Pickleball is still a growing sport. Despite the fact that Pickleball courts are popping up in new locations every day, it might be hard in certain places get enough people to play in a proper tournament. So what can we do in this case?
Well the good news is that you don’t need a ton of players, or a ton of time to have a great interactive tournament on a nice day. This is especially the case for a group of as many as 8 players. If you are of an old-world mindset, you could just play a bracketed doubles pickleball tournament doubling up in pairs. The first two pairs of teams play each other in a game, and then the winners of those games play each other for the championship. But that would leave half of the group bored to death half of the time.
Or, you could take a much more interactive approach: Pickleball round robin for 8 players
What is Pickleball Round Robin?
Pickleball round robin is where you have an even number of teams, more than 4 doubles or singles teams, that play in a tournament where each team gets a chance to play every other team at least once. At the end, the team with the best record wins.
How to organize your own Pickleball round robin with 8 players
You can play a pickleball singles or doubles round robin tournament with 8 players. A doubles tournament will be a lot easier as you will have 4 teams to round robin and only need 2 courts.
Pretty much every major US city will have either a set of 2 pickleball courts somewhere. If not, you can set up a couple of pop up pickleball courts with your own equipment in an open basketball or tennis court somewhere in your city. Just set up, and divide into your teams
. A round robin tournament with 4 teams will go something like this:
Round 1:
- Team A vs Team B
- Team C vs Team D
Round 2:
- Team A vs Team C
- Team B vs Team D
Round 3:
- Team A vs Team D
- Team B vs Team C
If the group would like to end the tourney there, then so be it. Whoever has the best record at the end wins the tourney. However, you might end up with a situation where 3 teams have a 2-1 record. In this case, you can repeat the 3 round robin tourney rounds until you get a team with a prevailing record, or 2 teams with a prevailing record who then decide the winner in a 1 game rubber match.
Conclusion
Round robin pickleball is a pretty simple concept, and usually the best option if you have 8 players in a pickleball squad. Divide your 8 players into 4 teams, and have each team play each other at least once. Whoever has the best record at the end of the day, wins the tournament!