How to run a Team Americano: step by step
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To run a Team Americano, you keep each pair together all evening, draw the whole schedule before the first serve, and let every pair meet every other pair exactly once, with points counted per ball. It is the format for a night where people sign up as pairs.
Because nothing in the running order depends on a result, you can print the entire evening and tape it to the wall before anyone hits a ball. That is the practical difference from every format that re-seeds, and for a club night with people arriving at different times it is worth a lot. The rules in short are on the Team Americano format page; this guide is the organiser's arithmetic.
In short
- Matches = pairs × (pairs − 1) ÷ 2: 4 pairs play 6, 6 pairs 15 and 8 pairs 28.
- The whole schedule is drawn before the first ball, so you can print the evening and put it on the wall.
- Pairs come straight from the player list, two by two, so type partners next to each other.
- Fewer courts than matches: a turn is split over extra rounds, so 6 pairs on 2 courts play 10 rounds.
- Points are counted per ball and both players bank the pair's score.
How do you run a Team Americano, step by step?
- Collect the pairs. An even number of players, at least four, typed partner next to partner.
- Count the matches. Pairs × (pairs − 1) ÷ 2, so six pairs play 15.
- Count the rounds for your courts. Each turn of the schedule has pairs ÷ 2 matches; if that is more than your courts, the turn takes extra rounds.
- Pick the target score from the finish time. About half a minute per point plus a three-minute changeover per round.
- Print the schedule and announce the finish time. The whole evening is known before the first serve.
- Enter each result as one number per pair. The pair table updates as you go, on the organiser's screen and on the hall screen.
How it differs from a normal Americano
A normal Americano switches your partner every round and scores you as an individual. Team Americano keeps the pair together and scores the pair.
Everything else is the same, including the part people recognise: points are counted per ball. A match to 24 might end 16–8, and both numbers land on the table. There are no wasted points: losing 11–13 is worth far more than losing 4–20.
Both players in a pair bank the pair's score, so the table ranks pairs, not individuals.
The circle method, and why it matters
The schedule is the circle method run over the pairs: pair one stays put and the rest rotate one step per turn. Do that and every pair meets every other exactly once, with no bookkeeping and no repeats.
The number of matches is fixed by the number of pairs. The number of rounds also depends on your courts, because one turn of the circle holds pairs ÷ 2 matches and a round can only use as many matches as you have courts:
| Pairs | Matches | Rounds on 2 courts | Rounds on 3 courts | Rounds on 4 courts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| 5 | 10 | 5 | 5 | 5 |
| 6 | 15 | 10 | 5 | 5 |
| 8 | 28 | 14 | 14 | 7 |
| 10 | 45 | 27 | 18 | 18 |
These are the round counts PadelLoop produces. Read the table for the courts worth booking: six pairs need three courts, and a fourth adds nothing; eight pairs on three courts take as long as on two, because a turn of four matches needs two rounds either way.
What happens when you have fewer courts than matches?
This is where a lot of tools quietly cheat. One turn of the circle produces several matches at once: with eight pairs, four matches. If you only have two courts, two of those four have nowhere to go.
PadelLoop splits the turn across several rounds rather than dropping the leftover matches. The matches within one turn are mutually disjoint, so no pair appears twice and any subset of them can be played at the same time without a conflict.
The alternative, which an early version of our own engine did, is to throw the extras away. The test caught it: sixteen players on two courts produced 14 meetings where there should have been 28. Half the tournament silently disappeared. If you are evaluating another tool, this is a good thing to check by hand.
Players, courts and the count
To run a Team Americano you need an even number of players, at least four. PadelLoop will not start on an odd count: the pairs are fixed, so an odd player would be left without a partner, and refusing is better than leaving someone out quietly.
An odd number of pairs is fine. One pair sits out each turn, and the circle method spreads those rests evenly by construction.
