How to run a King of the Court at your club
Places, sessions, reserves and rankings. What to decide before you open a King of the Court, what the software handles and what happens on court.
A King of the Court takes one sentence to explain and fits into an afternoon: several courts, four players on each, and a spell of play in which you move up or down the courts. The club’s work isn’t in the playing but in what comes before: who gets in, who misses out and where each person starts.
Here’s what’s worth deciding before you open one. Where we mention the software, the names are PadelVER’s. The app is in Spanish, where this format is called “Rey de pista”, and we give screen names as you’ll see them.
How many courts, and for how long
Places follow from the courts: four per court. With four courts, sixteen people play.
A session lasts one hour, an hour and a half or two hours, and the chosen courts are blocked for that time so nobody can book them. Anything already booked isn’t cancelled automatically: check before you publish and move those bookings if you need to.
Who can sign up
Choose the type (men’s, women’s, mixed or open) and the minimum and maximum level. In a mixed session, half the places are for each sex.
If the people at your club have very different levels, two sessions with different level ranges tend to work better than one session with everyone. That’s your call; the software only applies what you tell it.
Opening time, and why it matters
A popular King of the Court can fill up very quickly. Set an opening time and announce it in advance. Until then, the session’s page shows a countdown, and when the time comes the button activates on its own.
The order is set by the time each entry reaches the server, down to the millisecond, so there’s no need to argue about who got there first. We go into detail in Fair entries for a padel tournament.
Reserves and session limits
Three settings head off most arguments:
- Reserve players (“Jugadores reserva”). Four by default, and at least one. Once the places are full, the next people become reserves and move up in order if someone drops out. When the reserves are full too, the session says “Completo”.
- Sessions per player per day (“Turnos por jugador y día”). If you run several sessions on the same day, decide how many each person can sign up for. Sessions where they’re a reserve count too, so nobody holds several spots just in case.
- Signing up 2 people (“Apuntar a 2 personas”). When signing up, a player can also sign up someone else, by nickname or with an invitation that holds their spot. They aren’t a pair: each has their own spot in order of arrival, and can drop out separately. If only one place is left, it goes to the person signing up, and the other becomes first reserve.
Next week’s session
If you run one every week, don’t start from scratch. “Duplicar” creates a draft copy on the day and at the time you choose, with the same courts, type, level, price and reserves. You check it, publish it, and its countdown is running.
Where everyone starts
In a King of the Court, each draw is one court in the session. “Organizar automáticamente” puts the four highest-level players on the king’s court, the next four on the second, and so on. You can then change whatever you like before printing.
The king’s court is the first of the session’s courts in the order of your court list. If you want it to be another one, change that list by dragging its rows. It’s the same order your booking site shows.
What happens on court
PadelVER doesn’t keep score or handle the rotation between courts: that happens on court, and it’s worth having someone from the club explain it before you start. It doesn’t collect the entry fee online either: that’s paid at the club, and marking it as paid adds it to the day’s takings.
If you want a season ranking
Many clubs bring their King of the Court sessions together in a ranking. Your club records the points by hand, they don’t calculate themselves, and you decide how they’re shared out. For example: winner and loser on court 1, 10 and 8 points; on court 2, 6 and 5; on court 3, 4 and 3; on the last court, 2 and 1.
A ranking can be private or public. A public one has its own page, which you can share on WhatsApp, where each player appears by nickname or by first name and surname initial, never with their phone number or email.