Quick Start: How to Set Up a Tournament in PT

This quick-start guide walks you through the essential steps to create and publish a basic tournament on Pickleball Tournaments (PT). If you're setting up a straightforward event — standard formats, simple pricing, no advanced features — this is the fastest path to getting your tournament live. Each section links to a detailed article if you need more information on a specific step.

What you'll need before you start

• A Pickleball.com Play Provider account with a club set up
• A payment method on file (credit card or ACH) — see How Tournament Billing Works in PT
• Your tournament details ready: name, dates, location, events, and pricing

Step 1: Create your tournament

From your club dashboard, click Create Tournament. You can start from scratch or use a premade template to save time. Templates pre-fill common settings based on tournament type and size. For details on using templates, see How to Use Premade Templates to Create a Tournament in PT.

Step 2: Configure basic tournament info

Fill in the essential fields in the Basic Info section of your tournament setup:

• Tournament name and URL
• Dates — tournament start/end dates
• Location — venue name and address
• Time zone
• Description — what players need to know about your event
• Registration open/close dates

For a full breakdown of every field in this section, see How to Configure Basic Tournament Info in PT.

Step 3: Set up registration settings

Configure how players register for your tournament:

• Set the registration open and close dates
• Choose whether to require player profile completion or USAP membership
• Set event limits per player if needed

For detailed registration configuration, see How to Configure Tournament Registration Settings in PT.

Step 4: Create your events

Events are the individual brackets within your tournament (e.g., Men's Doubles 3.5, Mixed Doubles 4.0). For each event, you'll set:

• Format — round robin, single elimination, double elimination
• Skill level — and under, and above, only, or a range
• Age requirements (if applicable)
• Event cost (if charging per event beyond the base registration)

For details on skill level configuration, see Tournament Event Skill Setup: What Each Selection Means.

Step 5: Set up pricing and payments

Configure how much players pay and how you collect payment:

• Registration cost — the base price for entering the tournament
• Events included — how many events are covered by the registration cost
• Checkout options — Stripe, on-site payment, pay later, or custom

For the full pricing and checkout setup walkthrough, see How to Set Up Registration Costs and Checkout Options.

Step 6: Configure communications

Set up how you'll communicate with registered players:

• Enable player text messaging for court assignments and score notifications
• Set email notification preferences
• Add contact information so players know who to reach

For details, see How to Configure Tournament Communication and Contacts in PT.

Step 7: Pay the setup fee and go live

1. Review all your settings using the preview link to see how your tournament page appears to players.
2. Pay the tournament setup fee from your dashboard. This is required before your tournament goes live.
3. Set your Show Public Date so the tournament becomes visible to players.
4. Verify your registration open date is correct — players can begin registering once this date passes.

What to do after your tournament is live

Once your tournament is published and registration is open, you'll want to:

• Monitor registrations from your tournament dashboard
• Manage player communications using the messaging templates
• Handle withdrawals and refunds as they come in
• Verify brackets after registration closes to prepare for tournament day

Detailed setup guides

This quick-start guide covers the essentials. For deeper configuration on any step, see these detailed articles:

• How to Configure Basic Tournament Info in PT — every field in the Basic Info section
• How to Configure Tournament Registration Settings in PT — registration dates, player requirements, event limits
• How to Configure Tournament Communication and Contacts in PT — text, email, and contact routing
• How to Configure Tournament Display and Scoring Settings in PT — draw visibility, scorecard, and scoring format options
• How to Use Premade Templates to Create a Tournament in PT — skip manual setup with templates
• Tournament Event Skill Setup: What Each Selection Means — skill level options explained

Need more help? Try our live chat, browse our FAQs, or submit a ticket and we'll get back to you. You can also email us at support@pickleball.com.