The Australian Masters Cup, organised by the Pickleball Association of Australia, is Australia’s newest and only league for players aged 50 and above, which offers a pathway for players in “Club-land” right through to the National level.
The objectives of the league are:
PLAY with a sense of belonging: Increase the social opportunity that pickleball presents to create meaningful, enriched connections between our members.
PLAY with a competitive purpose: Provide a pathway for those aged 50+, 60+ and 70+ to play competitively.
Create a format which allows participants to play as much or as little as they like.
PLAY yourself well: Endeavour to increase the overall physical and mental health of our members.
PLAY pickleball: Increase the overall number of Australian’s playing pickleball.
In 2024, we surveyed our senior members, they told us what they wanted, and we’re delivering.
Our senior members wanted:
PLAY with flexibility:
1. an opportunity to compete locally
2. more opportunities to socialise
3. level-based play
In 2025, we’re setting the foundations for an exciting program that endures in our pickleball communities.
With your support and feedback we will minimise the challenges and maximise the fun so do join us on this journey as we continue to grow and develop the game of pickleball in Australia.
4. Season
The Club League season will commence in March 2025 and will run for no less than 10 weeks and no greater than 12 weeks. All club league matches must be completed by the 1st of June 2025. Participants must compete in 50% of the available league sessions at their club in order to qualify for the Regional Qualifiers.
At player level:
1. Players must have a pickleball.com (brackets) profile
2. Players must have a DUPR profile
3. Players must LINK their DUPR profile to their pickleball.com profile.
4. Players must “become a member” of the club in the platform (if not already a member) Item 1
Tournament Team: Matthew Rochow, Rob Towan, Kelsey Smith
And many volunteers who will be wearing blue & pink vests (no fancy meaning behind which is which, just wasn’t enough in 1 colour!)
There is plenty of information below, the main things are:
Ensure you know your start time and make sure to arrive early for warm ups
Have a quick look at the parking guide, because we are in the middle of a precinct and not directly on a street it can sometimes be wonky. PCYC or Library are the 2 GPS landmarks most reliable depending from which direction you’re coming in
Food will be going all day, approx 7am to 6pm. Coffee from 9am to 12pm approx Friday, and 7am to 12pm approx Sat & Sun pending when sales die down
Hervey Bay is excited to once again host a leg of the QPT. The weather in August is usually 22-25 degrees and sunny, the whales are out and it’s the perfect time to visit 🥰
Summary:
We have 21 courts: 15 dedicated outdoor Pickleball courts at the club, and PCYC next door with 6 indoor courts. We are in the middle of town so dozens of food outlets & main shopping centre within just one hundred metres
We will use the biggest pools possible, maximum game time > jamming max number of entries is a priority
Shade, seating and water will be provided. If you have comfy camp chairs you can BYO
Hervey Bay is a direct flight from Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne; and a comfortable few hours drive for most of SE QLD
Brief Runsheet:
Thursday there is a group whale watching and optional K’gari (Fraser Island) tour, with morning (whales + K’Gari) + afternoon (just whales) departures
Friday singles start approx 10am. Free social play before, and approx 3-5pm as pools condense into finals and courts become available. All singles games at on club courts outdoors
Friday 6pm, group buffet dinner at the Clubhouse function room overlooking the 9th and 18th green (RSVP form)
Hervey Bay QPT proudly supported by Fraser Coast Regional Council
Our Courts and Location
Our courts are bang in the middle of town! Google “Hervey Bay Pickleball” for complete directions. Below is a little map. Most outdoor courts are individually fenced so very few balls come running through mid game and have permanent nets. The remaining courts have temporary nets, as does the PCYC.
Within 100m to 300m walk we have Red Rooster, McDonalds, KFC, Dominos, Pizza Hut, Natural Noodle, Hungry Jacks, Guzman y Gomez, Stocklands with over a hundred shops and more! It’s an amazing location. You can see the Comfort Inn just across the road a quick walk away, details are further down.
Food and Facilities
The food options are couldn’t be better! On site – We have drinks, bacon & egg burgers, hamburgers, veggie burgers, fancy donuts, and snacks available all day 🥳 Coffee – A coffee van will be on site from 9 – 11am Friday, and 7am Saturday & Sunday, until sales die off midday-ish Delivery – Domino’s will be available every half an hour. Order at the food desk. Nearby – Per the map above there are dozens of food outlets within 100m walk of the courts, so you can pop out and grab whatever you want very easily.
We’ll have shade, seating, water, toilets. On Saturday & Sunday when PCYC is being hired there are also showers.
We are not a licensed venue so are unable to sell alcohol.
PCYC Hervey Bay generic social session, $8. Useful for those who want practice on the indoor courts before the tournament
Free social play for all tournament players available before singles start from 8-10am.
10am to 5pm
Singles. Approx 3-5pm as pools finish and games condense to less courts for finals, social free-play available on free courts.
Evening
Free social play for tournament players. BBQ Dinner.
