Janice Pauly’s round-robin approach to pickleball tournaments

Janice Pauly has run hundreds of pickleball tournaments over the last 14 years—but don’t expect to find double elimination on her schedule.

“I only run round robin tournaments,” she said. “And there’s a reason for that.”

For Janice, it’s not just a logistical choice—it’s a matter of fairness and efficiency.

In her early years directing tournaments, Janice saw firsthand how double elimination formats could shortchange less experienced players.

Everyone pays the same fee, but if you were a weaker team, you were done after two rounds. “I personally didn’t think that was fair,” she said. “I think everybody should have the opportunity to play as many games as possible.”

Round robin, by contrast, gives every player multiple games and more time on the court—something Janice believes every participant deserves.

Players may not win gold, but they will still get a lot of games.

RELATED: Organization is the key to Janice Pauly’s success as a pickleball tournament director

Built for Better Scheduling

Beyond fairness, round robin formats give Janice tighter control over the tournament timeline. Round robin lets me keep things moving.

Her go-to structure includes:

• Brackets of 6–9 teams – 7 is the sweet spot
• Odd numbers are welcome—she likes having one team on a bye to keep the flow
• Larger brackets (8–9 teams) are possible, but anything beyond that gets split
• For groups of 4 or 5, she’ll often run a double round robin with shorter games

And when she can, she uses designated courts—keeping each bracket in the same location all day.

Players “get to be friends and you talk to each other and it makes, I think things much more social, and, civilized.”

Scorekeeping by Round

Janice adds another layer of structure by grouping score sheets by round and stapling them into packets. Each team moves through the event in lockstep—everyone starts and finishes each round together.

 ”But during that time period, players can go to the bathroom, they can fill their water bottle, they can relax for a few minutes before they have to play their next game,” Janice said. “It’s never a huge amount of time.”

For larger brackets with 8 or 9 teams – yes, Janice runs round-robins with 9 teams – she uses a next available system where available teams are assigned a court as soon as one is available, even if they are playing out of order. The system keeps the large pool moving.

Janice’s system runs so smoothly that returning players can run the divisions themselves if a court monitor is not available.