When you arrive at the pickleball courts and others are already playing, there is a system that is used to determine the next players to play on the next empty court. This system has been proven to maintain a fair use of the courts.:
Each court area (Upper French Park, Lower French Park, Meadow Park) has a set of paddle holders near the court ( most likely on the fence near the entrance to the court).
The paddle holders are sections of round plastic pipes into which the handle of the paddle can be placed. The paddle holders are arranged in sets of four (4) holders of the same color with each set of four holders alternating in color. The holders are meant to be used to show which players will be the next four players to play when a court becomes available. The holders are used from left to right to designate the next 4 players to play. Since the number of holders is not infinite, when the holders are fully used at the right end of the holders, the line continues with the empty holders at the left end that have been emptied by players already playing.
When you arrive to play, if there are already filled paddle holders, add your paddle to the next empty holder to the right of existing full holders. When all the holders to the left of your group’s paddles are empty and a court becomes available, your group will be the next 4 players to play on the empty court. The next set of 4 players holders are usually identified with some type of clip above the next set of 4 players.
If you want to play with four specific players, put all four paddles in the next empty set of 4 holders to the right of the existing filled holders. This may mean that there will be empty holders to the left of your group’s holders. Someone then may fill those empty holders to the left of your group and may begin play before your group gets to play.
Rather than shuffle all the paddles down to the left when an empty set of holders is created, a clip is used to indicate which holder group is the next to play on an empty court.
This system is similar to that used in most pickleball courts around the country and has proven to be a fair way of allocating playing time.