By Greg McAfee, Men’s League Vice President
You’ve just completed another fun season of Men’s tennis, and you are thinking to yourself, “What am I going to do this summer to top that?” Well, I have the answer for you: Play ALTA pickleball!
Here are the steps you’ll need to take to get in on the action.
- Get at least five men and five women together to form a team.
- Figure out where you are going to play. It could be your neighborhood, tennis center, or private club. It can be anywhere that has either dedicated pickleball courts, lines on a tennis court using the tennis net or using a pop-up net, or perhaps an indoor court.
- Check if your courts have been approved for ALTA pickleball play. Use the Facility Search on the ALTA website to see if your facility has pickleball courts listed. If your facility does not have any pickleball courts listed, you should then submit a request to add them by using the Request New/Modify Facility and complete the form.
- Choose your captain and register the roster. Once your facility has approved pickleball courts, you can register your team’s roster during the open roster period. Be sure to have enough players to cover availability during the busy summer travel season. You will be able to add up to six additional players once the schedule comes out.
ALTA pickleball is an exciting, new league that will combine the team environment ALTA is known for with the competitive and fun sport of pickleball. Play will consist of a one line of men’s doubles, one line of women’s doubles, and two lines of mixed doubles. You will play three games to 15, win by two, and your team will get a point for each game won. That will total up to 12 possible points that are up for grabs during a team match.
Enough of the boring details. You will likely have a lot of questions, such as “What level do I sign up for,” or “How long is the season going to last?” If you have already played pickleball, you likely have a good idea of what level you are relative to tennis, but if you haven’t played, a good rule of thumb will be to sign up for the same level (A, B or C) that you play in tennis. If you play A3 tennis, then sign up for a higher A pickleball league, or maybe a low A if you’ve never held a pickleball paddle. Pickleball’s learning curve is small, and you’ll be dinking and smashing in no time. Just get out there, play, and have fun!
