Court Manager

A quick guide to getting started.

Getting Started

When you first open Court Manager, you'll see two options:

• ⚡ Quick Play — Pick a format (Open Play, Round Robin, or Tournament) and jump straight into an offline session on this device. No sign-in, no setup — just tell it how many players and their names.
• 🏓 Score Keeper Only — Skip sessions entirely and just track serve and score for one match. No sign-in, no roster, nothing saved.
• Sign in with Google — Unlocks full features: create and manage private sessions, save your preferences across devices, and keep a personal match history.

Opening a link someone shared with you to a specific session takes you to a focused screen for that session instead of the general landing page — it's headed "Join [session name]", hides Quick Play (since it starts an unrelated offline session), and narrows your choice to Sign in with Google (to save your preferences and track match history) or Continue as Guest (just your name — nothing else to fill in, and nothing saved).

You can also tap How it Works at the bottom of the entry screen for a short in-app overview at any time.

Quick Play

Tap Quick Play, choose a format — Open Play, Round Robin, or Tournament — then enter how many players are starting and each player's name (skill level is skipped for speed). Tap Start Playing and you're straight into that offline session — entirely offline and local to this device. Nobody else can join it, there's no Settings tab, and nothing is shared online.

Joining a Session (online)

After you sign in with Google, you'll land on the Join a Session screen. The Sessions card there is the first thing you see (above your account info) — it lists every private session you've previously joined or created, each row colored green (open) or orange (an admin has closed it) with the date and time you last joined it on the right — a dash if you created it but haven't joined yet.

Tapping a session in that list joins it immediately — no extra confirmation step. You're added right into Sitting Out rather than the active queue, so you don't disrupt matches already in progress; move yourself into Waiting whenever you're ready to play.

The first time you join or create anything online — a private session, or someone's shared link — you'll be asked for just your name in a small popup (skipped entirely if you already have a saved name). There's no skill level to set here; everyone starts as Not Rated and can set a rating afterward from the Settings tab or by tapping their own NR/B/I/A chip in the queue.

If someone sends you a link to their session, opening it lets you sign in with Google or continue as a guest to join that session directly — no account needed.

The Queue

The Courts tab shows the session's name in a small card above the Queue, so you always know which session you're in.

Whoever added a player (rather than that player joining themselves) sees an edit (✎) icon to update their name. When Match by skill is turned on, an NR/B/I/A chip also appears next to everyone's name to set a skill level — NR (Not Rated) is where every player starts, whether they joined themselves or were added by someone else. Match cards use these same colored-border chips instead of separate text labels.

The queue is organized into drag-and-drop zones rather than per-row buttons — drag a player's chip onto a zone, or on a touchscreen tap the chip then tap the destination, to move them:

• + Add Player — Add players who don't have the app, or aren't joining themselves. You can edit or remove players you added.
• Waiting — Players available to be assigned to a court next.
• Sitting Out — Drop a player here to bench them temporarily; they stay in the session but won't be assigned to courts. Anyone can sit out anyone. Drop them back on Waiting to rejoin the queue.
• Leave Session — Drop a player here and confirm with Yes to remove them. You can remove yourself or players you added; admins can remove anyone.

Tap Select All above the Queue or Waiting list (or tap several chips one at a time) to select multiple players, then drag or tap the selection onto a zone or an open court side to move them all together in one action — handy for benching or bringing back a whole group at once. A selection larger than 2 can't drop directly onto a court slot, and there's no bulk removal — each player's own chip still handles that individually.

Court Assignments

Open Play (default)

"Courts available now" controls how many court cards are shown, whether or not a match is running on them yet.

1. On any empty court card, tap Auto-fill to pull the next players in line, drag/tap players from the queue straight onto a court's open slots yourself, or double-tap/double-click an open slot directly to pick from a list of available players.
2. An auto-filled or partly-filled court shows a Proposed match first — drag/tap players between the queue and the court's two sides to adjust it, then tap ✓ Confirm. Nothing is final, and no one's place in line is affected, until you confirm. Made a mistake? Tap ↩ Undo above the queue to step back through your adjustments.
3. Tap ▶ Start on a confirmed court to start its timer.
4. When a game ends, tap End, then (with or without a score) choose Return All 4, Keep Winners, or — once a court has had a pair carried over before — Keep Last-Joined, or tap Cancel to go back.

Match Options

• Match by skill (off by default) — When more than one pairing is equally good at avoiding repeat matchups, breaks the tie by grouping players with similar skill levels. Repeat-avoidance itself is always on. Turning it on also reveals a tap-to-set skill tag next to each player's name in the queue.

Score Keeper

Score Keeper tracks side-out serving and the score for a single game, using standard pickleball scoring — calls read as server score–returner score–server number (e.g. "4-2-2"). It's available two ways:

• Score Keeper Only — Tap it right on the landing page for a standalone scorer. Type in each team's player name(s) (leave the second name blank for singles) and you're scoring — no session, no roster, and nothing is saved once you're done.
• In a session — Once a court's match has started, tap 🏓 Score Keeper on that court to track the match live instead of entering a score manually at the end.

