We play the traditional pickleball format (not paddlewars style).

Play to 11. Win by 2 points. Stop at 13. (Whoever gets to 13 first wins.)

Fall: The same four players from each team must play the entire match unless someone gets hurt or has heat exhaustion. In the winter, it's 6 players.

There are three rounds. Fall: Each team fields two pairs (four players total). In the winter, each team fields three pairs (six players total).

In round one, each pair plays the same opponent pair twice. For example, WildBlue players 1 & 2 will play two games against Verdana players 1 & 3. At the same time, in round one, WildBlue players 3 & 4 will play Verdana players 2 & 4. In the winter, there will be another pair, such as 5 & 6 vs 5 & 6.

For each of the three rounds, different home pairs will play different visitor pairs.

For a full list of which players play vs. which players, see the fall scoresheet which is available on the Documents page on this website. (The winter scoresheet is coming soon.) Keep in mind, there will be some overlap; the rotations cannot be set up so you play agasint all different people every time. It's math.

​In each round, for the first game, the visiting team chooses side or serve. For the second game, switch sides. ​

Players may call any number of 20-second breaks to drink water and/or wipe off.

Each pair may call a 2-minute time-out 1 time during a game, and more if the heat is extreme.

Any player or captain may call a 15-minute time-out if a player is injured or feels heatstroke. If the player does not return to play, another player may sub in for the remainder of the game / round / match. The removed player may not play again that day. If no sub is available, we prefer that the teams reschedule to finish the match. If that is not possible, the team forfeits that game and any other games that day for which there is no sub. The team may still play a tie-breaker if necessary. 

If a team does not start the match with four players (in the fall) or 6 players (in the winter), that team automatically forfeits any tie-breaker.

We follow the USAPA official rules: https://usapickleball.org/rules/. If those rules conflict with the Estero Sisters’ rules, go with the Sisters.

Partners may talk to each other anytime, including during games.

Nobody else may coach or give advice during a game. This includes captains, teammates, and the crowd saying things such as, "Do that again," “Great idea to lob it” or “Nice hitting it to her backhand.” While these comments sound the same as "Great job!" they are not the same. No monkey-butt comments. :) 

Teammates, coaches, and the crowd may give advice between games.

At the end of the season, if there is a tie for the winning team, we will look at (1) which team won when those two teams played each other (2) the number of games each team won throughout the season not including tie-breakers and (3) TBD. Thus, it is important that all teams finish all rounds and games.