Georgia Pickleball League

Overview

The Georgia Pickleball League (GPL) creates playing opportunities for individuals of all ages and skill levels by providing organized, competitive play between Georgia pickleball clubs. GPL provides an alternative format that promotes team competition between clubs from around the state.

The season currently consists of 3 formal events.

Dublin League Kick-Off - April 23, 2022

Spring Jubilee in Greensboro - June 4, 2022

Fall Jubilee in Milledgeville - October 29, 2022

League match play is a one-day, tournament-style format, with multiple clubs competing. A round-robin of 1 seed, 2 seeds, and etc. from multiple clubs will be used as a format for match play. Gender seed round robins first and Mixed seed round robins next. The number of seeds for each event will be determined by court availability.

Additional home and away matches between clubs are anticipated outside of the three formal league events.

• Players should not be rated above 4.0 on pickleballbrackets.com, DUPR, or comparable rating systems

• Players must be part of a formal, registered pickleball club, no pick-up teams

• Players must register using the pickleballbrackets.com (no cost)

• To register your team, FIRST contact the league organizer: brettboston@me.com

Dublin Format

• There is a morning Session for competitive level players (regular rated tournament players) and an afternoon session for emerging players.

• A club may enter a team in either or both sessions.

• Players may only participate in either the AM or PM session, but not both.

• This format allows a club to roster 20 for this event.

• 4 men and 4 women

• 1 and 2 seeded men’s teams play (2 teams)

• 1 and 2 seeded women’s teams play (2 teams)

• 1 through 4 seeded mixed teams play (4 teams)

• 2 extra wildcard players can play anywhere on the roster and are available as subs for injured players.

Scoring

• Best of 3 games to 11, win by 1.

• Each team has one time-out per game.

• Time outs do not carry over to the next game.

Tiebreaker

• If any teams are tied in games won at the end of the gender and mixed rounds, a tiebreaker will be played.

• The team that won the last match will serve first. The other team will pick the side.

• The tiebreaker game will be skinny singles.

• The tiebreaker will be one game to 21 using rally scoring, win by 1

• Teams will switch sides at 11.

• Teams will write down the order of tiebreaker play for their team before play begins. Both teams will reveal their list to the other team before the tiebreaker commences.

• Each player will play for 3 combined points, then both will switch out.

• Any order of male and female play is acceptable.

• Any player that played during the earlier matches is eligible.

• Wildcard players that did not play in the matches are not eligible.

• Injured players are not eligible.

Substitution Rules

• Substitutes can enter any game for an injured player.

• Injured players may not re-enter the game and are finished for the remainder of match-play.

• Injured players must sit out the next scheduled league match.

• A man may not sub into the women’s match.

• A woman may sub into the men’s match.

• If no substitutes are available after applying the rules above, the game is forfeit.

Forfeits

• If the forfeiting team has won a game, the score of the forfeited match will be recorded as 2-1 and the forfeiting team will retain that first game win.

• The score at the time of the forfeit will be recorded as the forfeiting team’s points at the time of the injury and the winning team will be shown as 15.

• If the forfeiting team won the first game, the third game score will be recorded as 15-0.

Seeding

• Seeding should remain consistent throughout league play.

• A team’s strongest players will play at the highest seeds.

• Seeding should not be used as a means to compete. Moving weaker seeds higher in the order to play stronger seeds in order to win at lower levels is unsporting behavior.

The Season

• The inaugural season will begin on April 23, 2022.

• Three tournament format events are scheduled.

• League match play is a tournament-style format, with multiple clubs competing. A round-robin of 1 seed, 2 seeds, and etc. from multiple clubs will be used as a format for match play.

• The winning team from each event will receive a team plaque for posting on their courts. There will also be end-of-season awards for winning team players.

This event is part of a new Inter-Club League format.

• Individual entries are not accepted.

• The entry fee is $20 per player/event.

• Participating clubs collect their own fees from their members and their non-member participants.

• Registered club members only.