Saturday, May 26, 2012

Pickleball Rules Refresher: Tournament Time-outs

The other day at a local pickleball tournament, I was watching a game where the losing team was obviously dehydrated, losing severely, and playing utterly defensive, and in the end lost the match. Finding out that this was their first tournament in recreational category I asked why they didn't call a time out during the course of the game to get collected or grab a gulp of water. They said they didn't know that any time-outs were allowed in a tournament setting. Do you know how many timeouts are allowed in a pickleball tournament setting? According to IFP rules:
SECTION 11 – TIME-OUT RULES
11.A.Normal Time-Outs. A player or team is entitled to 2 time-outs per game; each time-out period shall last only 1 minute. Then play must be resumed or another time-out must be called by either side. Time-outs may never be called once the ball is in play or the server has started the serving motion. For games to 21 points, each team is allowed 3 time-outs per game.
11.B.Injury Time-Outs. If a player is injured during a match, that player may call an injury time-out. The referee must agree that an injury did take place and that the player is not just stalling to rest or recuperate. If the referee agrees, then that player will be allowed no more than 15 minutes of rest during the injury time-out. If the player cannot resume play after the 15-minute injury time-out period, the match shall be awarded to the opponents.
IFP Comment: A player may take only one injury time-out per match. That time-out must be continuous and may be up to 15 minutes.
11.C.Equipment Time-Outs. Players are expected to keep all clothing and equipment in good playable condition and are expected to use regular time-outs and time between games for adjustments and replacement of equipment. If a player or team is out of time-outs and the referee determines that an equipment change or adjustment is necessary for fair and safe continuation of the match, the referee may award an equipment time-out not to exceed 2 minutes.
11.D.Between Games Time-Out. Between games time-outs shall not exceed 2 minutes between each game of a match.
11.E.Postponed Games. Any game postponed by referees shall be resumed with the same score and remaining time-outs as when postponed.
IFP Comment: When a time-out is called, the referee may request that all players place their paddles on the correct court and the ball be placed under the serving player’s paddle.

2 comments:

  1. What about games played to “15”, not 11, not 21?

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  2. 11 and 15 get 2 timeouts, 21 gets 3 timeouts. 2021 rule book 10.A. Also the ball under the paddle thing is logical but not in the 2021 rule book.

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