Setup

Before scoring starts, choose:

• The first server for each doubles team (skipped for singles).
• Which team is serving first.
• Playing to 11 or 15 points (win by 2).

Live Scoring

The serving team is highlighted, with the current server marked "Now Serving." Tap Point to award the serving team a point, or No Point when they lose the rally. In doubles, losing the rally passes serve to the second server on that side; if both partners have served, it's a side out (flashed on screen) and serve passes to the other team. The game ends automatically once a team reaches the target score with at least a 2-point lead, showing a Game Complete banner with the winner.

The standalone Score Keeper Only mode doesn't save anything — closing it or tapping Done at the end just closes the scorer.

Partner Preferences

In the Settings tab under Your Partner(s):

• Tap + Add Partner and select a player.
• When both you and a partner are in the queue, you'll be placed on the same side in doubles.
• If a partner is on a court or sitting out, you'll be assigned normally with other players.
• You can add multiple partners — the app will pair you with whichever one is available.

In Round Robin and Tournament sessions, partners work a little differently: add a partner while the roster is still being built and you'll be teamed together for the whole round robin or tournament, not just one match. Anyone left without a partner is randomly paired with another unpartnered player once the roster is locked. The Partner(s) card disappears from Settings after locking, since teams are fixed at that point.

Partner preferences aren't available in offline (Quick Play) sessions — there's no Settings tab in those.

Admin-Managed Partnerships (Mixed/Men's/Women's Doubles)

Separately from the self-service partner system above, admins can link two players into a typed partnership from the Partnerships card in Settings (Round Robin) — tagged Mixed Doubles, Men's Doubles, or Women's Doubles. A player can hold one of each kind at once (e.g. a Mixed partnership plus a Women's one), and Round Robin alternates between them evenly round to round, matching same-type teams against each other when possible. In Tournament, a player with two active partnerships plays with whichever one has been used less that League season.

Tap View Partnerships at the bottom-right of the Queue card to see everyone's partnerships — both self-service and admin-managed — in a read-only list, in any session type.

Share Link

Every online session has a Share Link in the Settings tab. Copy it and send to friends to invite them to your session. When someone opens a share link:

• If the session has a passcode, they'll be asked for it first.
• They can then sign in with Google or join as a guest, enter their name, and they're in.

Share links aren't available for offline sessions — those never leave your device.

Admins can also flip on View Only next to the Share Link. With it on, everyone except admins can just watch — they can't add or move players, score matches, or change settings — though they can still search and filter Match History. Useful for sharing a read-only view of a session on a lobby screen or with spectators.

Private Sessions

For games at home, tournaments, or groups that want their own space:

1. Sign in with Google on the landing page (required to create).
2. On the Sessions card, tap + Create New — it expands an inline form rather than opening a popup.
3. Enter a session name if you'd like one — it's optional. Leave it blank and the session is auto-named from its type and the current date/time (e.g. "Round Robin Sep 14 3:45 PM").
4. Pick Open Play, Round Robin, or Tournament from the radio buttons (defaults to Open Play) — tap the ? next to any option for what it means.
5. Flip on Passcode required only if you want one; when it's on, enter a 4-character passcode or tap Random to generate one. Leave it off and anyone with the link can join without one.
6. Tap Create & Join — you're placed straight into the new session no matter which format you picked. For Round Robin and Tournament, add players to the queue first, then lock the roster when you're ready to generate the schedule or bracket.
7. Share the link with friends — if you set a passcode, they'll need it to join (the creator and super admins always skip it). The new session also appears in your own Sessions list from then on.

Round Robin Mode

Round Robin is available for private (and offline) sessions and creates a structured tournament schedule of fixed doubles teams — you'll need at least 4 players (2 teams) to start:

1. Add all players to the session.
2. Tap Lock Players to Generate Schedule in the assign section.
3. Set the number of courts. Optionally fill in Match Time Limit, Session Time Limit, and the Buffer Between Rounds (defaults to a few minutes, but you can change it) — with those filled in, it recommends how many rounds will fit your session, capped at a full rotation. Tap Or set rounds directly to flip that around: enter the number of rounds yourself and it estimates the session time instead, warning you if that would run past your session limit.
4. Tap Generate Schedule. Round 1 is assigned to courts, and every upcoming round is listed below with the match/session time limit and buffer it was planned around shown at the top — filter the list to one player with the dropdown next to it, or tap Save as PDF to export the full schedule.
5. When all Round 1 games finish, tap Start Next Round to advance. Once every round has been played, the button reads All Rounds Complete.

Admins can switch between Open Play, Round Robin, and Tournament in the Settings tab, and can unlock players to modify the roster. All players must be paired into doubles teams (with a partner or automatically); an odd number of unpaired players will prompt you to add one more or pair everyone up.

League Seasons (Round Robin)

Turn on League in Settings > Session Type (Round Robin only) and set a start date, end date, and frequency (Weekly, Bi-Weekly, or Monthly). While a League is active:

• A Season Summary card appears above Match History showing standings — win/loss record, games played, average points, and win percentage — for everyone who's played since the season started, or Season Complete once the end date passes. It leads with the top 3 players; tap Show All Players for the full list.
• The Match History search box is replaced with a player picker — choosing a player filters the match list to just them and shows their own season stats above it.
• Team formation and round selection try to minimize repeated partners and opponents using that season's history, instead of pairing purely at random each session.

