Welcome Letter

Dear Columbus / Phenix City Municipal League Pickleball Captains and Future Players,

It’s time to secure your spot for the Fall 2026 League Season! We are thrilled to kick off our second Fall season of high-quality competitive league play.  This season's theme is "Leaves Fall. Teams Get Built!"  

Back to the Draft This Fall

Last fall was our first real draft season, and it worked too well not to bring back. Instead of letting one club stack a single team, captains build rosters using DUPR ratings, so every team comes out balanced and competitive.

All players register as free agents. Same setup that worked in Fall 2025. Sign up, get drafted, and go compete.

Competitive Divisions to Match Your Skill

To ensure balanced and fun competition, we are fielding three separate skill divisions:

3.0–3.6 Division: Great for solid intermediate players. (Teams of 6 players.)

3.7–4.2 Division: For advanced players seeking a high-level challenge. (Teams of 6 players.)

4.3+ Division: Exclusively for the Chattahoochee Valley's elite players. (Rotating Partner Round Robin.)

The League Experience

The success of COLGAMLP is defined by more than just winning; it’s about building the Columbus and Phenix City pickleball community. Get ready to meet and play against new faces at different venues, elevate your skill, and forge lasting friendships. Every season is an opportunity to improve and enjoy the great sport of pickleball.

Forming a League Committee To Enhance Player Experience

I'm putting together a Fall 2026 committee, five roles covering finance, registration and communications, court logistics, competition format, and social events, because I want more voices in the room running this league. Bringing in committee members means decisions about format, scheduling, and the player experience aren't riding on a limited read of what the community wants, and it means new ideas and fresh opinions. It's also a real opportunity to pick up event planning, budgeting, or league operations experience you can point to, whether that's for your resume or just because you'd like to know how the thing you play in every season actually gets built. I will gladly coach any committee member through whatever role you take on, no experience required, just some time and a sincere willingness to help carry the load. If you want in, reach out and let me know which role fits you. Committee position descriptions are at the bottom of this page.

Have questions or suggestions? I'm here to help. Please contact Doug directly at colgamlp@gmail.com.

The commissioner and committee will select voluntary team captains and determine the number of teams in each skill division based on the quantity of players registered for the league.

Team captains, the committee, and the commissioner will meet for a draft to select teams.  The commissioner will provide index cards with each player's name and skill level.  The cards will be laid on the table categorized into male/female and skill levels.  Starting with the captain with the lowest DUPR rating, the captains will sequentially choose female players from the pool.  Following selection of female players, the Captains will continue building teams with male players until each team is filled with six total players.  

The commissioner will then evaluate the teams for overall fairness and approve the teams.  Captains will contact his/her players to welcome them to a team.

All registered players will be selected for a team.  During the season, captains must ensure that each player will compete in a minimum of 75% of the matches.  This will prevent overusing the highest skilled players.

MLP tournaments involve multiple teams competing in a round-robin format, followed by playoffs for the top-ranked teams. Teams earn standings points based on their match wins.

Proposed Seven-Week Schedule for Seven Teams (Round Robin):

To have each of the seven teams play every other team once over seven weeks, we structured a round-robin schedule. Assume one match per week for each team, scheduled every week.  Each week, one team will have a bye.

How it Works:  Each team plays one match per week for seven weeks, facing a different opponent each week. By the end of Week 7, every team will have played all six other teams. Week 8 provides flexibility for any necessary adjustments and the playoff final showdown.

Player Substitutions:  If a team captain needs to utilize a sub, he/she may pick one from the sub bench. Teams may only use a specific sub player one time during the season. Therefore, if we have sub players A, B, and C, then a team can only sub in player A one-time during the season. But the team can later use sub B and/or sub C. This will allow all teams to utilize the same subs, but not keep playing the best subs.

This structure ensures a balanced and competitive tournament where every team has the opportunity to compete against all others, mirroring the exciting team dynamics of MLP.

