League Setup - Creating First League Session

This article will cover the specific parameters to create your first session for your league.

The League - Lists the format and title of the league. Each league is made up of sessions.

The Session - Sessions are groups of game days that can run multiple weeks. Some sessions are only six to eight weeks only, while others run a year or more. 

The League Manager determines the length of the session, often based on a billing period for the league or season of the year (fall, winter, spring and summer). 

Once your league has been set up, it will prompt you to Add a New Session. Click on the Add New Session tab.

1. Basic Info

Here you will go through a series of steps to configure the session.

1. Fee Plan - This is the current fee for a league in U.S. Dollars.
2. Visible Status - This is used to show the league on the public website. This works together with the "Show Public Date" that specifies when it will be shown.
3. Current Status - The league is not live until the league director turns this on. That should be done only when the setup is complete and registrations may start.
4. Complete and Lock - Turn this on to end the session.
5. Count Games Toward Club Ratings - If turned on, games played during this league will count toward club ratings for games where all players in a particular game are club members. If a league is using club ratings to rank players on a ladder, this must be turned on, otherwise it is optional.
   **There is an additional fee to calculate club ratings. Check current pricing under League Pricing.
   
6. Count Games Toward DUPR Ratings - If turned on, games will be sent to DUPR. To use this option ALL players must have a DUPR attached to their profile. Games will go to DUPR once the game day has been completed.
   
   

Activate Player Text - If text messages are active for a league, players will receive a message after each game that shows the score that has been entered. League managers will also be able to send a general text message to all of the opted in players on a particular game day.

Default Location - Select the playing location for this session. Locations are listed in the Club record.

Session Number - Select the session number for this league. League sessions are consecutive. Session 2 follows Session 1, etc. 

If this is not the first session of the league, the league manager will be given an opportunity later in the setup process to import all of the players from the previous session.

Skill - This will restrict registration for the session to a particular skill level. Skill levels will be evaluated at registration based on the rating choices specified.
Age - This will restrict registration for the session to a particular age group. 

Rating Choice - This specifies the order of selection of the rating to be used for determining the eligibility for session sign up. The choices are DUPR, Club Rating and Self Rating. These will be evaluated in order of selection. 

If a player does not have a DUPR or a Club Rating, and either of those are selected as the first or second priority, the system will default to using their self rating. 

If a player has a NR rating in their DUPR, the system will look at the self rating.

1. Use Flex Play – With a Flex League, players will receive and email at the beginning of their current playing week that lists the members of their group. It is their responsibility to arrange play at any time or place of their choosing during that week. All scores must be entered, either by the players themselves, or by the league manager, prior to the deadline set for that week. Any matches with no scores will be automatically canceled.
2. Sign Up / Payment Type – Do players have to sign up for the entire session or can they pay for each game day individually? Flex Leagues require a Session sign up.
3. Max Players for this Session – This can be unlimited or restricted to only a certain number of players based on the number of courts available. Flex Leagues can usually be unlimited in size. The blue number shows the current count of registered players.

The settings on this page set all of the parameters for the online registration process.

1. Allow Non-Member Sign-up – Turn this off to restrict entry to only those players listed as members of your PickleballBrackets.com Club
2. Cost – Enter the session cost here. You can specify different costs for club members and non-members.
3. New Players Start – If you are adding new players to a session that already has players from a previous session or that has started but is still accepting registrations, where do you want them to be placed on the ladder?
4. Show to Public – When do you want this session to be shown on the public website? The session must be set to visible for it to show.
5. Use Waiting List – Each session has a maximum number of registered players and a maximum number of players who can opt in for a particular game day. If the maximum number for the game day is met some session players were not able to get in, do you want to establish a waiting list that will automatically opt players in if there is a dropout for that day?
6. Use Online Registration – Set this to Yes if you want players to register themselves. If the League manager will be registering players, and collecting registration fees outside of PickleballBrackets.com, set this to No.
7. Current Players Early Signup Date – Allows players from an earlier session to sign up before the general public. This only applies to online registration.
8. New Players Open Spot Signup – What is the date that new players will be able to start registering. This only applies to online registration.
9. Age Limit Deadline – If this session is only open to a certain age range, what date will be used to calculate the player’s age?

19. Choose the date and time you want NEW players to register under the "New player open spot signup.

20. Choose Age Limit Deadline. This applies if you have an age restriction.

Note: If you want players age 50 and above, players must be 50 or older by this date.

21. You may have the software display who gets to serve or choose end to start games.

22. You may have the software scramble round robin group matches if groups are remaining the same each game day.

23. Choose the session's Ranking Type.

Ranking Type Descriptions:

DUPR Rating

• Players will be ranked solely based on DUPR ratings. If players have NR as a rating, the software will use the 2nd rating choice.

• Players must be linked to DUPR in order to register.

Percentage of Points (POP)

• Players will be ranked based on percentage of points won. If a player wins every game, the player won 100% of the points and will jump to the top of the rankings.

• You may award "Game Day Difficulty Bonus Points" to make it more competitive. For example: Group 1 will include the highest ranked players, so you can add more points for winning higher level matches.

• You may decide which columns to show on the rankings page.

• If players opt in and do not show up for the game day, you may penalize the players.

  • If you want to penalize a player for missing one game day, make "Days Grace" 0.

  • You will subtract percentage points from the player's total.

• You may limit the amount of movement a player can move up and down the ranks each week.

Up Down

• Players will move up and down the rankings based on standings in their round robin groups.

• You can choose to have 1 or 2 rounds of round robin groups.

• You can choose to have 1 or 2 players to move up and 1 or 2 players to move down groups.

PRO TIP: Get the most variety of matches by choosing the setting of 2 rounds with 2 players moving. 

• If players opt in and do not show up for the game day, you may penalize the players.

  • If you want to penalize a player for missing one game day, make "Days Grace" 0.

  • You will move players down the ranks.

Custom

• Players will move up and down the rankings based on points.

• You will indicate the points awarded for different results:

• You may award "Game Day Difficulty Bonus Points" to make it more competitive. For example: Group 1 will include the highest ranked players, so you can add more points for winning higher level matches.

24. Choose the Round Robin Group Sizes you prefer.

25. Find the Group Sizes you chose and select the Score Format.

Note: We highly recommend selecting score formats for additional groups sizes in case the software cannot create your first two choices.

PRO TIP: If you have group sizes of 4 and 5 in the same game day, these groups can finish in about 1.5 hours if you choose the following score formats:

Group of 4 - Double Round Robin, games to 11 win by 2 (each player plays 6 games)
Group of 5 - Single Round Robin, games to 15 win by 1 (each player plays 4 games)

26. Click Save at the top of the page.

Note: Session settings can change during the session. Some settings must be changed BEFORE players opt in for the next game day in order for changes to take effect.