Booking the event and running the courts are two jobs
CourtReserve is a court booking and club management system: it is where members find your events, register and pay. That is a different job from what happens at 7 p.m. when forty people are standing at the courts and someone has to decide who plays next, on which court, and when. That second job is a live, minute-by-minute problem, and it is the one PaddleStack is built for.
Running both from one place is not required. The integration lets each system do what it does: CourtReserve stays the front door for signups, and PaddleStack becomes the play experience on top of it.
How the CourtReserve sync works
The connection is deliberately narrow and one-way:
- Direction: CourtReserve to PaddleStack only. PaddleStack does not create events in CourtReserve or write anything back to it.
- What comes across: events and their rosters. The event title and times come from CourtReserve, so your calendar stays the source of truth for when something happens.
- What never comes across: court reservations. PaddleStack does not read your members' court bookings at all.
- Payments: registration fees stay in CourtReserve. PaddleStack never charges for an event it mirrors from CourtReserve.
When an event first syncs, you choose how it runs in PaddleStack:
| Typical event | Can run in PaddleStack as |
|---|---|
| Open play | An open play session with a live queue and court rotation |
| Tournament or DUPR round robin | A tournament division with brackets, standings and live scoring |
| Clinic or class | A roster-only event for check-in, with no queue |
After that, signups and cancellations made in CourtReserve keep flowing into the PaddleStack roster automatically. If an event was set up the wrong way, an admin can change its format later.
Who takes registration and payment
By default, players register and pay in CourtReserve, and nowhere else. A mirrored event can still appear in the PaddleStack app so players can find it, but its join button sends them to sign up at the venue. Members who registered in CourtReserve see the event in their own PaddleStack feed once their accounts are linked, ready for check-in and play.
Two switches per event let an admin change that:
- Show in public listings. On by default. Turn it off and the event is reachable only by direct link.
- Let players sign up here. Off by default. Turn it on and PaddleStack becomes a second front door for that one event, alongside CourtReserve.
What changes on the night
Once the roster is in PaddleStack, open play runs the same way it does for any PaddleStack venue:
- Players check in on their phones, at a PIN-protected kiosk tablet at the door, or by scanning a QR code in a browser without downloading the app.
- They join a live queue, alone or as a party, and games are built from it in order as courts free up. King of the Court is available as a queue type.
- Each player is told the moment their court is ready, by push notification, sound and vibration on their phone.
- A TV running the big board shows every court and who is up next, and can read court callouts aloud.
- Hosts can hand-build a game, swap a no-show, close a court or send an announcement, and co-hosts can check players in and run the courts.
One practical note: because PaddleStack never reads court reservations, it does not know a court has been booked for someone else. Keep reserving the courts for open play in CourtReserve the way you do today, and tell PaddleStack how many courts the session uses.
Tournaments and DUPR round robins
The same sync covers structured events, not just open play. A CourtReserve tournament or DUPR round robin can come across as a tournament division, with its registered players already on the roster. On the day, PaddleStack handles the parts that happen at the courts:
- Players check in per division, so the host can see who has actually arrived before locking a bracket.
- Players are notified when their match is called, with the court and the opponent.
- Scores advance brackets and recompute pool standings as they land, and everyone sees the same board.
- Finished matches can be submitted to DUPR.
Formats include round robin, single and double elimination, pools into brackets, and rotate-partners. Registration and fees still belong to CourtReserve unless you open a second front door for that event.
How PaddleStack does it
Connected per venue by our team
The CourtReserve integration is live today and is set up with each venue by the PaddleStack team; it is not a self-serve switch. Talk to us and we'll connect your CourtReserve account, choose which events come across, and help you run your first synced session. No court hardware is required: a phone is enough, and tablets and TVs are optional.
Is it a fit for your club?
It tends to fit when your members are used to registering in CourtReserve and you do not want to move them, but your open play nights or round robins are run with a paddle rack, a whiteboard or a staff member calling names. It fits less well if you want a single system that also books individual courts, since PaddleStack deliberately stays out of reservations.
If you are weighing your options more broadly, our buyer's guide to open play software covers what to look for in any system.
Frequently asked questions
Yes. Events and rosters sync one way from CourtReserve into PaddleStack, which runs the live queue, court rotation, check-in and displays. Registration and payment stay in CourtReserve by default.
No. The sync is one-way, from CourtReserve to PaddleStack. PaddleStack does not create events in CourtReserve or write data back to it.
No. Only events and their rosters come across. Court reservations are never read, so keep reserving courts for open play in CourtReserve as you do now.
No. PaddleStack never charges for an event mirrored from CourtReserve. Players register and pay in CourtReserve unless an admin chooses to open PaddleStack as a second front door for a specific event.
Contact the PaddleStack team. Each venue is connected by us, and we will walk you through it and help you run your first synced session.