Saturday
8am to 5pm
Gender Doubles all day. Expecting older age groups to be first cab off the rank getting younger as the day goes on
Sunday
8am to 5pm
Mixed doubles. Will maximise amounts of courts used, knowing a lot of people will want to finish so they can make it home for work.
Venues
Hervey Bay Pickleball Club
15 outdoor dedicated courts 🥳
Food, coffee, drinks, portaloos and main admin desk outside. Showers and toilets are inside the PCYC.
10 courts have permanent nets, the remaining courts are mostly PickleNet temporary nets. Balls will be Franklin X40s.
Hervey Bay PCYC
Oddly the other venue for Pickleball in Hervey Bay is the building right door!
PCYC has 2 basketball courts we’re using. One is a multi-purpose court so we’ll tape over the badminton lines, the other we’ll tape the lines.
They are using PickleNet temporary nets, and the balls will be Franklin Indoor Balls.
Being indoors it’s out of the elements. The toilets and showers are inside the PCYC. We will have another desk so you can check in, drop scorecards, and purchase some drinks inside.
Pools and semi finals will be played indoors. For gold/silver, bronze/fourth matches, the default location is inside for consistency, however if you wish to join the queue for the outside live streaming court for gold/silver, or outside for bronze/fourth, if both teams agree you are welcome to 😀 Because of the different conditions, lighting, balls some will prefer to keep the consistency. From an admin point of view it doesn’t matter, only thing is finals could be played immediately indoors, vs a queue for outdoors depending what other pools are ahead.
Depending on the final number of entries, at the moment gender and mixed doubles 50s < 2.99, 60s < 2.99, 60s 3.0 – 3.5 are planned for the indoor courts. The younger kids can hike to the facilities from outside 😀 All singles matches on Friday will be outdoors.
Parking
There are two carparks you are welcome to use, the landmarks for your SatNav being the Hervey Bay PCYC or Hervey Bay Library.
We ask you please not park alongside the PCYC gravel driveway where the 4 cars are pictured as this will be used for walking between the two venues. Minimal traffic will be safer for everyone 😀
Court hire is available during the day, BYO paddles and balls. Payment can be made via the website, signs are on the fence.
$15/hour/court.
Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday 5-8pm approx (after tournament play is finished) the lights will be flicked on. Free for tournament players.
Rotation will be required for 40+ visitors so everyone gets a fair turn.
Friday morning until 9am is available for everyone. After this time if you are not playing singles, please vacate the courts to allow those participating to warm up. No charge for tournament players.
Saturday afternoon as all pool games finish, courts are available to use for practice. Pending the amount of players remaining as the sun sets lights may be turned on for further play.
Check In
Check-in at the club courts will be available from 9am Friday, and 7am on the weekend. Players must check-in and warm up at the club courts, THEN head to PCYC for games when access is provided as the PCYC hire is from 8am to 5pm.
If you are not playing until later, please come an hour before your scheduled playing time, this will give you a chance to register, warm up, familiarise yourself with the layout, watch some games, then jump on.
Matches
If an event is big then there will be two pools. The top two teams from each pool will go through to a next round of semis then finals.
There are two formats: first to 11, first to 15. Win by 2. You will need to change ends after 6 points (11) or 8 points (15). Check your score sheet it tells you what you are playing to. There is always someone who will write in 11-whatever, and someone will go “you know it’s to 15 right?” then you awkwardly have to jump and kick the players off to finish the game. Don’t let this be you 🙈
We will spend the next few days trying to find partners for those who don’t have them and then we will decide if any events need to be merged. If your event gets merged, then at the end of the tournament, you will still be allocated the QPT points in the event that you originally registered in.
The draw will come out about 4 days before the event. This will have exact start times and will be emailed and on the website.
If you need to withdraw from an event, then please let us know ASAP, the contact page on the website and tick “relates to QPT”. Refunds are not usually given for withdrawal once registrations have closed. A medical certificate is needed. Also, if you owe money for the tournament, then please go into your brackets profile and make payment as soon as possible.
Scorecards
Throughout the tournament please use Pickleball Brackets website to check that your scores have been entered correctly and see how your playing pool is progressing. It’s a big job entering all that data and errors do get made. You can help us by:
Completing your score sheet straight after your match
Both teams sign the sheet
Circle the winner
The winner brings in the score sheet to the closest tournament desk
Keep an eye on your Pickleball Brackets account to see how matches are progressing and that the scores are entered correctly
Clothing
Franklin balls being used are the usual yellow/green you’re all familiar with. Please make sure that you aren’t wearing anything of that colour that could distract an opponent to avoid needing to get changed!
Events
With 37 divisions there is a spot for everyone! We have aged divisions or all ages 4.0+ skill level division.
19 years +
Juniors are eligible to enter in the 19+ or Opens (4.0+) categories. If sufficient demand we’ll create a dedicated junior division.
By staying at the Comfort Inn guests receive a 20% off discount of all meals at the Hervey Bay RSL and the Clubhouse Hervey Bay (excluding Friday pre-dinner function being a set menu function).
