The TPL

Minnesota's premier team pickleball tournament.

Where competition and camaraderie collide.

The TPL Story

Like many of us these days, I'm a pickleball addict. I also participated in team sports all my life. So when Major League Pickleball launched their first tournament and showcased teams of 4, I was hooked.

Originally, The TPL was going to be called "St. Cloud Major League Pickleball." But since I was so obsessed with trying to make a team event happen, a member of our local pickleball crew aptly named it "The Thomas Pickleball League," or "The TPL" for short.

We had our first event in June of 2023, with just four teams competing for the ultimate bragging rights.

Now, here we are not even a year later, and this spring The TPL is hosting three different divisions and nearly 100 players! It's been incredible to see this amazing pickleball community come together to build something truly unique.

I hope to see you all at future TPL events!

-Tom Spaniol, TPL Founder

Upcoming Events

TPL Open

When- Saturday, September 20th

Where- Apollo High School, St. Cloud Minnesota

What- TPL Open Team Tournament!

Craft your dream team and join us for some great camaraderie and competition!

Register Here

Event Description

The TPL is a team pickleball tournament. Each team consists of 4 players; 2 males and 2 females.

The event format will be 3 pool play matches followed by a single elimination bracket to determine the champion. (Bracket size will be determined by the amount of registrations, but everyone is guaranteed at least one bracket match).

This means each team is guaranteed at least 4 matches.

Match Format and Rally Scoring

Each match in the TPL consists of 4 games:

Women's doubles
Men's doubles
Mixed Doubles 1
Mixed Doubles 2

A match is won when a team has won 3 games in that match.

If, after the first 4 games the teams are tied having each won 2 games, there is a 5th tiebreaker game to decide the match. For the tiebreaker, the away team (chosen at the pre match coinflip) will choose if they want the men's or women's doubles to start. If the women's doubles starts, the women will play until the leading team gets to 11. Let's say for example that Team A is leading Team B, 11-7. At this time, the women would come off the court, and the men will continue where the score left off, at 11-7. From this point, they will finish the game to 21 (win by 2).

Rally Scoring

The TPL is played using rally scoring up to 21, win by two. Switch ends with your opponent when the leading team gets to 11. The end switch can be used as a one minute break to get water. Each team is also allowed a one minute timeout per game. A few nuances to the TPL rally scoring:

If your team is serving and you win the point, you DO NOT switch sides with your partner for the next point. If your team has an even amount of points, the player in the right court serves. If your team has an odd amount of points, the player in the left court serves. When the game starts you determine who will be on the left side and who will be on the right side.
If you want to change who is on the right/left, you can change this during the switch at 11, or during a timeout (whether you take the timeout, or your opponents do, you can switch during this time).
If you switch during a timeout, you must announce the switch to the other team, otherwise you will be serving out of order and it will result in a loss of serve and point for the other team.
It is rally scoring, win by 2, must get the winning point on your serve. For example, if the score is Team A leading Team B 20-15, and Team B is serving, if Team A wins the rally they do not get a point, but they get the serve back and are now serving 20-15 for the win.
If Team B made a comeback and tied the score at 20-20, both teams are now rally scoring again as no team is serving for the win.
Rally scoring to 21, win by 2, must get the last point on your serve.