2020 Season Updates

Schedule

Note: This is a preliminary schedule; some venues and dates may change

Tournaments

The 2020 Tour Series will consist of 3 Tour Stops and a Grand Slam in each region. Select Tour Stops will be run independently by local roundnet leaders (aka Bonus Tour Stops). This format helps to test out new, promising locations. It also means that the local organizers will gain skills and experience to keep the community thriving after the tournament is over.  

The 2020 season will again include a number of two-day events, where Sunday features a coed or alternate rule tournaments. This year there will also be Sunday events reserved for the US national Team qualification. Click here for more info on the US National Team qualifications.

Registration for tournaments will will open roughly two months before the tournament date and will be listed under the 'Events' tab above as well as posted on Spikeball's social media platforms.

Divisions

All 2020 sanctioned events will include a Premier and Women’s division (as long as there are at least 8 teams signed up). With the growing number of new players, we will also be testing a beginner division to make sure that players of all skills can find the right level of competition. Grand Slam events with at least 16 teams will have a Pro Division.

Restrictions:

• Premier qualified players are not allowed to play in the Intermediate division.

When a Premier division is present:

• Premier qualified teams are not allowed to play in the Advanced division.

• A Premier player that meets the following criteria over the previous 12-month span is not allowed to play in the advanced division:

  • Top 4 Premier finish (or Advanced if there was no Premier division)

  • Top 8 Premier finish 2 times

  • Top 2 Advanced finish 2 times  

Premier Qualification and Re-qualification

Qualification:

• Players qualify for Premier by finishing in the top 3 teams of a sanctioned event’s Advanced division. Only the top 3 teams earn Premier, even if one or both of the top 3 teams had a Premier player on the roster.

• Players remain qualified for premier for one year from the date of qualification.  

Requalification:

• Compete in the Pro Division of a sanctioned event.

• Win (or earn a bye) in the first round of bracket play of a sanctioned event’s Premier division.

  • When there is a Premier division, players cannot re-qualify for Premier through the Advanced division.

  • If there is no Premier division, the top 8 teams from the Advanced division will qualify/re-qualify.

Format

Pool Play

We think that even pools provide the best and most fair setup for pool play. There are a number of considerations when grouping pools such as timing, field space, skill levels, and number of teams. That said, the tournament director will ultimately be responsible for determining the best pool groupings. In doing so, they will aim to create even pools when possible. Generally, if there are pools of 5 or 6 teams then pool play games will be played to 21 cap at 25. If there are pools of 7 or 8 teams then pool play games will be played to 15 cap at 21. If there is a mix between pool sizes within a division (ie there's a pool of 6 and a pool of 7) games will be played to 15 with a cap at 21. See example.

Grand Slam Tournaments with at least 16 registered Premier teams will use the Pro Division format. In this format, the top teams according to points (see seeding section below) will be eligible for the Pro Division. The lower ranked Premier teams will play in a standard Premier division. In the Pro Division, teams will be organized into pools of 4 and will play a best of 3 series against each team in their pool.

Bracket Play

The results of pool play will determine the seeding for bracket play. When seeding teams we look at number of losses, head to head wins (when applicable), and average point differential. This year we will have additional tie breakers - average point differential omitting the highest and lowest results, loss differential, and average points against.

We will be using single elimination for all brackets and playing out for places. If you lose in the first or second round you’ll automatically drop into a feed-in consolation bracket. As such, every team will be guaranteed at least two bracket play matches. In the premier and women's division we will always play out for 5th place.

Seeding

The Premier and Women’s division will utilize an objective, points-based seeding system. We will calculate individual ranking points for each player. The sum of each player's top 5 individual depreciated points will be used for seeding purposes. At this time, there is not enough data from other divisions to make this format work accurately, though we will take any objective data available into consideration when seeding. 

How are individual points calculated?

Players receive 50% of the points their teams’ earned in the 2019 season. Players’ points are valid for a 12-month span and are subject to an exponential decay with a half-life of 6 months. When calculating seedings, the top 5 point values are used to represent an individual rank.

Example

Let’s say your team earned 50 points for reaching the quarterfinals of a Tour Stop in 2019. From that event, you get 25 points toward your rank and your partner gets 25 points. That part’s pretty simple.

We also know that the most recent results are the most meaningful. Due to this, the points you earn are depreciated over time. In this case, your 25 points would be worth 19.84 points 2 months later. A 6-month half-life means that 6 months after you earn the points they’re worth half of what they originally were.

Original Point Value x (½)^(Months since points earned/6) = Depreciated Points

25 x (½)^(2/6) = 19.84

Regardless of your teammate, points count toward your rank, so you don’t have to be playing with your permanent teammate to earn points for yourself. Your rank is based on the top 5 point values earned within a 12-month period. After 12-months, points no longer count.

Pro Division Seeding

The number of premier teams registered for a Grand Slam will determine the size and format of the Pro Division.

• >16 teams - Standard Premier Division
• 16 - 23 teams - Top 8 teams compete in Pro Division
• 24 - 31 teams - Top 12 teams compete in Pro Division pool play. Top 8 teams from pool play qualify for Pro A Bracket. Bottom 4 teams play in Pro B Bracket.
• 32+ teams - Top 16 teams compete in Pro Division pool play. Top 8 teams from pool play qualify for Pro A Bracket. Bottom 8 teams play in Pro B Bracket.

