The very organized Janice Pauly shares her pickleball tournament tips

With decades of experience in both computer programming and physical education, Janice Pauly brings a blend of precision and player-centered thinking to pickleball tournament management.

“I’m not a professional tournament director,” Janice said. “I do this because I enjoy the challenge.”

Janice has run the tournament desk at numerous tournaments over the past 14 years, including the senior games in Conneciticut and New York and Connecticut’s Nutmeg Games. She is legendary for starting divisions on-time and running them like clockwork.

Janice’s path to pickleball began in the gymnasium, where she taught middle school phys ed—and yes, pickleball was part of the curriculum.

After retirement, she picked up a paddle herself and quickly moved from player to tournament organizer.

The Software Mindset

Janice’s background in computer programming and recreation management proved invaluable. She was the first tournament director to run an event using Pickleball Brackets (now Pickleball Tournaments) aside from Jason Santerre, the program developer.

 ”He needed basically a guinea pig to test it out,” Janice said. “And it turned out I was probably the perfect person for that because of my background with computers.”

Before Pauley was a teacher, she owned a computer business where she created database applications. She developed a custom exercise program for the employee fitness center at Xerox in the 1980s. People would input their workout info into an Apple IIe and get feedback on calories, heart rate and fitness level – a very early version of Apple Watch.

That adaptability has made her an ongoing consultant for the Jason and Pickleball Brackets, fielding questions from software support staff and helping refine the tournament experience for others — a role she continues.

Why Round Robin Rules

Janice has long preferred round robin formats over traditional double elimination.

“Everybody paid the same amount to play in these tournaments,” Janice said. “And if you weren’t really good, you would be gone in two rounds. I personally didn’t think that was fair. I think everybody should have the opportunity to play as many games as possible.”

And it’s not just about fairness. Round robin formats allow her to schedule efficiently, avoid downtime, and provide players with a clear understanding of their match flow.

RELATED: Janice Pauly’s round-robin approach to pickleball tournaments

One of Janice’s trademarks is assigning divisions to specific courts for the duration of their bracket play.

It’s about efficiency and community. Everyone knows where to go. And by staying in one area, players start talking, they bond—it makes the environment more respectful and enjoyable.

When disagreements arise, Janice says, they’re less heated.  ”You get to be friends and you talk to each other and it makes things much more social and civilized,” she said.

Color Codes and Score Packets

Tournament day in a Pauly-run event is a masterclass in logistics. Color-coded scorecards help volunteers keep track of brackets and find a scorecard if there is a scoring question. Janice prints most of the scoresheets before the event starts and bundles them into packets — stapled by round. She tells the players not to start the next round until all the games from the last round are complete.

 ”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.”

Her favorite event? The New York Empire State Senior Games. It was the first tournament she played in herself.

 Players “come from all over the state for that, and for some of them it’s the only tournament they play in all year long,” she said. It’s like an event for old friends to see each other.

Janice’s success didn’t come from chance. It came from years of sharpening systems and always thinking ahead.

“You have to be very organized.”

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Janice’s Tournament Tips

• Be flexible. Expect weather delays, dropouts, and last-minute adjustments.
• Start small. Don’t run a massive event your first time out.
• Use round robin formats to give everyone more playing time.
• Assign designated courts to reduce confusion and build camaraderie.
• Leverage technology. Use auto waitlist settings to manage partner registrations.
• Color-code scorecards and staple them by round for easy tracking.
• Run attendance at the court even if players checked in electronically.