What is a Ladder Tournament?
- Ladder play is a structured, competitive, and social format where players are ranked and assigned to courts based on skill level. Winners move "up" to lower-numbered courts (closer to the top "rung") to face stronger opponents, while lower-ranked players move down. It is designed for mixed skill levels, ensuring competitive, balanced matches for everyone.
- SCPC's 2026 ladder consists of eight rungs (courts) split into two days with Rungs 5 - 8 played on Tuesday and Rungs 1 - 4 played on Thursdays.
- No multi-week commitment is required; members can sign up each week on the preceding Sunday, just like any other weekly event.
- Registrants will be assigned to a court with four other players. For the first week, court assignments will be at the coordinator’s discretion. Subsequent court placements across all eight rungs will be based on previous performance and current place in the overall rankings.
- The overall rankings of everyone participating over the summer will be updated each week using a program designed for the purpose and complete results will be sent to all participants each week. The top 25 players will be listed on SCPC website each week.
Registering
- After the first week of ladders is complete, players ranked 1 - 25 in the previous week's running results will be given registration preference in Thursday's Ladder (Rungs 1 to 4).
- One spot in the Thursday Ladder will be reserved for the player who finishes first in Tuesday's Ladder (Rungs 5 to 8).
- After week 1, new Ladder participants will be approved by the event coordinator to register for either Tuesday Ladder (Rungs 5 to 8) or Thursday Ladder (Rungs 1 to 4) and will be initially placed on the bottom court of that group.
- Members registering for Thursday's Ladder (Rungs 1 to 4 ) without a documented Ladder ranking of 1 - 25 or an invitation from the coordinator will be automatically removed from the registration list.
- If the Thursday Ladder is not full by Tuesday afternoon, the coordinator will use the overall ranking list to offer an available spot to the next highest ranked player.
How Does the Ladder Work?
- The five players on each court will have a round robin of five games with one player sitting out each game. Games are played to nine points using regular pickleball scoring, NO win by two.
- At the end of the first round robin, players will be ranked based on the difference between points for and points against. The top player on courts 2, 3, and 4 will move up a court, the bottom player on courts 1, 2, and 3 will move down a court.
- Then a second round robin will be played using the same format.
- The event coordinator will calculate rankings for the second round robin and average each player’s ranking in the two round robins to determine a ranking of 1 - 20 for that day's event.
A NOTE ABOUT WEEK 1
- Our ladder format is designed so players' court assignments each week are determined entirely by their ranking in the overall ladder; not using any kind of subjective criteria.
- For the first week of the season, when rankings are not yet fully established, court assignments will be determined by the event coordinator in conjunction with a committee of advisors.
- During this time, it is possible that your registration will be changed from Thursday to Tuesday. If you are registered for the Tuesday (Rungs 5 to 8) Ladder, it is possible that you may be bumped by a player moved from Thursday to Tuesday who initially registered before you did.
- These possible changes will only occur during the first week and your patience and flexibility is appreciated during this time.
Event Maximum
This event is set for a maximum of 20 registrants. Eligible players who sign-up after the event is full will be put on a waitlist and automatically notified when a space opens. They'll then have up to 12 hours to move themselves off the waitlist (following instructions in the email notification).
Help us ensure everyone who wants to gets a chance to play by:
- Removing your name when you have to cancel your registration (instructions at the top of the Events page); and
- Responding to waitlist notifications quickly when you can't play, so the next person on the list will be notified.
Top 25 Leaderboard - September 25, 2025
The leaderboard represents the top 25 players in the overall ranking at the end of last year's ladder.
- Alex Gallacher
- Brad Lambert
- Marvin Orth
- John Thomas-Brown
- Brian Boynton
- Brad Pollard
- Trevor Ashton
- Wes Henderson
- Todd Farup
- Ching Ching Lee
- Paul McKittrick
- Becky Warrington
- Bruce Hardardt
- Stan Michno
- Ruth Ward
- Guy Domville
- Leslie Peers
- Tina Orth
- Cindy Paquette
- Julie Rosenthal
- Anita Hendra
- Debbie Kowalchuk
- Rosemary Henderson
- Doug Goodwin
- Tasha Henn