The Florida Team Pickleball League, Inc. (FTPL) is a statewide team-based pickleball league. It currently operates in the following regions: Central Florida, Northeast Florida, Central West Florida and the Panhandle.  FTPL is a nonprofit corporation led by a group of volunteers who want to make the team experience available to players throughout Florida.

FTPL was formed to develop and introduce competitive team-based league pickleball to Florida, collaborating with the Arizona Pickleball Players League in Arizona and eventually nationally. We believe there are thousands of players who would like to enjoy a low-cost, organized, locally convenient, and competitive pickleball experience that is open to all adults aged 14 years and above.

FTPL’s objective is to bring a standardized team-based league format to Florida and nationally as an alternative or addition to the existing singles or doubles tournament structure.

Team-based league pickleball is a competition where teams consisting of 6 or more players compete against other teams within the same skill level over a period of months for a championship using a standardized and structured format of play.

It is common to have 10-12 players on your roster so you can have confidence that you can field 6 players when you have a match. On match day you will bring 6 players and a sub, if available, from your roster who will play against your opposing team’s 6 players.

FTPL was launched in the Central Florida region and is expected to expand throughout the state in the coming years. It currently operates in the following regions: Central Florida, NE Florida, NW Florida, and the Panhandle. We are always expanding.

You don’t really “join” FTPL. If you play on an FTPL team, there is a fee that you will pay when you register on that team. If your club or community has indicated an interest to play in FTPL you should contact your club FTPL administrator and indicate your interest in being on a team. You can also form your own team. If you have a network of similar skilled players that enjoy playing together and they are interested in joining your team, you can register a team on the FTPL website.

FPLI supports Men’s, Women’s and Mixed doubles skill level divisions in 2.5, 3.0, 3.5, 4.0 and 4.5/5.0+ increments depending on regional interest.

There are 3 age groups. An open age group can be anyone over 14 (14-17 must have parent present at a match). There will also be a 50+ and 65+ age group. You must turn that age before the end of the year of the season you are playing.

You can play on your gender specific team, as well as a mixed doubles team. You can also play on different age teams You can join two different teams in different skills if you are .5 skill lower on one team and meet the criteria for that team age ranges.

See the website for current cost information. The per player fee for the entire season will continue to be less than the cost to play in one sanctioned tournament.

That will vary depending on the number of teams participating in the various skill level flights. Ideally there would be 6 teams on each flight. There can be more and there might be less. There typically would be 6 to 10 matches per season (including state championship playoffs).

That depends on the League Region. Home courts may be at city or county courts contracted through the appropriate officials or club courts obtained through a community that have been approved for use for FTPL matches. Visiting teams will travel to their opponent’s home courts to play their matches. FTPL attempts to reach agreements with various Public (City/County/Regional) and Private for-profit venues in each region to make courts available for FTPL matches, for a fee.

How is the date and time determined? Most of the 50+ and 65+ teams will play during the week on weekdays. Most of the open age teams will play evenings or weekend afternoons, subject to court availability.

Typically, matches take about 2 hours to complete. Matches use 3 courts simultaneously. When possible, we recommend reserving the 3 courts for 2.5 hours to allow for some warmup time. Two hours is the minimum time required.

The league began in 2023. The Florida Team Pickleball Leagues, Inc became incorporated as a nonprofit corporation in 2023. It is being modelled off the very successful Arizona Pickleball Players League that has been running since 2019.

If you are a member of a community or club, you should ask your club’s administration if they will be participating and, if so, who oversees putting teams together. You can also form your own team if you have a network of friends with similar skill levels who would be interested in enjoying team-based pickleball. In this case, you would simply register your team when registration opens for a particular season. If you’re not able to pull a team together and/or your club is not involved, a Player Seeking a Team form is on the FTPL website, which you can fill out to let captains know you are interested in joining a team.

Yes, you can. Information on creating and registering your own team can be found on the FTPL website.

You do not have to be a member of a club to participate. Many clubs and communities form their own teams and prefer their teams to be made up of club or community players, but FTPL does not require you to be a member of a club or a community to participate. Anyone can form a team if they can meet the requirements, such as securing a venue for their home matches, having enough players, etc.

See the narrative below taken from the FTPL Rules of Play. Match Day Teams: On match day, the captain will bring 6 players to play on 3 doubles teams. Line-ups identifying the doubles teams on the scoresheet will be exchanged before the start of the match, after which they may not be changed. The 3 doubles team partners will stay together for that day’s match unless substitutions are made (see substitution rules). Captains or their designees are required to be on-site at each match. Match Process: To begin a match, the visiting teams choose to serve, receive, or side. Each doubles team will play 2 games to 11 (win by 2). Teams shall switch sides after the first game. At the end of the second games (first round), and the fourth games (second round), the visiting doubles teams switch courts to play the next home doubles team noted on the line-up/scoresheet. Therefore, on team match day, each doubles team will play 6 games (three rounds): 2 games against the opposing line 1 doubles team, 2 games against the line 2 team, and 2 games against the line 3 team. Two team points are awarded for each game won by a doubles team. If the losing team scores 6 or more points in a game, they are awarded 1 team point. No team points are awarded for a score of 5 points or less. Whichever team earns the most team points in all the games played in a match will be the winner of the match and will be awarded a win in their league skill group team standings.

No, you do not need to be a member of USAP to participate in any of the FTPL leagues.

The FTPL Regional leagues’ age requirement is 14 years and over. There are 3 age defined leagues (14+, 50+ and 65+) in each region in each division (Men’s, Women’s & Mixed).

FTPL’s Fall League season typically starts the second week in October and ends near or before the Christmas holiday. The Spring season starts in January and will end in April. The Regional Championship will be played at the end of the season. See the website for registration deadlines and other key dates.

Visit the FTPL website at: FTPLI.org and click the “Learn How to Get Started” button. We have links to respond to common questions and a generic “Contact Us” button to respond to everything else. Or reach out to one of the League Coordinators in the ”Our Team” section and they will be happy to help you.

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