We will use an online booking system, so that people don’t show up at the Curling Club and find that there is no one there – or that the session is already full. See here for instructions on registering for the booking system.
The booking system is available via this link: https://almonte.pickleplanner.com/
Use of the booking site is mandatory. Only players who have signed up for a given session (1.5 hours) are permitted to play in that session.
Players can sign up for court times 7 days in advance, beginning at noon. So sign-up for “next Thursday” starts at noon of “this Thursday”.
To start the season, there will be a limit of 3 “prime” sessions per player per week. The “prime” session are the ones that have historically been the most popular. These are the sessions which start at 9am, 6pm and 7:30pm. Limits may be tightened further if we find that demand is higher than capacity.
How the Courts will be used
There are 4 courts at the Curling Club.
3 of the courts will be grouped together to form a single “Public” pod, where people will play games with a rotating combination of other players. This Public pod is limited to 20 players per session.
The other court (court 4, at the back right of the playing surface) will be bookable for “private” groups of 4 people who want to play only with each other. Note: Private bookings will NOT be available during MOST “prime” timeslots: those which start at 9am, 6pm and 7:30pm. Private sessions WILL be available for booking on Mondays and Wednesdays at the same time as the Beginner sessions (see below).
The 6pm and 7:30 timeslots will be special for another reason. Over the course of the week, two sessions will be reserved for Beginner play, and two sessions will be reserved for Advanced play.
Beginner sessions are for true beginners and also any players who want to play at a very relaxed level.
Advanced sessions are for players who believe they are “good” players and who want to compete and improve by playing with other “good” players.
How to book your place in a session
- Sign in to the booking system (see above)
- Click on “Join an Event”
- Scroll to find the date/time you want to join
- If the Public session is not full, then Click on it and then click on “join” to sign up for that session. You’re done!
- If the Public session is full, and the Private session is not full, then click on the Private session and then click on “join” to sign up for that session. You’re done!
- If both sessions are full, then join the Public session, in order to be added to its waitlist. Whenever someone withdraws from the session, the first person on the waitlist is added to the session. You will be notified by email if you are added to the session!
Private Sessions
- If you plan to play with a specific group of friends, then look for an available Private session. Join that session and ask your group to join it as soon as they can. ANYONE can be the first to join a Private session: the only requirement is their intention that 3 other specific people will join that session within a few hours. “A few hours” is not a specific amount of time: the risk of delay is that the Public courts could become fully-booked, in which case I am advising (see above) additional players to sign up for the Private court.
Almonte Pickleball Club 