COPL League Structure

Central Ohio Pickle Leagues play 2-court TEAM Pickleball.

2-court TEAM pickleball is a competition where one TEAM consisting of two pairs of doubles players (i.e., 4 people) compete against another TEAM also consisting of 2-pairs of doubles players. When these two TEAMs meet there are 2 courts of players competing. Hence the term "2-court" TEAM pickleball.

We use the term "TEAM" in capital letters to distinguish between an entire TEAM (4 people) instead of a doubles team (2 people).

The cost to register for a TEAM is $10.

This money goes toward maintaining the website, managing the leagues, issuing new balls at the beginning of the season to each TEAM, replacing any broken balls, and issuing medals to all of the 1st place TEAMs in the divisions. Managing the League includes creating the divisions and groups, issuing the TEAM schedules, and maintaining all the League stats.

The Central Ohio Pickleball Leagues have the following structure:

SEASON LENGTH

• The 2019 career league begins on June 2nd.

• The season could be as long as 10 weeks. This is dependent on the number of TEAMs in a group (see below under GROUPS).

• There is a primary season which includes the group round robin competition.

• There is a secondary season which includes Make-Up matches and playoff matches.

MAKE-UPS

• The primary season is followed by the secondary season.

• The secondary season has two components:

  • 1) two make-up Sundays where TEAMs can make-up matches that 1) got rained out, or 2) if TEAMs could not get enough players to play on July 4th holiday weekend (July 7th).

  • 2) one playoff Sunday where two tied TEAMs play a head to head match to determine the group winner. The playoff Sunday takes place after all of the make-up Sundays for all TEAMs in that group.

  • These predetermined make-up Sundays help reduce the chaos of rainouts and rescheduling. Everyone already knows when the make-ups will be.

  • If many rainouts occur, TEAM captains will have to agree on a make-up date over and above these two predetermined make-up Sundays.

• Only the above two reasons are legitimate reasons for cancelling a scheduled match. All TEAMs must compete each week according to their schedule and must have 4 players present.

• If a TEAM cannot play for any other reason or has less than 4 players available for the TEAM match that TEAM defaults the match (i.e., both doubles courts).

SECTIONS

• The league ultimately will have 4 sections: Northeast, Southeast, Northwest and Southwest. Only Northeast and Southeast sections are in the 2019 League.

  • These sections correspond to specific geographical locations of central ohio.

  • Here is an illustration of the sections

  • The purpose of the sections is to minimize travel to away matches to less than 25 minutes.

  • The exception will be if two sections have to be combined due to not enough TEAMs registering in each section.

  • Players may play for any TEAM in any section if they do not care about driving distances.

DIVISIONS

• Each section will have multiple divisions. A division is a specific level of skill like 3.0.

• in 2019 there are 2 divisions in each section: 3.0-and-below and 3.5.

  • Players can use the skill ratings descriptions on the USAPA website (usapa.org) to determine in which division they should register.

  • Players who truly have 3.0 skills can play up in the 3.5 division. Players who have less than 3.0 skills may not play in the 3.5 division.

  • 3.5 players cannot play down in the 3.0-and-below division.

GROUPS

• If many TEAMs register for a division that division will split into multiple groups of 4 to 8 TEAMs each.

  • An example: 21 TEAMs register in the Northeast 3.0-and-under division. The division would be broken up into 3 groups: Group A, Group B, and Group C. Each group would have 7 TEAMs.

• All TEAMs in a group play a round robin. Therefore, the number of TEAMs in each group determines the length of a season for that group.

• Any group of 4 or 5 TEAMs will play a double round robin in that group so the players are guarunteed 6 or 8 matches, respectively.

• All other groups of 6 to 8 teams will play a normal round robin in that group so the players are guarunteed 5 to 7 matches, respectively.

TEAMs

• TEAMs will consist of two co-ed doubles teams or 4 players plus at least 1 substitute player. TEAMs may have more than 1 substitute player registered, but only 1 is required. Any substitute player must register just like everyone else, but only needs to pay $5 since he/she is not guaranteed a match.

Click for Detailed Rules For Competing

Please email copleagues@gmail.com with any issues with this website.