HOP League Tryouts for Bellingham Teams

Note: The information below is about tryouts for Bellingham teams ONLY. Other clubs may have different rules and scheduling for their own tryouts.

Overview

  • Who: Armory Pickleball or Bellingham Pickleball Club (BPC) Members only.
  • What: Tryouts for Bellingham teams for HOP League sessions 1 and 2.
    • Players will try out for any of the four HOP divisions, which are based on combined team DUPR rating (12, 14, 16, and 18)
    • One Bellingham team per division (4 teams total)
    • Teams are made up of 2 men and 2 women
  • When: Thursday, September 4th and Saturday, September 6th. There will be 2 divisions trying out per day (a full tryout schedule for each division is below).
  • Where: Armory Pickleball, 525 North State St. Bellingham, WA.
  • Cost: Tryout signup is FREE. League fee is $125/person ($500/team).

Signups

  • Signups are only open to Armory Pickleball or Bellingham Pickleball Club (BPC) members
  • Only 16 tryout spots are available per gender, per division. (Ex. The 2 men’s spots for Division 14 will be open to 16 male players. The 2 women’s spots for Division 14 will be open to 16 female players).
  • Each division will have separate tryouts for men and women (no mixed gender tryouts)
  • Players will sign up individually for the spot they are interested in (no team signups)
  • Signups are first come, first served. After 16 spots have been filled in a men’s or women’s section of a division, a waitlist will open up for that section.
  • You cannot sign up for Division 18 if you don’t have a DUPR rating
  • You must choose one Division for tryouts. You cannot sign up to try out for multiple divisions

There is a minimum and maximum individual DUPR rating you must be at in order to be eligible for each division. Division DUPR ranges are as follows:

Division Combined DUPR Individual DUPR
12 12.3 <3.1
14 14.3 2.9-3.6
16 16.3 3.4-4.1
18 18.3 3.9-4.6

As stated above, non-rated (NR) players (players without a DUPR) may only sign up for Divisions 12, 14, or 16. If you don’t have a DUPR, you cannot sign up for Division 18.

Full Tryout Schedule (at Armory Pickleball)

Thursday, September 4th

  • 14 Division WOMEN: 3:00 - 4:30pm
  • 14 Division MEN: 4:30 - 6:00pm
  • 18 Division WOMEN: 6:00 - 7:30pm
  • 18 Division MEN: 7:30 - 9:00pm

Saturday, September 6th

  • 12 Division WOMEN: 10:00 - 11:30am
  • 12 Division MEN: 11:30 - 1:00pm
  • 16 Division WOMEN: 1:00 - 2:30pm
  • 16 Division MEN: 2:30 - 4:00pm

Interested in trying out for a team, but can’t make the tryout dates for sessions 1 & 2? Don’t worry - we will be holding another tryout (dates TBD) for sessions 3 and 4 of league.

Tryout Format

  • Format: Timed Rally scoring. Each team gets one 30-second timeout per game, with another 30-second timeout when teams change ends halfway through the game. More information will be provided during pre-match meetings the day of tryouts.
  • At the end of each division section tryout (ex. “Division 14 Men”) the top 2 players will make the league for sessions 1 and 2. The two players who place 3rd and 4th will be named alternates for that division. Each division’s team will have 8 players total (4 main players and 4 alternates; 2 from each gender).

Equipment Rules

  • Balls: Selkirk Pro S1 balls will be used
  • Paddles: Paddles must be UPA (United Pickleball Association) or USAP (USA Pickleball, formerly known as USAPA) approved. Your paddle must have an approval sticker from one organization OR the other (it does not need both)
  • No Referees
  • Tryout scores will not be entered into DUPR (league scores will go into DUPR)
  • USPA Pickleball standard rules