What you get in the tool
Team Americano is one of the social formats, so when you run a Team Americano in PadelLoop you get the big screen view for a TV in the hall, a share link players can open on their own phones, and CSV export of the final table when you are done. That is not true of every format: the fixed-teams round robin and Monrad keep their table on the organiser's own screen, and King/Queen of the Court has the hall screen but no export.
Pairs are built straight down the player list, two by two. If people signed up as couples, type them in that order and you get exactly those couples. Team Mexicano builds its pairs the same way; what it does differently is let the standings pick each round.
A worked six-pair schedule
Six pairs, 15 matches. Pair 1 stays put; the rest rotate one step per turn.
| Turn | Matches |
|---|---|
| 1 | 1v6, 2v5, 3v4 |
| 2 | 1v5, 6v4, 2v3 |
| 3 | 1v4, 5v3, 6v2 |
| 4 | 1v3, 4v2, 5v6 |
| 5 | 1v2, 3v6, 4v5 |
Five turns of three matches each. On three courts that is five rounds, and you are done in under an hour at 16 points a match. On two courts the same 15 matches become ten rounds: each turn is split into a round of two matches and a round of one, so one court stands free every other round.
Check the table and you will find every pairing exactly once, and pair 1 meeting each of the other five. That is the circle method doing its job.
How long does a Team Americano take?
Points are counted per ball, so the target score sets the match length directly: roughly half a minute per point. Sixteen points is about eight minutes, 24 is about twelve.
Work backwards from your finish time:
| Pairs | Courts | Rounds | To 16 points | To 24 points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 | 3 | 5 | about 55 min | about 75 min |
| 6 | 2 | 10 | about 1 h 50 | about 2 h 30 |
| 8 | 4 | 7 | about 1 h 15 | about 1 h 45 |
| 8 | 2 | 14 | about 2 h 35 | about 3 h 30 |
That assumes a three-minute changeover per round. Eight pairs on two courts at 24 points is close to three and a half hours, which is a different kind of evening entirely.
Because the whole schedule is drawn in advance, you can do the arithmetic before anyone arrives and print the finish time on the sheet. That is worth doing: an evening with a stated end time runs better than one without.
When the pairs are uneven in level
Team Americano does not re-seed, so a strong pair meets a weak pair at some point and the result is lopsided. That is the honest cost of a fixed schedule, and it is the reason Team Mexicano exists.
If you run a Team Americano with a wide spread of levels, two things soften it without changing format. Build the pairs to even out: put a strong player with a weaker one when you type the list, rather than letting two strong players sign up together. And keep the target score low, because a 16-point mismatch is over in eight minutes while a 32-point one is a long walk for somebody.
If you run a Team Americano regularly with the same couples, the Team Mexicano guide has the other side of the trade, and the round robin guide covers the same circle method with real match formats instead of points.
How to run a Team Americano: common questions
How do you set up a Team Americano in PadelLoop?
Type the players partner next to partner, choose Team Americano, set the courts and the points per match, and press start. The pairs are built two by two from the list, and the whole schedule is drawn at once, so every pair meets every other pair once and the running order can be printed before play starts.
How is it different from Team Mexicano?
Only in when the schedule is decided. Team Americano draws the whole thing up front, so everyone sees the running order in advance. Team Mexicano lets the live standings pick each round, so matches get closer but nobody can see ahead. Both build the pairs two by two from your player list, so type partners next to each other.
How many rounds is a Team Americano on two or three courts?
Six pairs play 5 rounds on three courts and 10 on two, with one court free every other round; eight pairs play 14 on either. Each turn of the schedule holds pairs ÷ 2 matches and is split over as many rounds as your courts need. The matches are fixed: 4 pairs play 6, 6 pairs 15 and 8 pairs 28.
What happens with an odd number of pairs?
One pair rests each turn, and the circle method spreads those rests evenly with no extra bookkeeping. The players themselves must be an even number, because the pairs are fixed. PadelLoop refuses to start on an odd player count rather than leaving someone without a partner, so add a player or pick a format with rotating partners.
