Fall 2024 Pickleball Sayville

Additional Info

What is Semi Pro? Semi Pro is a monthly tournament concept that exists outside of normal league play.

Why? Semi Pro addresses the competitive needs of players who choose to play in LI-Kick's leagues, but are surpassing the competition offered in the weekly leagues. Semi Pro will bring together LI-Kick's most advanced players for regular monthly tournaments.

How to get an Invite: Semi Pro is invite only and consists of a pool of ~40 advanced players who actively play LI-Kick or have a long history of playing LI-Kick. These players have a guarantee spot in each tournament. There is a separate Open division and Women only division. Interested players can join the waitlist to request an invite.

How Semi Pro Pickleball Works: Tournaments are doubles and played 'Indy style'. In pool play, everyone will play 6 games with randomized partners and opponents every game. Every player will advance to a single elimination tournament. Playoff teams are formed by allowing the highest pool play finisher to pick their teammate from the available pool and so forth until teams are made. The tournament will play to award a podium.

Guest Players: Guest players may be used to achieve even numbers in each division. Guest players are invited to participate on a by-tournament basis.

Tournament Attendance: It is not required to attend every tournament. Guest players will be used in the case we are below the minimum needed.

How the Tournaments Connect: Each tournament will have a winning duo. The winning duo will not be allowed to partner up in the playoff portion of future tournament (except for the final tournament). Players will have individual Semi Pro ELOs which will rank them in the overall standings.

Who 'Wins' Semi Pro?: Each tournament will have a winning duo. The 6th and final tournament, called the Grand Finale, has a slightly different format.

Tournaments Dates:

• Oct-20, 7pm at Pickleball Hall in Sayville
• Nov-16, 7pm at Pickleball Hall in Sayville
• Dec-14: 7pm at Robbie Wager in Glenwood Landing
• Jan-18: 7pm at Pickleball Hall in Sayville
• Mar-01; 7pm at Pickleball Hall in Sayville
• Mar-22: 7pm at Pickleball Hall in Sayville

Location: We have a full facility rental at Pickleball Hall (246 N. Main Street, Sayville) for every tournament. Pickleball Hall has 7 courts.

Price: There will be a joining fee of $40 to join Semi Pro as a confirmed player which must be paid upon accepting the invitation. There will be an additional charge of $55 to play in each Semi Pro Tournament. Guest players will need to play the tournament fee but not the joining fee.

Game Play Rules:

• Pool play games are to 11, no win by 2
• Play-in games are to 15, rally scoring
• Playoff games are 11, win by 2
• Pool play goes to rally scoring after 15 minutes on the timer.
• Playoff games have no timer

Grand Finale: The Grand Finale is the 6th tournament in the series and will crown the ultimate champions of Semi Pro. The goal is to give the grand finale a more 'championship feel', to separate it from the 5 previous tournaments. To achieve that the format is structured by player rankings from the previous 5 tournaments. Players who have performed the highest over those 5 tournaments have an easier road to the championship, but everyone who plays has a chance to win.

Qualification: Players need to play at least 2 tournaments to qualify for the Grand Finale, however we need multiples of 4 to run this format so we may loosen that rule by waiving that/ allowing guest players, or tighten that rule by adding an ELO standard.

Round 1: Seeded Pool Play

Players are entered into seeded groups based on their ELO from the series. You play a full round robin with the players in your group (3 games). The top players from each group advance to 'A' Semis and the other advance to 'B' Semis.

• If 12 players, top 2 players from each group, plus 2 wild cards advance to 'A' Semi
• If 16 players, top 2 from each group to 'A' Semi
• If 20 players, top 1 from each group, plus 3 wild cards to 'A' Semi

Round 2: Semi Finals

There are separate 'A' and 'B' Semi Finals. All players get 3 more randomized games within their Semi Final group. The Semi Final round gives players in the 'B' a chance to move up, and players in the 'A' the risk of losing their spot. Pool play records do not carry over into the Semi Finals. Players are moved up/down based on Semi Final records.

• If 12 players, bottom 1 in 'A' swaps with top 1 in 'B'
• If 16 players, bottom 2 in 'A' swaps with top 2 in 'B'
• If 20 players, bottom 3 in 'A' swaps with top 3 in 'B'

Round 3: Championships

At this point, the final bracket is set. Players form teams with the #1 ranked player getting to pick their partner from within their final pool. This will be single elimination team style games. The winning team will be the Semi Pro champions.

March Results Grand Finale (16 open/ 12 women only)

Open Division

• Gold: Michael and Jon
• Silver: Chris and Jeff
• Bronze: Ethan and Dom
• Upset of the Night: Jeanne and Brian (+51)
• Player of the Tournament: Michael (+118)

Women Only

• Gold: Debbie and Laura
• Silver: Vic and Sydney
• Bronze: Megan and Jess
• Upset of the Night: Danielle and Jess (+50)
• Player of the Tournament: Laura (+166)

February Results:(14 open/ 8 women only)

Open Division

• Gold: Jon and Ali
• Silver: Chelsea and Chris
• Bronze: Mark L and Will
• Upset of the Night: Mark L and Nick (+53)
• Player of the Tournament: Jon (+103)

Women Only

• Gold: Kylie and Debbie
• Silver: Lauren and Mel
• Bronze: Sydney and Megan
• Upset of the Night: Megan and Sydney (+49)
• Player of the Tournament: Kylie (+190)

December Results:(16 open/ 12 women only)

Open Division

• Gold: Sal and Chris
• Silver: Michael and Ali
• Bronze: Jeff and Ethan
• Upset of the Night: Elliot and Carl (+54)
• Player of the Tournament: Sal (+104)

Women Only

• Gold: Lauren and Jess
• Silver: Megan and Laura
• Bronze: Taylor and Jamie
• Upset of the Night: Jamie and Vic (+45)
• Player of the Tournament: Lauren (+90)

November Results:(20 open/ 8 women only)

Open Division

• Gold: Mark L and Michael
• Silver: Sal and Ali
• Bronze: Jon and Jeff
• Upset of the Night: Jared and Elliot (+53)
• Player of the Tournament: Michael (+109)

Women Only

• Gold: Debbie and Jillian
• Silver: Kylie and Vic
• Bronze: Danielle and Megan
• Upset of the Night: Kylie and Alona (+46)
• Player of the Tournament: Kylie (+144)

October Results:(16 open/ 8 women only)

Open Division

• Gold: Mark L and Jon
• Silver: Will and Sal
• Bronze: Chris S and Ali
• Upset of the Night: Nick and Jon (+35)
• Player of the Tournament: Mark L. (+165)

Women Only

• Gold: Chelsea and Tiffany
• Silver: Debbie and Taylor
• Bronze: Danielle and Laura
• Upset of the Night: Jamie and Chelsea (+47)
• Player of the Tournament: Chelsea (+127)