midlandareapickleballclub.ca © All rights reserved.

Designed and updated by Helen Proctor.

Comments and questions are appreciated.

Last updated: March 1, 2024

MIDLAND AREA PICKLEBALL CLUB

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An Explanation of how the ladder scores are calculated

The majority of the score you get each week is based on the percentage of points you won vs the points that were available to be won.  If you want to move up the ladder, the most important factor is to win as many points as you can in each game.

The second, much smaller part of the score is a bonus based on games won, with a small factor to reward people who win games on higher ranked courts.



Part one – the percentage of points won out of points available to be won

Your total score is calculated on a percentage basis for the week. 


For example:
Round one, if you played 3 games and got 29 points out of a possible 33 and
Round two, if you played 3 games and got 24 points out of a possible 33

Then you would have 53/66 which equals 80.30 percent



Part two – the bonus

The additional bonus points are calculated as follows:

For every win on court #1, 3.00 points are awarded; 2.75 points for wins on court #2,......down to 1.75 points for wins on court #6. 

This has the effect of giving greater value to players on the higher ranked courts, and over time accentuates the difference in the levels of play, meaning that over time people will end up having a better chance of playing with similarly skilled players. 

So, for example, if a player won a total of 5 games on court 1, his bonus for that week would be 5 x 3 = 15.

If a player won 5 games on court 6, his bonus for the week would be 5 x 1.75 = 8.75.

There is a maximum 3 game bonus per round. If you win 4 games in a 5 player court, you will be given a bonus based on 3 games.  This is so that players in a 5 player court do not get an extra advantage of being able to earn more bonus points.  

 
Adding it all together

Our player in part one above (with a base percentage of 80.30) would get a different overall weekly score depending on which courts they played on, and how many games they won.



Examples:

Played all games on Court One and won 3 in the first round and 1 in the second round  80.30 + (3 x 3) + (1 x 3) = 92.30

Won 1 game on Court One and 3 games on Court Two 80.30 + (1 x 3) + (3 x 2.75) += 91.55

Won 4 games on Court Five and 2 games on Court Four  80.30 + (3 x 2.00) + (2 x 2.25) = 90.80

(remember you only get credit for a maximum of 3 wins per round)

The maximum possible score in a given week is 118 (if you won all of your games on Court One)
Averaging scores over the weeks.

Every week you play, your score will be averaged with all of your previous week's scores to give you an overall cumulative ladder score. We anticipate that there will be a lot of volatility at the beginning of our ladder season, and that people will zip up and down the ladder, until things start to average out and we should end up with people playing in games where they are matched with players of a similar skill level.  

LADDER/ROUND ROBIN

​You must be a member to play.  No drop-ins


SATURDAY EVENING LADDER/ROUND ROBIN  PLAY STARTS ON SEPTEMBER 16, 2023
                                                        at the Rec. Centre from 7:00 to 9:30 PM


Saturday evening play is no longer a drop-in night.

We are introducing a Ladder/Round Robin type of play instead.

Please sign up if you are interested in having fun and also a wee bit of competition. 

All members, regardless of skill level, are welcome to join the Ladder. 


You will not have to play every Saturday of course, if you just wish to try it a few times that is okay as well. 

Those participating in the Ladder will be placed in groups of four or five on a specific court, depending on how many players signed up each week.

Players will play three or four doubles games, each with a different partner and against a different pair of opponents with the other players in the group. The four game group will play to 11 points in each game, no 2 points difference. The five game group will only play to 8 points in each game, no 2 points difference.

Write down your score after each game and after the scores are tallied, the highest scoring player will move up a court, while the lowest scoring player will move down.

Next we play another set of three or four games.

This Ladder System accommodates up to 30 players each week. Priority to play each week will be given to people who did not play in the previous week and we will try to even things out over the season, in terms of opportunity to play in the Ladder.

If you wish to sign up for the Ladder, please go to mapladder411@gmail.com. Use this email ID for Ladder communications.