For the Pro Division we look at:

• Top 5 Points earned together as a team.
  • We want to encourage established teams playing together and more closely reflect the structure of the Pro Division at nationals.
• We only depreciate points earned in a previous season.
  • Since so many points are earned at the end of the season at nationals, if we don't depreciate those points we don't allow enough room for movement for up and coming teams.

Points

There will be two distinct points systems. The Advanced system will track points earned at independent tournaments and in the advanced division of sanctioned Spikeball tournaments. The Premier system will track points earned at sanctioned events in the Premier and Women’s division. A limited number of independent tournaments hosted by Recognized Roundnet Organizations will also be eligible to earn Premier points. The SRA will work with RROs and post which events are eligible for premier points.

Advanced Points

The Advanced points are based on the number of teams participating. Points can be earned from independent tournaments or through the advanced division of sanctioned Spikeball tournaments. Learn more about submitting points from independent tournaments.

Premier Points

The Premier points are based on the type of event and the strength of the competition. This system is used to track the Pro/Premier and Women’s divisions at sanctioned events.

• In the case there is a Pro and Premier division, Premier rankings will start where Pro rankings end.

  • For example, if there are 8 teams in the Pro Division, first place in Premier would be considered 9th place and so on.

• In the case there are not enough teams to run a premier division, then only the top 8 teams will earn Premier Points. Teams 9 - 16 will earn advanced points according to their position (ie Tied for 9th = 1st place Advanced points)

• At least 8 teams must be registered for a division to be eligible for points at an event.

• When T-5, T-7 etc., base points will be the average (ie T-5 is the average of 5-8 points = 50)

• For Regionals, there will be a points freeze so that all four regions multipliers are calculated against the same threshold.  

Total Points = Base Value x Event Type Multiplier x Strength Multiplier

Base Value Points:

Advanced division qualifying teams (ie teams moving into the premier division for the first time) will be given points for placing in the top 3. These points are not subject to any multipliers.

• 1st = 1.5

• 2nd = 1

• 3rd = .5

Event Type Multiplier

Tour Stop = 1

Grand Slam = 1.2

Nationals = 2.2

Strength Multiplier

Tournaments have varying degrees of difficulty based on the teams that participate. To make our rankings more accurate we have a strength multiplier. In 2020, we've added more tiers to the strength multiplier and have included negative multipliers. These additions allow the multiplier to be more responsive to the strength of the field means the points more accurately reflect the difficulty of the competition. The strength multiplier is determined by looking at the percentage of total ranking points compared to the maximum amount of points.

Premier: We compare the top 5 finishes of the top 32 players in the highest division to the top five finishes of the top 32 players overall. (If there are fewer than 16 teams we look at the points of all players in the highest division)

Women's: We compare the top 5 points of the top 10 players in the highest division to the top 10 players overall.

Prize Structure  

There will be cash prizes for the top division in Women’s and Open at Grand Slam Tournaments, Regionals, and Nationals based on the number of teams in the respective divisions.

• Open Division teams = Pro + Premier + Advanced
• Women's Division teams = Women's Advanced + Women's Intermediate

Grand Slam Prizes

8 - 31 Teams  

• 1st - $400
• 2nd - $250
• 3rd - $150
• 4th - $100  

32+ Teams  

• 1st - $1000
• 2nd - $500
• 3rd - $350
• 4th -$250
• 5th - $150
• 6th - $100
• 7th - $75
• 8th - $50

Regionals

We are hoping to have Recognized Roundnet Organizations run the Regional Championships. We think this is a good way to strengthen RROs and better engage local roundnet communities. The top two teams in the Premier Division will earn a bid for the Pro Division at nationals. We will be implementing a "true second" system. In this structure, if the loser of the finals did not play the third place team in the semifinals then they will play a match to determine the true second place. The Pro Division bid and the 2nd place points are determined by the outcome of this match. If the loser of the finals beat the third place team in the semifinals then no additional match is played.

Regionals Prizes

8+ Teams

• 1st - $400
• 2nd - $250
• 3rd - $150
• 4th - $100  

Nationals

Nationals will feature a Pro Division. Only 16 teams will qualify for the Pro division. The top two teams from each Regional Championship will earn a spot. If a team does not accept their bid from regionals, it will fall to the next highest placing team. Remaining spots will be determined by taking the sum of the top 5 Premier Points earned at sanctioned events (without depreciation). Ties will be broken by cumulative season points.

Nationals Prizes

SRA Board

The current board consists of:

• Skyler Boles
• Shaun Boyer
• Harding Brumby
• Ezra Dantowitz
• Chris Hornacek
• Alli Kauffman
• Taylen Peterson
• Jack Scotti
• Mike White

Season Update Notes

We're excited to roll out these new initiatives and believe they will help our sport continue to grow and improve. If you're interested in the thought process behind these updates, click here for a little more info about our goals and rationale. Like anything new, we know there will be some kinks to work out along the way and appreciate your support and patience as we do so. At times, we may need to make some adjustments to this outline. We also know that tournament directors need the ability to make adjustments when unique circumstances deem it necessary. We are absolutely pumped about the direction we're moving and the future of roundnet! We hope you are too!

If you have any ideas, concerns, or questions, please feel free to contact us at tournaments@spikeball.com.