Houses of Pickleball Official Rules & Policies Guide
Table of Contents:
PLAYERS
Each team will consist of four players, two (2) females and two (2) males as the primary and each team will have 2 alternates of EACH gender, to make a full team of eight players.
At Registration each team member’s DUPR needs to fall in between the legal range for each division. The DUPR rating can fluctuate throughout the season, its just based on the rating at the time of registration.
TEAM UNIFORMS
HOP League t-shirts will be provided for your teams. You will be representing a CLUB in the league and will need to play in those shirts for each league night once they arrive.
SCORING: RALLY SCORING
In the HOP League version of rally scoring, you will not switch sides with your partner unless you want to at time outs or end switches with your opponents at the half way point in the game. In rally scoring, you receive a point every time your team’s rally is successful, you don’t need to be serving to win the point. Games will end in15 minutes and timers will be used at each league night for accurate tracking. When the timer goes off, one more point will be played and it will be awarded to the team who won that rally. Scores will be “cumulative” and have a running total for all 4 games played in that round (mens, womens, mixed, mixed). Each game will start over at 0-0, but the total score for that round will continue in a cumulative style.
Example:
At the end of the first game, Mixed TEAM A beats Mixed TEAM B: 15-9. The cumulative score is 15-9.
At the end of the women’s match, starting at 0-0, the score is 22-10, Mixed Team A wins. The cumulative score is now 37-18, Team A is ahead.
SCHEDULE OF PLAY
The schedule of play is critical that is followed due to the nature of timed rally scoring and us only have the courts for 3 hours total. Team captains will be trained on how this works, but here is a summary. 2 Rounds will be played. Mixed teammates may change in the second round and once subs come in, the person that was subbed out may not continue that night:
Round 1:
Men's: Play plus (3) 30 sec time-outs and a 30 sec side switch (3.5 mins)
Transition & warm up: 5 mins
Women's: Play plus (3) 30 sec time-outs and a 30 sec side switch (3.5 mins)
Transition & warm up: 5 mins
Mixed A: Play plus (3) 30 sec time-outs and a 30 sec side switch (3.5 mins)
Transition & warm up: 5 mins
Mixed B: Play plus (3) 30 sec time-outs and a 30 sec side switch (3.5 mins)
Transition & warm up: 5 mins
Round 2: Repeat above
END CHANGES HALF WAY THROUGH
In a 15-minute game, half way through each game, opponents will switch sides at 7.5 minutes. This is 30 seconds and teammates may also switch sides at this point.
PLAYER CHANGE OF SIDE/SERVE
During rally scoring players do not switch sides when they are serving after winning points. Player A starts on the right side and serves when the score is even and Player B serves from the left side when the score is odd. Player A and B must also receive serves on their respective side. A team may choose to switch player sides during end change or during a 3-second time out, there are 4 opportunities to switch sides with your teammate. See below for details on time-outs.
PLAYER INITIATED TIME-OUTS
Teams will each be allotted (3) 30-second time-outs per game. This is in addition to the allotted 30-second break during change of ends when you hit the 7.5 minute mark (half way through the game). Teammates may switch places/sides during these time-outs and the end switch break.
CAPTAINS - for details, see the Captain responsibilities page
All teams must designate a Team Captain, who will be responsible for various captain duties including communicating with the HOP Admin Team. Home captains are responsible for timing and score keeping at the home league night. Away teams will put out teams (and which order the games will be played in and then the home team responds). Captains are responsible for the teams having a full team, working with alternates and how they pay and anything else that comes up that is team-related. Each team will work with the Club’s designated “Player Rep” to make they are trained and understand the responsibilities. See the details in the link above for the Captain responsibilities.
