Shootout Instructions

Step 1 – Shootout Sheet

Typically you will have two rounds of round robin play. Each round will take about 1 hour or more to play. So on a shootout day, you should plan on needing the courts for about 2- 2 1/2 hours.

On the day of game play, the leader will fill out one “Shootout Sheet” for each court. Court 1 will have your highest level skilled players, Court 2 will have the next level down, and so on. However, for now, let’s not worry about how players are assigned to which court, this will come later when we discuss the Ranking Assignment. For the first time though, you’ll have to use your judgement to place players on courts.

The number of courts you will need to host a good shootout is based on the number of players who show up to play on the day of the shootout. If 15 people show up, you will need three courts with five players assigned to each court. Or if 17 people show up, you will have four players on three of the courts and five players on the fourth court (4 +4 +4 +5). The goal is to try and keep the number of players assigned to a specific court to four or five players. Which players are assigned to which court will be covered later, for now, just understand that you will need to fill out a “Shootout Sheet” for each court that includes the player names assigned to that court.

Here is an example of players assigned to court 2:

In this example, on Court 2 the following four players are assigned: Dave B., Jeff R., Tim B., and Cindy L.

Once you have the Shootout Score Sheet filled out, you then provide the sheet to a leader of that court who is responsible for entering the scores for the game play on that court.

Let’s say Jeff volunteers to fill out the sheet for Court 2.

The 1st game has Dave and Tim serving to Jeff and Cindy. The game is to 11 points, win by 1 point. Once that game is over, Jeff then places the scores into the Shootout Score Sheet. Then the next game is played with Jeff and Tim serving to Dave and Cindy. The final game, Game 3, is Tim and Cindy serve to Dave and Jeff. Again, after each game is over, Jeff enters the score onto the Shootout Score Sheet until all three games are complete.

After the three games are complete, the Shootout Score Sheet for Court 2 will look something like this:

Notice the game play determined which court players move to for round 2. Games wins are most important, so referring to the same sheet, Dave B has more wins than the other players so he is marked to move up. The other players have one win, but Cindy has more total points, so she is marked to move up to Court 1 as well. The other two players are assigned to Court 3 to play their second round. If you are using a Five Player Shootout Sheet, two players move up, two players move down, and one player remains on the court.

After all the courts are done playing, the sheets are given to the organizer who then assigns players based on the “Move” column to courts for Round 2. The organizer will simply assign players to courts based on the results of Round 1. In our example, Dave and Cindy are assigned to Court 1, Jeff and Tim are assigned to Court 3 and their names are placed in the Round 2 section for Court 3. The two winners of Court 3 are moved up to play on Court 2 and their names are added to the Round 2 section. The two losers of Court 1 are moved to Court 2 and their names are added to the Round 2 section.

After two Rounds are played, the Shootout is completed and all sheets are given to the organizer. The sheets are eventually given to the person responsible for entering data into the Pickleball Den system.

Here are blank Shootout Score Sheets that you may copy and print for use at your facility:

Some suggestions:

  • There is Six Player Shootout Score Sheet, although it’s best to limit the courts to 4 or 5 players. If you have only four courts available, and you have 21 people show up, then you’ll need to have six players on Court 4, and five players assigned to Courts 1, 2, and 3.
  • A two round shootout usually lasts about 2 hours. Typically a 4 player court plays to 11 points win by 1 point, 5 player court plays to 9 points win by 1, and 6 player court plays to 7 points win by 1.
  • If you have a time limit, say for example you must free up the courts by 9 AM, and Round 1 ends at 8:15 AM (one of the courts took a long time to complete play), then you may adjust the Round 2 game points down. For example, for Round 2, the 4 player court plays to 9 instead of 11, and 5 player court plays to 7 points instead of 9. This will help shorten the 2nd round while keeping game play fair.
  • To ensure the ‘Wins’ column is correct, the total wins across all players should be six for a 4 player court, and ten for a 5 player court. Please refer to the Shootout Score Sheet as “Total = 6” or “Total = 10”.
  • If a Shootout Score Sheet has two players with the same number of wins and same number of points, then you can use their “Overall Ranking” to break the tie. The one with the higher ranking moves up.
  • It is possible to host more players than you have courts, you simply share the courts. If you have two courts, and 12 players, then fill out 3 shootout forms (4 players on each sheet). Then send “Court 1” and “Court 2” players in to play, while “Court 3” players watch. After a game is finished, regardless of which court, “Court 3” players cycle in to play a game while the other team watches. It’s not optimal, but doable.

