The fun thing about pickleball is that you can get as innovative as you want when it comes to playing the game. Some community courts feature open play, while others use a paddle system or challenge court. 

But at ClearOne Sports Centre in Orlando, FL, organizer Lisa Fareed features a system she calls a "loosely run ladder." 

"I call it a loosely run ladder because there’s a constant rotating mix of players that come and go weekly. We can’t always do a strict ladder, so it’s more organized play that resembles a ladder system," shared Fareed. "Basically, you come in and you’re assigned to a court with your same kind of level. You stay on the court for three hours and you rotate with each partner. You play a regular set of five games, and then you play five rally scoring."

However, there are five people assigned to each court, so each player gets to sit out one game.

"At every game, players get a total number of points. At the end of the day, you look at your scores and your court position will be changed to a higher or lower-level court, or stay the same next time you play based off your points,” explained Fareed. 

This system has proven to be a success for players since they get to move to upper-level courts as their skills improve. There’s less stress about potentially playing someone with a completely different DUPR rating. The loose ladder system provides a more even playing field. 

New players with no points must self-assign a rating. And if you underestimate your rating, the next time you go, you’ll be at a higher-level court. And if you overestimate, you’ll get humbled and move down. 

After all, we’ve all been in situations where we’re fighting for court time.

With a system like this, players don’t have that additional stress.  

"For us, the players who come here are always changing. We have some consistent locals, but we have a lot of seasonal people that come and go. With this system, it’s nice to have a set court and not have to worry about an open play or paddle system," concluded Fareed. "You don’t have to stress about who you’re going to get paired with if you’re not at similar levels. And you don’t have to worry about sitting out every other game. In this system, you get consistent play for three hours." 

Systems like this help alleviate stress, guarantee court time, and even things up skills-wise, so I recommend giving it a try.