Open to all New Canaan residents. Members must have a valid New Canaan resident paddle pass. League dues are paid per person/team/year. If dues are not paid within 1 month of the beginning of the season, that team's scores will not count. For the daytime league, players must be able to play matches on weekdays between 9:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m., however teams may opt to play outside these hours. For the nighttime league, players must be able to schedule matches on weeknights after 5:00 p.m., however teams may opt to play outside these hours.
There are no set days for matches. Matches are to be scheduled as soon as possible for the week they are to be played at a mutually agreed upon time. All matches are best of three with a 7 point-tie break format. All APTA rules will be in effect and a description of the tiebreaker is included at the end of the rules.
Paddle is an outdoor game and is subject to varying weather conditions. Please make every effort to play in a variety of conditions: warm and cold temperatures, and wet weather, including misting, light off and on rain, and snow. If both teams agree that the weather is too inclement, they should immediately reschedule a make-up match. Steady rain, snow and sleet are considered grounds for suspension of play. In the case of school start delays or closures, players will reschedule the match.
Due to limited court availability, if any player is more than 15 minutes late to a match, the opposing team takes a default win.
A 10 minute grace period will be granted for injuries (i.e. falling down, player hit by a ball or racket, etc.). If the injured player has not recovered after 10 minutes, the team with the injured player must award the match to the opposing team and record the match as "retired".
If a team must retire from a match due to injury, sickness or a personal commitment, the match is ended, and the opposing team receives the win. The score is recorded up to the point of interruption. For example, if team A is losing 3-0 and team B must retire, the score is reported as a win for team A and the score is 0-3, retired.
Defaults are only used as a last resort. All Defaults must be reported to the scorekeeper with all members of the affected teams being copied on the email.
If a team leaves 50% of their matches unplayed for two seasons in a row (other than for injury), they will be asked to take a year off before returning to the league.
If, due to unforeseen circumstances, a team needs to withdraw from the league for the season, they must communicate this to all members of their flight, the scorekeeper, and the administrative heads of the League.
As soon as the match is played, one member of the winning team is responsible for emailing the exact score, including games, sets and what flight they are in to: sjccsinc@aol.com ; subject line put "NCWPTL SCORES - (your flight #)." Type teams i.e. "Garrity/Lobdell vs. Duane/Mills"; Winners: "Duane/Mills"; Scores: 6-4, 1-6, 6-3. All defaulted matches must be reported as a default win or default loss. The result will be recorded as 6-0, 6-0.
| Match Result | Points Earned | |
| Win (played) | = | 2 points |
| Win (default) | = | 2 points |
| Loss (played) | = | 1 point |
| Loss (default) | = | 0 points |
| Not Played | = | 0 points |
At the end of each season the top two positions of each flight will have the opportunity to challenge the lower two positions of the flight above. The scorekeeper reports the positioning of each team at the end of each season. Once he has posted the season's results, the League will notify everyone by email.
Team 1 challenges team 8 and team 2 challenges team 7 in the above flight. It is up to the challengers to email the team they are challenging to schedule their challenge match; this outreach must take place within four days of being notified by email that the scores/challenge matches have been posted. In return, teams being challenged should respond to a challenge request in an timely manner. If a challenging team does not reach out within 4 days of the scores being posted, and/or or a challenged team does not respond to the request for a challenge in a timely manner, the League board will determine how to proceed. Winners of challenge matches are to record their scores at sjccsinc@aol.com immediately after their match so that the flights can be updated for the next session of play. If a team defaults the entire season due to injury, they will not be eligible to play the challenge match.
Mid-season partner changes due to injury, move, etc. will be allowed upon approval of the committee. Please contact the co-chairs of the league. Once a change has been made, it is expected that this new partner will finish the rest of the season. A one-time partner substitution will be allowed for regular league matches in the case of illness, minor injury, last-minute sick child or in the case of an emergency. Subs must be a member of the league and in the same flight or lower. No substitutions are allowed for challenge matches.
New teams may enter the league at the beginning of either the fall or winter session. Teams entering anytime during the season will be accessed on a team by team basis and placed according to ability.
The committee will use each individual player's most recent ranking, combining both players ranking to determine the slot for the new team.
If two or more teams finish the season tied, the tie will be broken using the following steps, in order.
Note: Levels 1 and 2 use head-to-head results only. This means only the matches played between the tied teams are considered. If three or more teams are tied and one or more teams are eliminated during the process, the remaining tied teams start over at Level 1 until the tie is completely resolved.
Level 1: Head-to-Head Match Wins
The team with the most head-to-head match wins advances.
Level 2: Head-to-Head Sets Won
If teams are still tied, compare the total number of sets won in head-to-head matches.
Level 3: Total Matches Played
If teams are still tied, compare the total number of matches played during the season.
Level 4: Total Games Won
If teams remain tied, compare the total number of games won during the season.
If, at the end of the season, a team feels they should be considered for an advancement in flight placement beyond what the Challenge results would dictate, the following criteria must be met:
League Administrators reserve the right to ask a team to leave the League due to poor sportsmanship. This would not be taken lightly and would only be considered if a team were accused of multiple offenses. These offenses will be documented thru email and the team in question will be made aware of such offenses. If a team is asked to leave, they will be eligible to rejoin after sitting out one year.
Last Updated: September 2026