You have to “opt-in” by email each week.  An email will go out each Wednesday, with your “yes” due by 8:00 PM Thursday. You will be notified by Friday if you have been selected to play on Saturday, and if so, on which court.

If you are not scheduled to play that Saturday, you will still receive the follow-up email setting out who is scheduled to play, because you are still part of the distribution list.

If a player is unable to play on the specified day, the player should notify us immediately. The player’s most recent score will stand until the player resumes play. There is no penalty for being absent as long as the player has notified us.

We anticipate that there will be a lot of volatility, in terms of people moving up and down the Ladder in the first several weeks. You may find yourself zipping up and down the Ladder – getting lots of points one week and not so many the next – until your score averages out and hopefully your place will stabilize on the Ladder so that you will be playing with similarly skilled players each week.

We propose that the players who regularly play on the competitive side be randomly sorted at the top to start the Ladder.  Similarly, the recreational players will then be sorted randomly, next in line on the Ladder.   We are using a computer random number generator to randomly sort the players to start – so please do not be mad at us if you do not like your starting spot when we begin Ladder play!   It is the random number generator, not us.   And after that, your play will govern which court you play on.

You don’t need to know all the details: just sign up, show up, play on your assigned court, record your scores and we will do the rest.

For those interested in the nitty-gritty, details on how the Ladder scores are calculated are covered in the section below.

Contact us if you want to play in the Ladder!
mapladder411@gmail.com

Your Saturday Ladder convener is Helen Proctor.
705-534-0404

Remember, the Ladder is
NOTdrop in.

Please be aware that the Ladder standings may be regularly circulated to the participants if asked to view their score.

 

The Basics

The point of the Ladder is to have an organized way to have players matched mostly with others of similar skill levels, while still mixing things up so you don’t always play with the same people. Your ranking on a Ladder is based mainly upon your winning percentage (essentially, the ratio of points won to total points possible). This format of play is suitable for all skill levels, but the spirit of play may be a bit more “competitive” as players vie to move up the Ladder. Play is still intended to be fun and conducted with good-sportsmanship and appropriate pickleball etiquette.
For those interested in the nitty-gritty, there are more detail below. 



More Details

For 6 courts, the ideal number of players on each day is between 24 and 30.  If more than 30 players want to play on a given Saturday, we will have to limit the numbers by selecting rotating players to sit out each week. 

In the first Round, players will be placed on pre-assigned courts in groups of 4 or 5, with Court 1 being the top of the Ladder and Court 6 the bottom.  All players will play doubles games in a round robin fashion with the other three or four players on their court, keeping track of their scores on a score sheet.  Then, on each court, the top player will switch “up a court” and the bottom player “down a court”.  

Then a second Round will be held. Courts 2, 3, 4, 5 will lose two players and gain two new players. But because Court 1 can only move down, and Court 6 can only move up, those courts will only lose and gain one player.

At the end of the day, the score sheets from both Rounds are submitted and we will recalculate the Ladder standings, based on the days results. Over the weeks, your scores from each week are averaged to give you a cumulative Ladder score.  The actual formula to create the Ladder is built into a spreadsheet, which essentially assigns scores to people based on how many points they won out of the available number of points available, so a player who loses every game by 9 to 11 will be scored higher than a player who consistently loses 2 to 11.

There are also small bonuses built in for winning games and for playing on higher ranked courts.  We are borrowing the formula and spreadsheet from one that has been used with success by other pickleball clubs. 

The next Saturday, players will be assigned to each court based on the new Ladder standings and the available players. 

Once a few weeks have been played and the Ladder sorts itself out, regardless of which court you are playing on, you should end up playing with players at roughly the same level as yourself.

Research has revealed that the Ladder play starts to work more quickly and efficiently if you begin the Ladder by roughly sorting the more advanced players at the top of the Ladder.  We do not want to get into the business of subjectively ranking players, but heeding the advice of others with Ladder experience.

Please note, that once the Ladder starts, only players who have expressed an interest in the Ladder will get regular communications about the Ladder, so if you are interested in playing, or if you have any feedback, questions, concerns or suggestions, please contact us at 
mapladder411@gmail.com