How to run a padel americano at your club

The americano is probably the format that works best for filling courts and creating atmosphere at a club. It's short, everyone plays with everyone, and nobody is knocked out after one defeat. Run well, it's one of the activities that builds the most loyalty.

Run badly, it's a mess of paperwork, waiting around and score disputes. This guide is about avoiding the second one.

What an americano actually is

An americano is a competition where the pairings change every round. You don't compete as a fixed pair: you compete individually, and your result is the sum of the points you win playing alongside different partners.

That has two good consequences. The first is that ability evens out: across the tournament you'll get better and worse partners. The second is social: you end up playing and talking with people at the club you didn't know.

How many players

The number of participants determines everything else. The formats that work best:

• 8 players, 2 courts — the most comfortable. 7 rounds and everyone plays with everyone
• 12 players, 3 courts — very balanced, around 2 hours
• 16 players, 4 courts — the classic weekend format
• 20 or 24 players — it works, but you need someone coordinating full time

The practical rule: multiples of 4, and as many courts as groups of four. If you have players left over, either run a reserve list or someone sits out each round, which never goes down well.

How long each round should be

This is the most common mistake: leaving matches open-ended. If one court finishes in 12 minutes and another in 35, the tournament falls out of sync and people stand around waiting.

The two approaches that work:

By time. Rounds of 15 or 20 minutes, a signal sounds and you record the score as it stands. It's the most predictable and what we'd recommend if you have a lot of courts.

To a fixed number of points. Each round is played to 16, 21 or 24 total points, with no sets or games: every rally scores a point regardless of who served. It ends when you reach the number. This is the purest version of the americano and what most clubs use.

How scoring works

In an americano you don't count games or sets. You count direct points, and what matters is how many points each player has accumulated across all their rounds.

Example with rounds to 21: if your pair wins 21-14, you record 21 and each of your opponents records 14. At the end of the tournament you add up each player's points and whoever has the most wins.

This system has an important virtue: every last point counts. Even if your round is lost, every ball you win adds to your total. Nobody throws a round away.

The problem of recording results

This is where 90% of americanos get stuck. With 4 courts running at once, someone has to collect results round by round, and the same thing always happens: one court can't remember the exact score, another argues over whether it was 18 or 19, and the organiser ends up refereeing from memory.

Ways to avoid it, from least to most effective:

• A sheet per court with the rounds already printed. The bare minimum
• One person per court responsible for recording at the end of each round
• A digital scoreboard on each court in americano mode: the result is on the wall, not in anyone's memory

Kronoset scoreboards include an americano mode among their formats: direct scoring, no games or sets, exactly as this kind of tournament is played. Players score with their racket and the organiser just collects the final result from each round.

Common mistakes

Not closing entries. If you accept people on the day, your groups of four stop adding up and you have to redo the draw on the spot.

Mixing wildly different levels. The americano evens out small differences, not chasms. If you have a very wide range, run two americanos by level rather than one.

Not explaining the format in advance. Plenty of people have never played an americano and turn up expecting to play with their usual partner. Spell it out at sign-up.

Rounds that are too long. More than 20 minutes a round and the tournament drags. Better more short rounds than a few long ones.

Forgetting the ending. An americano without a small closing moment — a presentation, a group photo, something — just fizzles out. Five minutes of closing does a lot for whether people come back.

A format that pays for itself

From the club's point of view the numbers work: you fill every court in a defined slot, the entry fee covers the cost, and people stay afterwards and spend.

It also works very well for filling off-peak hours. An americano on a Sunday morning or a Friday late afternoon fills courts that would otherwise sit empty.

If you run americanos regularly and you're thinking about kitting out your courts, email us at sales@kronoset.com.

If you run americanos often, a padel scoreboard on court heads off the score arguments and saves paper: you add points by holding your racket to the sensor, with no remotes to hand out to each pair. The PRO model also adds an app and match recording.