The Arizona Pickleball Players League (APPL) is a statewide team-based pickleball league. It currently operates in the following regions: Southern Region (Tucson and surrounding southern Arizona area; Casa Grande Region (communities in the Casa Grande and surrounding area); East Valley Region (cities in the eastern Phoenix metro and surrounding area); West Valley Region (cities in the western Phoenix Metro and surrounding area) and the White Mountain Region (a summer league that includes Show Low, Pinetop, Lakeside and surrounding area). APPL is a nonprofit corporation led by a group of volunteers with years of experience in team-based league pickleball who want to make that experience available to players throughout Arizona.

APPL was formed to develop and introduce competitive team-based league pickleball to Arizona and eventually nationally. We believe there are thousands of players that would like to enjoy a low cost, organized, locally convenient and competitive pickleball experience that is open to all adults ages 18 years and above.

APPL’s objective is to bring a standardized team-based league format to Arizona and eventually nationally as an alternative or addition to the existing singles or doubles tournament infrastructure.

Team-based league pickleball is a competition where several 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 from your roster who will play against your opposing team’s 6 players.

APPL is statewide.  It currently operates in the following regions: 

• Southern Region (Tucson and surrounding southern Arizona area)
• Casa Grande Region (communities in the Casa Grande and surrounding area)
• East Valley Region (cities in the eastern Phoenix metro and surrounding area)
• West Valley Region (cities in the western Phoenix Metro and surrounding area)
• White Mountain Region (a summer league that includes Show Low, Pinetop, Lakeside and surrounding area)

You don’t really “join” APPL.  If you play on an APPL team there is a fee that you will pay when you register yourself on that team.  If your club or community has indicated an interest to play in APPL you should contact your club APPL 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 APPL website.

APPL supports Gender and Mixed skill level flights in 2.5, 3.0, 3.5, 4.0 and 4.5/5.0+ increments depending on regional interest.

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 in each flight.  There can be more and there might be less. There typically would be 8 to 12 matches per season (including state championship playoffs).

That depends on the League Region.  The Casa Grande Region plays at Dave White Regional Park in Casa Grande.  The East Valley, West Valley and Southern Regions will play home and away matches at each team’s home court venue.  Home courts may be at city or county courts contracted through the appropriate officials (for example city of Phoenix Pecos Park courts, or Tucson’s Udall Park, or Surprise Community Park, etc.) or club courts obtained through a community that have been approved for use for APPL matches.  Visiting teams will travel to their opponent’s home courts to play their matches.  APPL attempts to reach agreements with various Public (City/County/Regional) and Private for profit venues in each region to make courts available for APPL matches, for a fee.

The league has been in existence since 2012 and originally started out as the East Valley Interclub League (EVIL). The Arizona Pickleball Players League became incorporated as a nonprofit corporation in 2019.   In 2023, 4500 players participated on over 370 teams in APPL leagues throughout Arizona.

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 is in charge of putting teams together.  You can also form your own team if you have a network of similar skill level friends 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 APPL website which you can fill out to let captains know you are interested in joining a team.

Yes you can.  There is information on how to form and register your own team on the APPL website.

Uou do not have to be a member of a club to participate.  Many clubs and communities form their own teams and prefer their teams be made up of club or community players but APPL 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.  The Casa Grande Region does have some additional conditions stemming from having all their matches played at Dave White Park.  See the Casa Grande specific FAQs for more detail.

See the narrative below taken from the APPL 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 prior to 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 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 APPL leagues.  In addition, your APPL match results do not affect your UTPR rating if you have one.

The APPL Regional leagues’ age requirement is 18 years and over.  There are three age defined leagues (18+, 50+ and 65+) in each region in each division (Men’s, Women’s & Mixed).

• 18+ League:  All teams are not age restricted.  Players must be 18 years or older by the start of the season.
• 50+ League:  Players must be 50 years or older during the calendar year of the league start.  For example, for a season starting in 2024, the player must turn 50 by December 31, 2024.
• 65+ League: Players must be 65 years or older during the calendar year of the league start.  For example, for a season starting in 2024, the player must turn 65 by December 31, 2024.

APPL’s Winter League seasons typically start the first week in January and end near the last week in March.  The State Championships are typically held the first week in April.  See the website for registration deadlines and other key dates.  APPL’s Summer White Mountain Region league typically starts early June and ends mid August.

The fee for player registration in the Casa Grande Region is $30 per season for each team the player participates on (ex. Men’s 3.5 and Mixed 3.5 is $60). The fee includes the player registration fee and the court fee which is passed on to the city of Casa Grande.

All Casa Grande Region APPL matches are played at Dave White Regional Park. The Mixed Division plays on Mondays. The Women’s Division plays on Tuesdays. The Men’s Division plays on Wednesday. Matches are normally slotted to play in 2-hour increments in the afternoons either at 12:00, 2:00 or 4:00. Occasionally 6:00pm matches are required under the lights. Match play begins the first week in January.

The Casa Grande Region is a community based league with 6 communities participating: Dave White, Palm Creek, Robson Ranch, Mission Royale, Sun City Anthem and Encanterra. Each community fields teams in Men’s, Women’s and Mixed Divisions in Flight skill levels of 3.0, 3.5, 4.0 and 4.5/5.0. Typically each Flight in each division might have 5-7 teams. Ordinarily there would be 50-70 teams in the region.

Contact your club/community administration to see if your club is participating and express your interest. Each club/community is asked to have a League Administrator who will help get your teams set up and work with APPL representatives to help get you started.

If you are a member of one of the 6 communities in the Casa Grande Regional League you should contact your club/community administrator and indicate your interest in forming a team.

At this time, the Casa Grande Regional APPL league is a community-based league. Team members must be first from the community participating. If there are not enough players to fill the community’s roster at a specific flight skill level, other players outside of the community may be recruited to complete the team roster with approval from the League Coordinator. However, if the recruiting Community Administrator is recruiting players from other Casa Grande Regional communities, then the recruiting Community Administrator shall let the other Community Administrator(s) and League Coordinator know of the recruiting outside their community so that the ramifications of the recruiting can be understood by all parties.

The APPL White Mountain Region season occurs in the summer every year. The season typically starts in June and ends in August.