Upon conclusion of the weekly match, the winning Team Captain will report the score to the Commissioner via the GroupMe app by posting the scoresheet.

Municipal League Pickleball (MLP) tournaments feature a unique team-based format that differs from traditional individual or doubles pickleball competitions. Here's a breakdown of the concept and structure:

Definitions:

     Match - entire competition between two opposing teams. A match consists of four lines and         potentially a DreamBreaker. To win a match, a team must win 3 out of 4 lines.

     Line - within the match the four lines are Men’s Doubles, Women’s Doubles, Mixed Doubles, and Mixed Doubles. To win a line, a team must win 2 out of 3 games.

     Game - played to 11 win by two.

     DreamBreaker - only played if teams win two lines each. Played to 21 with rally scoring, singles, 3 consecutive serves per player, and win by 2 while serving. 

Concept:

The core of MLP is to create a dynamic and engaging team environment within pickleball. Instead of individual players competing, teams of six players (with a minimum of two women and two men) compete against each other in a series of matches. This format emphasizes team strategy, collaboration, and the excitement of both singles and doubles play within a team matchup.

Structure of a Team Match:

A standard MLP team match consists of the following four lines:

Line 1. Women's Doubles: Two female players from each team compete against each other.

Line 2. Men's Doubles: Two male players from each team compete against each other.

Line 3. Mixed Doubles: One male and one female player from each team form a partnership and play against the opposing team's mixed doubles pair.

Line 4. Mixed Doubles: The remaining male and female players from each team form a

different mixed doubles partnership and compete.

Scoring:

• Games are played to 11 points (win by two, traditional side-out scoring).  A team will win a line by winning two out of three games.

Overall Match Scoring: A total of three standings points are awarded for each regular season match.

• 3 Points: Awarded for a regulation win (3-1 or 4-0; no DreamBreaker needed).

• 2 Points: Awarded for a DreamBreaker win (3-2).

• 1 Point: Awarded for a DreamBreaker loss (2-3).

• 0 Points: Awarded for a regulation loss (1-3 or 0-4; no DreamBreaker needed).

The DreamBreaker (Tiebreaker):

If the team match is tied 2-2 after the four lines, an exciting tiebreaker called the

"DreamBreaker" is played. 

Here's how it works: If both teams are tied at 2-2 after the 4 lines played, they’ll go to a DreamBreaker! In a DreamBreaker one person from each team plays singles against each other, switching every three points until a team gets to 21 and wins by two points. To level up the stakes, the away team has to present its singles line-up first then the home team gets the chance to counter that with their own configuration of their lineup to match and counter each player’s skills!

1. Scoring: A point is scored on every rally, regardless of which team served the ball.

2. Player Rotation: Each team previously declared a rotation order of ALL participating players.  ALL players must play in the DreamBreaker.  After every three points, the players rotate according to the predetermined order.

3. Freeze: The "freeze" rule applies at game point (20-point mark).  A team must win the final

point while serving.

For full rules, please see the downloadable Columbus MLP Rules Guide below.

Date/Time/Location: TBD after completion of regular season makeup matches.

Eligibility and Team Requirements: The four teams with the highest final standings from the regular season will qualify for the championship playoffs. Qualifying team captains will coordinate with the league commissioner for the date and time to ensure maximum player participation.  The away team captain will submit his/her team's lineup to the home team captain 24 hours before the playoff start time.

Team Roster Requirement: Each team must have a minimum of four players (2 males and 2 females) rostered and present for all playoff matches. No player may play more than two lines. All six players must be rostered for the DreamBreaker. Failure to meet this requirement may result in a forfeit.

4 Team Playoff

• Top 4 teams at the end of the regular season qualify for the playoffs based on standings.

Semifinals

• 1st seed vs 4th seed.
• 2nd seed vs 3rd seed.

Final Matches

• Semifinal winners move on to compete for Gold & Silver, while the remaining two teams play for bronze.

Match Format: All playoff matches will adhere strictly to the same format and rules for regular season matches, including the number of lines, games, and scoring.