SUBSTITUTES / INJURY
All HOP teams should have 2 alternates of each gender. Any of these teammates can play in a given league night and rosters do not have to be submitted prior. A player that is subbed out cannot be subbed back into play later that night. Once they sub out, they are done for the night. If a team is unable to field all required players for any reason during the tournament day, that game is a forfeit of 21-0. If a player has an injury mid-game and cannot finish the game, the team then forfeits that game, unless they brought along a rostered- alternate, someone on their HOP team. The forfeiting team will keep their score and the winning team will automatically be given a score of 21, or greater to ensure the game is won by two. Forfeited games count for wins and point percentage. Forfeited/Withdrawn games that do not play and/or both teams score less than 7 points will not be inputted into DUPR.
DUPR DIVISIONS:
DUPR 18 (max aggregate 18.300)
*Maximum individual player DUPR cannot exceed 5.10 to play in DUPR 18
DUPR 16 (max aggregate 16.300)
*Maximum individual player DUPR cannot exceed 4.60 to play in DUPR 16
DUPR 14 (max aggregate 14.300)
*Maximum individual player DUPR cannot exceed 4.10 to play in DUPR 14
DUPR 12 (max aggregate 12.300)
*Maximum individual player DUPR cannot exceed 3.60 to play in DUPR 12
Example: in a DUPR 16 Division you could have four players rated 4.00(4+4+4+4=16) or players rated 3.50, 3.50, 4.50,4.50 (=16), or any combination thereof that is < 16.300. The same logic applies to DUPR 18, 14, 12 Divisions.
Once a team registers for to tryout for Houses of Pickleball, their ratings are “locked” and their DUPR increasing or decreasing will not impact the team’s aggregate or division placement.
To sign up for any Houses of Pickleball event, a DUPR account is required at the time of registration.
NR - NOT RATED PLAYERS
If you are an NR player, your rating will be set to the average rating of the division you sign up for.
Example A: if you sign up for DUPR 14 you are assigned a 3.500 rating. The appointed rating will impact the team aggregate and said aggregate must fit within the maximum team total. The remaining 3 players’ total aggregate must be a total of 10.800 or less.
Example B: player A signs up for DUPR 16. The assigned rating is 4.000. The remaining 3 players’ total aggregate must be a total of 12.300 or less.
NR assignments:
DUPR 12: 3.000
DUPR 14: 3.500
DUPR 16: 4.000
DUPR 18: 4.500
OTHER COMPETITION RULES
All rules of Houses of Pickleball competition are governed by the most current rules of USA Pickleball except for the rules outlined in this document, summarized below:
Rally Scoring
Coaching is allowed in between rallies while the ball is NOT in play.
Players are allowed to swap court position at end changes when first team reaches 11 or during any time outs called.
One time-out per game for each team.
Coin flip process and Away/Home designations.
COACHING / LINE CALLS
Coaching by non-playing team members is allowed at any time when the ball is NOT in play and if it does not interfere with continuous play or unfairly disrupts the opposing team. Non-playing team members are encouraged to sit/stand along the edge of the court or bench with their team. ONLY the four players playing the game can make line calls and fault calls without the influence of other players/spectators.
OTHER RULES
PADDLES
Players must use a paddle brand and model that is on the Official USA Pickleball Approved Paddle List and/or the UPA-A Approved Paddle List. Penalty for violation of this rule could result in loss of game or match. We expect all players to be honest if their paddle is delaminated and will not use said paddle. The Tournament Director reserves the right to make the final decision if a paddle has been flagged by team captain(s).
USAP Paddle List: https://equipment.usapickleball.org/paddle-list/
UPA-A Paddle List: https://upaa.unitedpickleball.com/paddle-testing/#paddle-list
PLAYER MISCONDUCT
Players who mistreat a fellow player will receive one official verbal warning from HOP League. After they receive one verbal warning, players are subject to ejection from the league.
INTERPRETATION OF THE RULES / EXCEPTIONS / DISPUTES
The team captains should work to resolve any issues at the league night and if they can’t be resolved, you can call the HOP League Director, on rare occasion it is needed.
AMENDMENTS / MODIFICATIONS
By participating in Houses of Pickleball (HOP) events, Teams acknowledge these Pickleball Rules and agree to comply with and be bound by them. The local Club and the HOP Team Administration have the right to revise these rules periodically at its sole discretion.