Step 2 – Entering Data

After you have collected the shootout sheets at the end of the shootout, then you’ll enter those results into the Pickleball Den shootout module. You’ll have to have an account at Pickleball Den, create your shootout group, then you will see a shootout module.

For each player, you will enter the following three data points: “Round 1 Court”, “Round 2 Court”, and “Next Court”.

  • Round 1 Court: The court the player played on during round 1.
  • Round 2 Court: The court the player played on during round 2.
  • Next Court: The court the player would have moved had the shootout gone to a 3rd round.

That’s it! Very Easy! After you have entered the shootout data, the app will produce a ranking sheet for the next shootout day. We have a “Send to Members” option that allows you to Email the shootout results to your members.


What happens if a player needs to leave after Round 1?

If a player leaves after the first round (e.g. they need to go to work), do not enter a “Round 2” court; leave this column empty, and instead, use the “Next Court” field. In “Next Court” enter the court # the player would have played had they stayed for the 2nd round. The player is not penalized for leaving. If a player skips round 1, and joins for round 2, leave the round 1 column empty.

Example: Player comes in, plays on court 2 for their 1st round, they played well and would have played on court 1 for 2nd round; however, the player left after round 1. In this case, enter “2” in the Round 1 column, leave the Round 2 column empty, and enter “1” in the Next court column.

Step 3 – Ranking Sheet

The Pickleball Den ranking sheet will compute and display players in the order of their rank. This ranking sheet is printed by the organizer and used to assign players to courts during the next shootout. On the next shootout day, say you have 20 players show up with four courts, you work you way down the ranking sheet placing the first 5 players on court 1, the next 5 players on court 2, etc.

Frequently Asked Questions

  1. How is the ranking calculated?
    1. You earn points based on the court you played on. If you play on court 1, the highest level court, you earn 20 points. If you play on court 2, you earn 18 points, court 3, you earn 16 points, etc. Then you take the total points you earned divided by the total points you could have earned (# of rounds you played x 20 points).
  2. I have a higher percentage than another person, but they are higher on the ranking list. Why is that?
    1. The shootout is run like a continuous shootout from day to day. The results of your second round play determines the court you’re assigned next time play in a shootout. For example, your first round on court 1 you did well, and so you stayed on court 1; however, your 2nd round on court 1 you didn’t do well. So had a 3rd round been played, you would have played on court 2. This is reflected as “Next Court” on the shootout. In this case, the “Next Court” for you is marked as court 2. The ranking uses “Next Court” as priority for sorting the ranking sheet. The good news is that since you have a high percentage, you are at the top of the list of court 2 players to be assigned to court 1. So on the next shootout day, if court 1 needs five players, and only four court-1 players show up, you’ll be moved up to play on court 1.
  3. Why is “Next Court” being used as priory over the my %?
    1. Consider a new player that spends most of their time on lower courts as they learn the game. Their % will reflect this by being low. But as they become more proficient at the game, their low% makes it difficult for a player to progress up the courts. So the “Next Court” provides players more of an opportunity to advance up the court levels (but they must win of course!).
    2. Are you a good player? If so, then your % is pretty high, but you must remain top-notch to stay on court 1. You can’t rely totally on a high-percent to keep you assigned to higher courts.

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