Tuesday Night Pickleball™ @ The Orchard - Tue Aug 9: Ben & Tyler vs. Collin & AJ

The table has been set, and The Orchard @ Jigsaw Health is ready to rock with the second installment of Tuesday Night Pickleball™ featuring the PPA All-Stars.

HOW TO WATCH: Tune here to PPA's YouTube channel on Tue Aug 9 @ 9pm ET / 6pm PT.  (UPDATED: We had some YouTube streaming issues at the beginning, so there's three videos: Number 1, Number 2, Number 3.)

The Orchard Scoring Format is a made-for-TV format that utilizes a 20 minute time clock for the first two games, and if necessary, a singles Game 3 tie-breaker to choose the winner.  Here's a few more details, and the logic behind this new format:

• Two 20 min games - With the exception of baseball and tennis, every major sport uses some sort of game clock for the purpose of having a fairly predictable match length.  This is useful for TV production crews – and fans, quite frankly – to know about how long the event is going to last.  
• Tradition is good, but... – Pickleball’s traditional format of “best 2 out of 3, first to 11, win by 2” leaves too much variability of match length.  A best 2 out of 3 could last as little as 25 minutes, or go as long as 2 hours.  TNP @ The Orchard is a made-for-TV event, and the 20 min game clock for 2 games will give us a total match length of about 80 - 90 minutes in real time.
• 2 min drill - During the last two minutes, the clock only runs when the ball is in flight, kind of like the 2 minute drill in football.  During those last two minutes, we’ve seen as many as 12 rallies happen, so in a close game, anything can happen.  And that kind of unpredictability creates excellent drama.
• Score on serve - Rally scoring for singles is fine, but rally scoring for doubles fundamentally changes the game because of the second bounce rule and the disadvantage of having to hit a third shot with two players standing at the kitchen.  The third shot is part of what makes Pickleball so unique and fun.  There’s also a “defense vs. offense” mindset with “score on serve”...If you have the serve, you can afford to take more risks because if you miss a shot, you don’t lose a point.  And on the flipside, when you’re on defense receiving serve, you have to be a little bit more careful with your shot selection.  Rally scoring (in doubles) fundamentally encourages each team to be cautious, otherwise you risk losing a point.  Bottom line, if you want to score a point during the first two games of Orchard Scoring Format, you’ve got to earn it on your serve, just like we're all used to.
• Win by 1 vs. Win by 2? - Again, the purpose of the Orchard Scoring format is to make the sport more broadcast friendly.  In every other pro sport, winning by 1 at the end of regulation time is enough to declare a winner.  So why not for Pickleball as well?
• Game 3: Singles Tie-breaker - This was inspired by Steve Kuhn’s innovation to the game when he and his team introduced the "Dreambreaker" at the very first MLP event in 2021.  Essentially, the Game 3 Singles Tie-breakers is a way to settle the match with the highest amount of drama and individual athleticism.  It’s like shoot-outs in hockey, or penalty kicks in soccer.  During Game 3, we switch to rally scoring because there is less advantage to serving or receiving.  We also have players rotate every four rallies.  One last wrinkle, the players secretly choose who will be going first for each team, so no one knows who will be playing who until the referee announces it at the start of Game 3.

Will we see brother vs. brother in a singles Game 3 tie-breaker?  It's anyone's guess!  But we'll find out Tuesday night @ The Orchard!

Follow @OrchardPickleball Instagram for highlights and behind-the-scenes as we get ready throughout the day.

PS - If you missed it, this replay of an AMAZING match featuring Irina Tereschenko & Catherine Parenteau vs. Lucy Kovalova & Jessie Irvine.  The atmosphere at The Orchard was electric, and the ladies put on quite a show!

THIS POST SPONSORED BY: Jigsaw Health Pickleball Hydration Stack™ Did you know there’s actually 2 types of muscle cramps? Click here to learn why we can help with both kinds…

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