Terms & Conditions
2024 English Nationals Pickleball Tournament

General

• The tournament will be held in accordance with the USAPA Official Tournament Rulebook. A copy of the Rulebook will be available at the tournament.
• The English Nationals is open to players that were born or reside in England.
  
• The English Nationals welcomes players of all ages and abilities. Players under 18 must be accompanied by a responsible adult.
  
• All players are asked to abide by English Nationals tournament etiquette Click Here
• We will have first aiders at the tournament but players enter at their OWN risk.
  All players signed / accepted a waiver of liability when they agreed to the Terms & Conditions at registration:

  "I release and discharge, for myself, my heirs, executors, and administrators, the organizers, the facility, its members, employees, and sponsors and all persons associated with the tournament from all claims, damages, rights of action present or future which may arise in connection with my participation in the tournament. I understand that filming and photographs will be taken at this event and I give permission to pickleballEngland to use the creative content to advertise, promote or showcase the event. I understand that it is my responsibility to make it known that I do not wish to have my picture taken or my games filmed. Persons aged under 18 must be accompanied by a responsible adult."

• Players self rating is subject to change if the tournament committee deems it. There can only be .5 difference between a Doubles and Singles self-rating.
• As the entries for each age/rating event bracket varies, the tournament committee reserve the right to merge some brackets to ensure that every player gets a minimum of 4 matches (hopefully many more) per event.
• The Competition Draw was made on 17th October and is published on our Pickleball England Tournament Software (PETS). There will be screens at the venue detailing the upcoming matches on all courts. All players will be sent a pdf of their schedule via email and a link to PETS to enable players to browse their schedules and their standing as the tournament progresses.
• The Competition Draw is subject to change if there are late withdrawals.
• The competition format will be round robin group stages where every win and point will count towards where you end in the group. Not every team goes forward to the knockout stages. See further information under Competition Format Click Here
• We have a photographer and video crew attending the tournament. It is assumed that every player has given permission for us to take their picture/film them, unless we are advised otherwise.

Competition Format

• The tournament will be an age and skill level tournament
• Each event will comprise round robin group games followed by a knock out competition.
• Round robin games will be played consecutively on allocated courts except for OPEN and singles events.
• Qualification for the knock out round will depend on where you finish in your group table.
  Check PETS [Pickleball England Tournament Software] for how many teams qualify (normally 2 per group).
  • Please make sure that you have checked the knockout match schedule for your event before leaving the venue (we have had people leave who thought they hadn’t qualified when they had).
  • Please remember that if you are through to the semi finals and you lose, there is still the bronze medal match to play.
• Table results will be sorted by number of wins, points difference, points scored and If there is still a tie then head to head
• A defined number of teams will go through to the knockout or single elimination rounds
• The first named team is responsible for picking up the score sheet, from the court monitor, at least 10 minutes before the game starts. Where Round Robins are consecutive, one player can pick up all scoresheets prior to play.
• The score sheet provided to teams will define whether the game is played to 11, 15 or 21 and win by 1 or 2 and whether it is 1 game or best of 3
• The winning team is responsible for entering the score on the score sheet correctly.
• Score sheets should be returned immediately to the designated 'court monitor' by one of the players in the winning team. The winning player has to verify that the score has been entered correctly before the court monitor submits the score to PETS [Pickleball England Tournament Software]
• Results uploaded into PETS are available for players to view online via your mobile phone. The link will be available via https://www.pickleballengland.org/2023-english-nationals.
• In the round robin matches there will be no time outs allowed. In the knock out rounds, each team is allowed a 1 minute time out per game. In the event of a medical time out, a max of 15 minutes is allowed before the team calling the time out forfeits
• Court times include a maximum of 2 minutes of knock up is allowed before a game starts if required and the schedule is not running late.
• Any team not arriving on court within 10 minutes of their game's start time may forfeit the match
• In the event of a team withdrawing from the competition, all of the team's games will be taken out of the table results
• Late arrivals – any matches forfeited due to late arrival will be scored as 11-0 but the team can continue in the competition if they arrive in time for their second match.
• Medal matches will be refereed
• Gold, Silver & Bronze medals will be awarded.
• There will be a Medal Ceremony at the end of each day which will include a photo opportunity for medal winners.

English Nationals tournament etiquette

We want everyone to enjoy the English Nationals tournament, here are a few tips to keep things fair and enjoyable:

• Players should register on the first day they play.
• Games will start promptly at 9.00am every day except Singles which will start at 8am on Friday. Please check your schedule to see what time your first game is and arrive at least 45 minutes before your first game is due to be played.
• All players will be sent a personal match schedule via email before the tournament. The schedule will also be available online (see menu at side of this page).
• We encourage players to volunteer to be line judges for games.
• Paddle tap and thank your opponents for the game.
• Give your opponent time to get into position before you serve.
• The server should clearly announce the score before they serve.
• If the opponent claims there was a major distraction while hitting a shot (e.g. ball bouncing onto the court), don't hesitate to replay the point.
• Please do not walk behind a court whilst a rally is in progress.
• Please only call a ball out if it clearly is, if in doubt the ball is in!
• Please refrain from swearing whilst on court.
• Please do not throw your paddle.
• Be kind and respectful to each other.
• We will not tolerate bullying, verbal abuse or shouting.
• In the event of any dispute within a game, the game should be halted and a Tournament Director found to address the dispute.
• The decision of the Tournament Director is final. Any player not accepting the decision will be withdrawn from the event. No discussion will be entered into following the decision.