SHOOTOUT LADDER LEAGUE
Shootout ladder league allows all players to participate and enjoy games with players of the same skill level. Learn more about how Pickleball Den creates an ordered pool placement ranking.
The Shootout Ranking Sheet
The Shootout Ranking Sheet is sorted using the following:
Player Step in ascending order
% column in descending order
Last Played in descending order
Number of Rounds in descending order
Once the priority order is in place, players are assigned to pools of four or five players. Working from the top of the Ranking Sheet, the 1st set of players go to Pool 1, the next set of players go to Pool 2, etc.
The main goal is to win your round-robin play, and as you win, you move up a step in the ladder.
Calculating Percentage and Step
PERCENTAGE
This purpose of this column is to order players within a step. Players with a higher % are further up the list for that step.
The Percent is derived from a player’s point differential. The total points for the player are divided by the maximum points that player could have earned across all rounds of play.
Players can now view the specific details of how this number was calculated by clicking on the percent.
PLAYER STEP
After a round-robin of 4 or 5 players is complete, the player’s game wins and point differential determine 1st place, 2nd place, 3rd, 4th, and 5th place within the pool.
1st place and 2nd place players move up a step in the ladder, 3rd place remains, and 4th and 5th place players move down a step.
Players can only move up or down one step in the ladder for each round played.
Please Note: Player step may not always align to the assigned pool for gameplay. You can read more about why this may occur under “Player Step Scenarios.”
Player Step Scenarios
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If a club normally has 11 pools of players and John is on step 10 in the ladder he would normally play in Pool 10. However, at the next shootout many players don’t show up so only 6 pools of players can be filled. Based on the sort order of the ranking sheet, John will play in Pool 6.
In the first round John wins his games and so John moves from Step 10 to Step 9 in the rankings. If a second round is started on the same day, John will remain on Pool 6 based on the sorting order of the ranking sheet. This ensures players don’t move up too many steps in the ladder merely because of the number of players that are present.
At the next shootout when more players are present and 11 pools can be filled, John will be assigned to start play on Pool 9.
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After the first round of play, a high-level player arrives and is admitted into the shootout for the second round. In this event, players marked to move up may now be forced to stay in their original skill level step to accommodate the new player who is higher on the priority sheet. We understand it can be disappointing to win your game and not move up, but in reality you avoided moving further down the ladder if you had lost!
Players may view the “Ranking Sheet” under the Shootout menu option to have a better understanding of this process.
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On the day of game play, and within a pool, players are ordered 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc. after their round robin is complete. This order is based on game play using the follow tie-breakers within their Pool:
Player with the most wins
Player with the most total point differential across all games
(point differential formula can be found below)
Players with the most head to head points
Random selection
The top two players move up a step in the ladder, the middle player remains, and the bottom two players move down a step in the ladder. Keep in mind your shootout manager may select to only allow one player to move up the ladder and one player to move down the ladder, while the other players remain. Check with your shootout manager for more details.
Point Differential Formula = (Points Scored) - (Points Allowed)
Example: Game to 11 win by 1
Team A - 11 points scored
Team B - 5 points scored
Team A’s point differential is 6 or (11-5), Team B’s point differential is -6 or (5-11)
Shootout Ladder FAQs
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The shootout is run continuously from day to day. The results of your second round play determine the Step you are assigned in the next shootout. This is reflected as “Step” on the shootout. The sheet uses “Step” as priority for sorting the sheet.
The following example further illustrates how Step assignments are determined:
ROUND 1 - If you play in Pool 1 and perform well, you will remain on Step 1.
ROUND 2 - If you don’t perform well you will be assigned to Step 2.
However, if you have a high percentage, then you are at the top of the list of Step 2. If on the next shootout day Pool 1 needs five players and only four Pool 1 players show up, you will be moved to play in Pool 1.
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In shootout ladder leagues you move up or down steps based on winning or losing. The step column reflects this trait.
While new players learn the game, they will start off with a low percentage. If sort order was based solely on percent, it would make it very difficult for these players to move up the ladder.
Making the step a priority provides players a greater opportunity to advance to higher pools as their skill level improves.
Conversely, skilled players will have a high percentage but they must continue to perform well in order to remain assigned to the higher pool levels. These players cannot rely on their high percentage to keep them assigned to higher steps.
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The % is column is a general gauge of a player's performance for a specific shootout group, and not meant to represent specific details such as the number of games won, point differential, etc.
As a player wins or loses pool competition, the player will move up or down steps which will affect a player’s percentage.
Because it is localized to a specific shootout group, this allows the club manager to run, for example, a 6 week league, then reset the shootout so players can start from scratch when a new league starts.
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No, if you cannot make a shootout play, your step and percent do not change. However, your placement may change as other players move up and down the pools.