You Waiting For?
Now that you have all of these incredibly fun pickleball tournament ideas, what’s the delay? Call up your pickleball buddies today and organize a tournament as quickly as possible! Who knows, you might even end up putting your own little twists on these ideas to give birth to a whole new type of tournament.
At the end of the day, all that matters is that everyone involved enjoys themselves to the fullest, regardless of the winner or loser.
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