1. Credit Hours

1. All players must be taking at least 12 credit hours (or is recognized as full time by their school) in order to play in any events for the College Pickleball Tour.
2. If the player is a grad student, they are allowed to take a minimum of 6 credit hours (or half of full-time equivalency) and maintain eligibility. 
3. If the player is in their last semester of school, they are allowed to take fewer credit hours than normally required if they only have those classes left to finish their degree.
4. At the start of each semester, players will submit the Eligibility Form with the letter from their Registrar’s Office proving they are taking the minimum number of credit hours. This only needs to be done at a minimum once per semester, as it will cover all tournaments in that semester. Players may be requested to provide additional credit hour verification during the semester at the discretion of the College Pickleball Tour.
   
   • If your school doesn’t have the two traditional semesters (fall/spring), use the First Day of Classes and Last Day of Classes dates on your semesters to determine which semester a tournament falls into.
5. With these credit hours, players must be enrolled in a Degree-Seeking Program at the school they represent.
6. If a player has not submitted their Eligibility Form for a semester containing a tournament they played in, they will not receive any money they earned from the tournament until the Eligibility Form is submitted.
7. If a player is found to have played in a tournament while not taking the minimum number of credit hours required, they may be suspended from the College Pickleball Tour for up to a year. 

2. Five-Season Timer

2. Starting in the 2026-27 season, each player will be allowed to play in the College Pickleball Tour for a maximum of five seasons. After the conclusion of your fifth season, you will have finished your college pickleball career and will not be allowed to play in anymore College Pickleball Tour events.
   
   • A season is defined as a traditional school year, from August of one year to May of the next. The summer (June & July) is the divide between seasons.
   • This is not a five-year timer, but a five-season timer. Any event you play in a season will mean the start of your five-season timer, no matter if the event is in the fall or spring. 
   • For example, if you play in any event in the 2026-27 season, whether it is a Dual Match in August or Nationals at the end of the year in April, here is what your five season timer would look like:

• 1st Season: 2026-27
• 2nd Season: 2027-28
• 3rd Season: 2028-29
• 4th Season: 2029-30
• 5th Season: 2030-31

• Playing at least one game in any event associated with the College Pickleball Tour will start your five-season timer. This includes, but is not limited to: Worlds, Nationals, Super Regionals, Campus Regionals, Showcases, and Dual Matches. 
• Once your five-season timer starts, it does not stop. You cannot pause the timer, delay the timer, restart it with a new school, or anything else that would change its end date. You can only control when it starts.
• The five-season timer will not be started for any player before the 2026-27 season. Players with past experience playing on the College Pickleball Tour will not have their timers already started - they will still have a full five seasons of eligibility.

3. High School Diploma or Equivalency

3. All players must have a high school diploma or equivalency to play on the College Pickleball Tour. Even if you are taking enough credits and meet the other requirements, you still must have finished high school. 

4. School’s Pickleball Club Status

4. If your school has a pickleball club or pickleball is a part of your school’s athletic department, you must play to represent your school.
5. If your school does not have any sort of pickleball club or team, you may play for another school within your original school’s system. The schools must be tied together within the same system in order for this to happen. 
6. If a student wishes to play for a different school within the same school system, they must first submit an appeal and receive approval from the College Pickleball Tour before doing so.

5. Transgender Students

5. The College Pickleball Tour follows the NCAA policies on transgender students. For more information about those policies, refer to their website.

6. Eligibility Enforcement

6. Any player or team found to be in violation of College Pickleball Tour eligibility requirements may be subject to penalties including, but not limited to:
   
   • Loss of eligibility for the event in question
   • Forfeiture of the matches or results
   • Forfeiture or withholding of prize money
   • Suspension from future College Pickleball Tour events
   • Forfeiture of a team’s bid to Nationals
7. Penalties will be determined by the College Pickleball Tour in its sole discretion, based on the nature and severity of the violation.