Tournament Mode

Tournament mode creates a single-elimination bracket of doubles teams for private (and offline) sessions — you'll need at least 4 players (2 teams) to start:

1. Add all players to the session.
2. Tap Lock Players to Generate Bracket in the assign section.
3. Set the number of courts. Round count is fixed by the bracket size, so instead of choosing rounds, you'll see that fixed count plus an estimated total duration; optionally fill in a Match Time Limit, Session Time Limit, and Buffer Between Rounds to get that estimate and a warning if the bracket won't fit your session.
4. Tap Generate Bracket. The bracket is displayed with all rounds, with the time limit/buffer it was planned around shown above it. First-round matches are assigned to courts.
5. When a match ends, enter scores — ties are not allowed in tournament matches. The winning team automatically advances in the bracket. (Saving without a score just clears the court without recording a winner, so use it sparingly here.)
6. When all matches in a round are complete, tap to start the next round (Semifinals, Final, etc.).
7. If there are more matches than courts, remaining matches can be started as courts free up.

Use the player filter next to the bracket to narrow it to one player's matches.

Match History

Session History

The History tab shows every completed match in the session's current, still-open stretch of play in full, with teams, scores, and match duration. Once an admin closes the session, that stretch collapses into a session summary card (win/loss record, games played, and average points for everyone who played) instead of listing every match — pick a past session from the dropdown above the list to see its matches in full again. Use the search bar to filter by player name, or tap My Matches to see only games you played in. History persists until an admin resets the session (see Admin Actions).

In Open Play, tap + Log Past Match above the history table to record a match your group already played before opening the app: pick 4 players currently in the session (the first two picked become Team A, the next two Team B), optionally enter a score, and add it. It's added to history and counts toward the fairness algorithm's repeat-matchup avoidance, without being tied to a court or timer. Not available in Round Robin or Tournament, which build matches from a locked roster or bracket instead.

Admins can tap a match to fix its score or delete it entirely, in case something was entered wrong.

Personal Match History

If you're signed in with Google, your matches are also saved to your personal match history. This history stays even if an admin resets or deletes the session. Access it from the My Match History button in your profile card on the landing page. You can search by player name and swipe left on any match to delete it. Personal match history isn't available for offline or guest sessions.

Match Time Limit

Matches automatically expire after 100 minutes. Expired matches are saved to history with a score of "N/A" and players are returned to the queue.

Sharing & Multi-Device

• All online session data syncs in real-time across everyone's devices. Offline (Quick Play) sessions stay on the one device that started them.
• Court assignments, scores, and queue changes appear instantly for all users in an online session.
• If you leave a session, your court assignments stay active for others to manage.
• Share the URL or use the Share Link in Settings to invite others — they'll need the passcode to join if the session has one.
• Session data persists until an admin resets or deletes it — it won't disappear on its own.

Leaving, Closing & Logging Out

The × in the top-right corner of the header is always there once you're signed in, whether or not you're currently in a session, and covers all of it:

• In a session — tapping it offers Leave Session (just you exit; the session stays open for everyone else), Close Session (admins only — moves everyone to Sitting Out and freezes the queue until an admin reopens it), and Log Out.
• Not in a session — for example, sitting on the Join a Session screen — tapping it offers Log Out only, since there's nothing to leave or close yet.

Choosing Log Out while you're in a session leaves that session first, then signs you out.

Admin Features

There are two types of admins:

• Session Admin — The person who created a session. Automatically gets admin for that session. Other signed-in users can be promoted to session admin from Settings.
• Super Admin — Can manage any private session, see all private sessions, delete any session, and add/remove other super admins. Super admins also get "Super Admin Management," "All Private Sessions," and "All Users" panels at the very bottom of the landing page — they're hidden once you're inside a session.

Managing Session Admins

In the Settings tab, admins can manage who else has admin access via the Session Admins card:

• Tap + Add Admin to see a list of signed-in users in the session.
• Select a user and confirm to grant them admin access.
• Remove an admin by tapping "remove" next to their name.

Managing Super Admins

Existing super admins see a Super Admin Management panel at the bottom of the landing page (below the Sessions and Your Account cards, only while you're not in a session) where they can add or remove other super admins by email.

Admin Actions

Admins can:

• Reset Everything — Clears all data, including history. All users get kicked back to the join screen.
• Delete Session — Permanently removes a session (with double confirmation).
• Remove any player from the queue.
• Fix or delete a match in History if a score was entered wrong.
• Change session type — Switch between Open Play, Round Robin, and Tournament (private sessions).
• View the Admin History log of all admin actions.
• Manage the session passcode — require it or not, show it, or edit it — from Settings.

Close Session also resets a locked Round Robin or Tournament roster, so reopening starts fresh with a new roster to lock, rather than the same finished schedule or bracket.