🏆 Got Next Pickleball League (GNPL) – Season 1 Rules & Regulations

📍 Location: Milton Leisure Center – 1100 Main St
E, Milton, ON L9T 6H7, Canada
📆
Dates:

• Nov 23, 30 (2025)
• Dec 7, 14, 21 (2025)
• Jan 11, 18 (2026)
• Jan 25 (Playoffs Start)
• Feb 1 (Semi Finals)
• 🏅 Feb 8 (Finals)

📊 Season Highlights

• 🕐 10-week season total (7 regular + 3 playoffs)
• 💵 Player Fee: $100 (includes court time + team
  shirt)
• ⏱️ Time Slot: 9:30AM-10:30AM
• 🏓 Each team plays 1-hour sessions (3-game set)
  weekly
• 👥 8 teams total (16 players – must register
  as a pair)
• 🔥 Playoffs: Jan 25, Feb 1 & 8 – Single-elimination
  bracket (quarterfinals → semifinals → finals)

🧭 League Format

• Doubles format (2v2) –
  you’ll play with your partner for the entire season.
• Round-robin style schedule
  leading to a seeded playoff bracket.
• All matches consist of a 3-game
  set. Each team will play 3 games each week.
• Only the serving team scores
  points.

🏐 Quick Pickleball Overview

Pickleball blends elements of tennis, badminton, and ping-pong.
It’s played on a 20 ft × 44 ft court with a low net (36” at
sidelines, 34” at center) and is most often played as doubles.

🗺️ Court Layout

• Baseline: Back boundary line
• Sideline: Side boundary lines
• Non-Volley Zone (Kitchen): 7-ft zone on both sides of the
  net – no volleys allowed
• Service Areas: Diagonal zones behind the
  kitchen where serves must land
• Centerline: Divides the two service boxes
• Court Dimensions: 20 ft wide and 44 ft long.
  The Non-Volley Zone (NVZ, or Kitchen) extends 7 ft from the net on both
  sides. ✅
• Net Height: 36 inches at sidelines, 34
  inches at center. ✅

📏 Basic Rules

✅
Serve underhand and diagonally cross-court (must clear the
kitchen)
✅
Two-Bounce Rule: Ball must bounce once on each side before
volleys
✅
No volleying while standing in the kitchen
✅
Only the serving team scores points
✅
Regular Season: Games are first to 11 – dead at 15 (win-by-2)
✅
Playoffs: Games are first to 11 – win by 2 (not dead at anything)
✅
Teams switch servers after losing a rally (except on the first serve of
the game)
✅ Teams change sides after each game.

🔄 Serve & Scoring Flow

1. Server hits diagonally into
   opponent’s service box.
2. Receiving team lets the ball
   bounce before returning.
3. Serving team must also let the
   return bounce.
4. After two bounces, volleys are
   legal.
5. Receiving team faults → serving
   team scores.
6. Serving team faults → service
   passes to next player or opposing team.
7. The serve must be
   underhand, with contact below the waist, and struck with
   an upward motion.
8. The server may use a drop
   serve, allowing the ball to bounce once before striking.
9. The serve must travel diagonally
   cross-court, clearing the NVZ (including the NVZ line). The
   serve may not land on the NVZ line.
10. A serve that touches the net and
    lands in the correct service court is live and playable (no
    lets).
11. All other service-court lines
    are in.
12. The first serving team starts
    at 0-0-2 (the second server).
13. Each server continues serving
    until their team commits a fault. After that, service passes to the second
    server on the same team.
14. When both servers fault, it is
    a side-out, and the opposing team gains service.
15. Only the serving team can
    score points.

League Note: To maintain consistency, servers
must call the full score (e.g., 5-3-1) before each serve.

Double-Bounce Rule

• The serve return must bounce
  once, and the serving team’s return (third shot) must also bounce once
  before volleys are allowed.
• After this sequence, both teams
  may volley or play off the bounce.

Non-Volley Zone (Kitchen)

• A player may not volley (hit the
  ball in the air) while standing in the NVZ.
• A player’s momentum
  cannot carry them into the NVZ after volleying.
• If you enter the NVZ, you
  must fully re-establish both feet outside before
  volleying again.

Line Calls

• Any ball contacting a line
  is in, except the NVZ line on a serve, which
  is out.
• In case of uncertainty, the
  benefit of the doubt goes to the opponent.

Conduct and Etiquette

• All players must exhibit good
  sportsmanship and honesty in line calls.
• No foul language or
  unsportsmanlike behavior will be tolerated.
• Disputes are settled by replay or
  by league official’s discretion.

💡Beginner Tips

• 🎾 Stay out of the kitchen unless the ball bounces
  inside it.
• 📢 Always call the score before serving.
• 📍 Aim deep on serves and returns to keep
  opponents back.
• 🤝 Communicate with your partner.
• 💪 Focus on placement and control over pure
  power.