~ NCPA format is separated into two different divisions, Division 1 and Division 2.

D1 is essentially MLP Format + Singles, standard scoring, one bracket... this is our team format.

D2 is our challenger bracket consists of five separate brackets, Men's/Women's Doubles, ​Men/Women's Singles, and Mixed Doubles.​​​​... this is our individual format. Regionals and Nationals are the same format. ~

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OVERVIEW

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• ​D1 Teams of 4-6 players will compete in only one bracket and D2 Individual Teams of two players for doubles and one for singles will compete in five total brackets...

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Division 1 - ​MLP Format + Singles (Pool Play into Single Elimination)

Division 2 - ​Men's Doubles, Women's Doubles, ​Men Singles, Women's Singles, and Mixed Doubles.​​​​​​​​​​​

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• D1 is a representation of the best players at your university. Teams of 4-6 players compete, two men and two women minimum with an option for an additional man and woman.

  • Colleges can win up to 3 separate bids to Nationals... That's up to three teams of 4-6 competing separately at Nationals under the same university. Up to 12 players total.​​

  • Teams will compete for $5,000 and bids to be one of the 64 teams at the National Championships.

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• D2 is a challenger bracket and any college athlete can compete. Individual brackets, not team formatted.

  • Players do not compete in teams of four like D1. Bids are not awarded in D2.

  • For example, a man has the option to compete in men's doubles, singles, and mixed... all of them or one of them. They pay one fee for the entire tournament no matter how many events a player decides to play in.

  • Average of a 3.5-4.0 but all levels can compete.

  • Players compete for hundreds of dollars worth of sponsorship product... Paddles, balls, etc. 

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• Colleges can send players to both D1 and D2 and can compete in multiple regionals.

• There is no limit to how many teams/players a university can send for both D1 and D2. It is encouraged to get as many out from you club as possible and have a minimum of one D1 team. Prioritize sending your players to D1.

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SCHEDULES FOR EVENTS BELOW

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Division 1 BRACKET DETAILS

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• All brackets are pool play into single-elimination.

• 4 teams in each pool. All 64 teams are pre-seeded into 16 total pools (announced via Instagram @ncpapickleball one week prior to the 2025 National Championship). For regionals, all teams registered will be randomly slotted into brackets. For nationals, the NCPA software is used to pre-seed all teams based on their performance in the NCPA Collegiate Tour.

• Teams are re-seeded 1-64 Friday night and announced LIVE at the venue. This is a March Madness style bracket. The rest of the event is single elimination.​​​​ The final bracket will also be posted on Instagram @ncpapickleball.

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How a Match Works

• ​There are three categories (6 total games each match.)... gender doubles, gender singles, mixed doubles... (2 games each category). Below is a breakdown of the categories.

  • Mixed Doubles / Gender Doubles / Gender Singles

  • 2 Mixed Doubles / 1 Men's Doubles - 1 Women's Doubles / 1 Men's Singles​​ - 1 Women's Singles​​​​

• A Sudden Death Singles game will be played (7th game) if the final score is 3-3. 

• Once a category is chosen by a team, both games are played in that category before the other team chooses the next category.

• All games are standard scoring to 11 win by 1.

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Coin Toss

• Coin toss before the start of every match.

  • Winner of the toss decides who chooses the first category. Some scenarios are below to help explain the advantages:

    • Gender Doubles -​ GCU chooses gender doubles. ASU chooses the gender of the first game. GCU decides serve or side. 

    • Mixed Doubles -  GCU chooses mixed doubles and has to put out their first team. ASU reacts.

    • Gender Singles - GCU chooses gender singles. ASU chooses the gender of the first game and has to put out their first player. GCU reacts. ASU decides serve or side.

    • Sudden Death Singles Match - If GCU chooses the first category, ASU gets to choose the gender and put out their player first. GCU reacts.

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• For all games, teams switch at 6 points. Switching at 6 is NOT a timeout and play resumes within 30 seconds. 

• One 1-min timeout per team PER MATCH... not per game.

• Warmups are a max of 2-min per game.

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Division 2 BRACKET DETAILS

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• All brackets are pool play into single-elimination.

  • 4 teams in each pool. Teams play everyone in their pool. All pools are seeded against one another so if there's 24 teams and 6 pools, all teams are seeded 1-24. Everyone makes it to the first round of single elimination.

  • All games are best 2/3 (unless otherwise stated at event) standard scoring, to 11 win by 1.​ One 1-min timeout per team PER MATCH... not per game.

  • Remember there are 5 individual brackets for D2.

    • ​Men's Doubles, Women's Doubles, ​Men Singles, Women's Singles, and Mixed Doubles.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

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2025 National Championship SCHEDULE:

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• The 2025 National Championship is FINAL.

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• FRIDAY

• D1 Pool Play                        - 8:00 AM

• Celeb/Pro/College Event  - 6:00PM (Livestream)

• Live Drawing of Seeds       - 8:00PM (Livestream)

• Day Ends                             - 8:00 PM​

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• SATURDAY

• D1 Single Elimination        - 8:00 AM (Livestream)

• Men's Doubles D2            - 12:00 PM

• Women's Doubles D2       - 2:00 PM

• Mixed Doubles D2            - 5:00 PM 

• Day Ends                            - 8:00 PM​

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• SUNDAY

• Men's Singles D2                   - 8:00 AM (Livestream)

• Women's Singles D2             - 8:00 AM  (Livestream)

• D1 Semi-Finals                       - 10:30 AM (Livestream)

• D1 National Championship  - 1:00PM   (Livestream)

• Day Ends​                                - 5:00 PM

 

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2025 NATIONALS SCHEDULE VISUAL

 

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Regional Championship SCHEDULE:​​​

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• Regionals is an estimated schedule and is subject to change depending on the number of players and teams competing at each regional...

  • The final schedule is released and emailed to all players a couple days prior to the date of each regional.

  •  No drastic changes will be made to the estimated schedule... Events will stay in this order; Only thing that may change are start times which are dependent on numbers.

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• SATURDAY

• Mixed Doubles D1           - 8:00 AM

• Men's Doubles D2           - 8:00 AM

• Women's Doubles D2     - 12:00 PM

• Gender Doubles D1         - 3:00 PM

• Day Ends                           - 8:00 PM​

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• SUNDAY

• Gender Singles D1            - 8:00 AM

• Mixed Doubles D2            - 8:00 AM

• Men's Singles D2              - 12:00 PM

• Women's Singles D2.       - 12:00 PM

• Day Ends​                            - 6:00 PM