Join us for our annual inter-club competition on Saturday, April 26th at the Hervey Bay Pickleball courts. Originally started in 2022 with 20 top players from each club, the event has grown significantly. We will likely cap at 40 players a club so register ASAP to confirm your place! Players will be grouped by skill level to ensure competitive matches.
This event is limited to members of Hervey Bay & Bundaberg clubs.
Sausage sizzle included provided, drinks available for purchase. Final format will be announced once registrations are confirmed.
Our beginner skills and drills session is a great way to learn the fundamentals of Pickleball in a no pressure, fun environment!
Each player is on a court with 3 or 4 players and a helper.
We cover the fundamental skills and techniques of Pickleball:
Serving
Returning
Positioning and Footwork
Volleying
Shot selection
Basic strategy for winning
These drills involve 2 people so you can practice with a friend these exact techniques on your own time if you wish to hone them.
During this session you will learn the fundamentals to pay attention for during a game environment, such as how a point is constructed and what shots are good and bad.
The format is 75 mins of instruction and demonstration, and 15 mins putting it into practice in a game with advice from your helpers! You are welcome to play afterwards if you want.
Our skills and drills sessions are only $20 which goes towards improving the facilities at the club. Pre-payment is required to confirm your spot.
We have some special sessions this month in February, two of our members Matt & Bec will be running them. They have played for a number of years and have multiple tournament wins including open skill events. Availability is limited so book ASAP to secure your spot!
There will also be a number of second hand and new paddles to try and purchase.
Season Overview Tuesday Team Fixtures are held four times a year, following school terms.
Fees: $10 per week for members, $12 for non-members. Unlimited members fee is covered by Unlimited membership.
Location: Arrive by 5:50 PM for a 6:00 PM start. On the first night, please arrive 30 minutes early to set up, meet your team, and warm up.
Members are welcome to join as players or reserves—everyone is encouraged to participate! Fill out the registration form to secure your spot.
2025 Season 2 Draw and Ladder
Tuesday April 22nd to 24th June (10 weeks)
Team
Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
Week 5
Week 6
Week 7
Week 8
Week 9
Week 10
TOTAL
A Grade
Pickle Rick’s
16
16
Kitchen Nightmares
2
2
Fair Dinkum Pickleball
14
14
Bakers and Shakers
4
4
B Grade
Pickle All Sorts
8
8
Smash Potatoes
10
10
Dinking Divas
11
11
Going for Old
7
7
Dink & Dash
7
7
Drop Bears
11
11
There is a lot of text below for new players to make sure all possible questions are answered, rest assured it’s simple 🙂
Season Structure
Format:
Teams are grouped into skill-based brackets (1–4).
Each match involves doubles games, with players rotating partners throughout the night.
Matches span three games per pairing, ensuring variety and balanced competition.
Scoring:
Record scores immediately after each game on the provided scorecard.
Weekly wins contribute to your team’s season total. The team with the most wins at the end of the season is crowned champion.
Finals:
Week 10 features finals:
1st vs. 2nd and 3rd vs. 4th for A-grade.
1st vs. 2nd, 3rd vs. 4th and 5th vs. 6th for B-grade.
If finals are rained out, the leaderboard standings will determine final positions.
Team and Reserve Information
Team Assignments: Teams are balanced based on skill level, mobility, and playstyle. Adjustments during the season are subject to organiser approval.
Reserves:
Notify Matt or Kelsey via Facebook if you’ll miss a session, so a reserve can be arranged.
You may arrange your own reserve of similar skill, but final decisions rest with organisers, based on skill compatibility, opponent strength, and availability.
Missing players may result in forfeits, so don’t leave reserve requests until the last minute!
Rain Policy:
Rain-affected weeks are skipped, and no points are awarded (including to bye teams).
If more than one week is rained out, compensation will be provided via session vouchers or discounts on the next season’s fees.
Important Notes for New Players
Arrive early to set up nets if playing on a court without a permanent one.
Unlike social games, all matches begin together, so ensure you’re ready to play by 6:00 PM sharp.
Teams rotate courts each week, so check your allocation beforehand.
Injuries and Refunds: Refunds for missed games will be evaluated individually.
Membership Information: Permanent team spots are reserved for HBPC members. Reserves may include non-members.
Grievances: Submit any concerns about placements, reserves, or other issues via formal email—please avoid addressing organisers directly during sessions.
This session is played as a doubles format. Each week you will play in groups based on games results ranking and will partner with each player in your group. Players can move up and down groups each week depending on their game results. It runs from 6pm to approx 8 – 8:30pm.
Session details:
All players each week are ranked and grouped with players of a similar skill.
Players will be sorted into groups based on skill levels and will automatically create the partner pairings based on this ranking and create game cards.
Scores will be entered and rankings will change
Open only to members of HBPC or other clubs affiliated with the Pickleball Australia Association (PAA).
Benefits of this league:
You will play with and against different players each week
Expect competitive games due to players being of a similar skill level being grouped together
There is no commitment to playing every week.
Results of games in this league do NOT affect your skill ranking in Pickleball Brackets
If you need any assistance please message Hervey Bay Pickleball Club on Facebook or contact the club, or committee member.
