Watch College Nationals 2023 on ESPN

Hosting College Sectionals

First, THANK YOU for hosting Sectionals! This is not always the easiest undertaking, but it's highly rewarding.

College Roundnet always brings out such great play, rivalies, and hype!

Things You Should Know

Becoming an Official Club with Spikeball

Want to stay in touch with Spikeball about College Roundnet?

Please fill out the form below to be in the know about what college events are happening and how you can be part of the fun!

 

Create a landing page for your club, host events, and more!

We invite all of the college clubs to create an organization page on Fwango to be able to track membership, make rankings, and host tournaments without headaches.

Divisions

Fall & Spring Sectionals

D1 Squads (4.5+) [5-team] - Schools must submit a Squad of 5 teams to compete - 3 Open teams, 1 Mixed team, and 1 Women's team. One school may submit one D1 Squad.

D2 Squads (4.5+) [3-team] - Schools must submit a Squad of 3 teams to compete - 3 Open teams. Unlimited D2 Squads permitted for Sectionals.

Open Individual (2.0-4.0) - For schools unable to submit a Squad. While this division will be played primarily without the No Hit Zone, we ask that if you are of the Advanced/Contender skill level, that you try to use it as much as you can to help level the field.

*Women are welcome to play in D1 Squads or Open Individual

College Nationals

D1 Squads (4.5+) [5-team] - Schools must submit a Squad of 5 teams to compete - 3 Open teams, 1 Mixed team, and 1 Women's team. One school may submit one D1 Squad.

D2 Squads (4.5+) [3-team] - Schools must submit a Squad of 3 teams to compete. One school may submit a maximum of 2 D2 Squads.

Tournament Format

Squads

  • Pools of 4 to 8 squads
  • Each squad plays all other squads in their pool
    • 1 game to 15 or 21, cap at 25
    • Open Team A v Open Team A
    • Open Team B v Open Team B
    • Open Team C v Open Team C
    • Mixed Team v Mixed Team
    • Women's Team v Women's Team
  • Squads seeded by loses, then point differential, then least points against per game
  • Bracket series is best of 3 games to 21, no cap
  • Teams cannot change at any point in the day*. If a Squad rearranges at any point during an event, they will be disqualified.

*Unless there is an injury. More info on the 5-Team Squad page.

Women's/Open Individual

  • Pools of 4 to 8 teams
  • Each team plays all other teams in their pool
    • 1 game to 15 or 21, cap at 25
  • Teams seeded by loses, then point differential
  • Bracket series is best of 3 games to 21, no cap

Eligibility

  1. Degree Seeking Enrollment: S/he must be both accepted and enrolled in a regularly matriculated degree program at the school for which eligibility is to apply. Programs that culminate in only the awarding of a certificate are not considered "degree-seeking."
  2. Half-time Status: S/he must be considered at least a half-time student by his/her school registrar (two (2) full time classes or equivalent as defined by the registrar).
  3. Age and Minimum Achievement Requirement: S/he must be at least 18* years old on the day of the event and they must have a high school diploma or an equivalent qualification.
  4. Mid-Year Early Graduates: Students graduating early may now participate in SCR events in the Spring (Sectionals and College Nationals.) This applies to students who graduate mid-academic year. You may not still compete if you graduate one year early. This does not apply to students who are taking an eztra term to finish their degree. The early graduate must also still live in the area of the school and play wih the club regularly.
     

*Please email for exceptions.*

Player eligibility is subject to random check.
Violation will result in minimum 1 semester suspension for club from Spikeball College Roundnet tournaments.
 

Cooperative Program

Spikeball offers a program that allows two or more schools meeting certain requirements to compete as a cooperative (single-club from multiple schools) in the Spikeball College Series. Please note that this program is the ONLY way students can play together while not attending the same school.
 

Requirements

All schools in the proposed cooperative should:
  • have a prior academic affiliation with a significant formal relationship with each other
  • have a history of athletic collaboration
  • reasonable geographic distance
Schools in the proposed cooperative should meet the above requirements in order to apply. Merely meeting the requirements does not guarantee that the cooperative will be approved. In order to ensure fairness of competition in the college division and minimize the potential for abuse of the rules, cooperative applicants will be evaluated against an extremely high standard, and on a case by case basis, in terms of meeting the above requirements. Prior approval of a cooperative between two institutions does not guarantee approval on subsequent applications.
 
Please send an email to tournaments@spikeball.com to apply for a co-op.
 

Pre-Tournament

The Fwango Page

Great news! The Fwango page for your Sectional is on Spikeball to create. You can usually expect these to be live within a month of your event.
 
I'll add you as both a co-host and an admin. This allows you to do everything -- from creating pools, to extending refunds to teams, etc. Fwango is incredibly intuitive and easy to use once you poke around a bit. If you have any questions about Fwango, feel free to shoot me an email at joelle@spikeball.com.

Connect with Local Clubs

While we'll be sending out emails and posting about Spikeball College Roundnet on Instagram, it's up to you to connect with the clubs in your Section to get them to come to Sectionals.
 
Here's a spreadsheet with the Club Leadership we've connected with!

Marketing

You're our main boots on the ground and will likely have more face time with the clubs in your Section than we'll have.
 
To market your event, I would say you should
  • Encourage your pickup group(s) / club members to participate
  • Post on your club's social media
  • Reach out to Club Leadership in your Section
  • Text friends at other roundnet clubs in the area

Get creative! We love seeing how the different Sectional Hosts make their event their own.

Take Equipment Inventory

Two weeks ahead of your event, we need you to take inventory of the equipment you have and the equipment you'll need.
 
You will be sent balls. The number is dependent on how many teams are signed up two weeks before your event, so definitely be pushing those signups.
 
We want to crowdsource nets as much as we can, as we're incredibly limited on how many we can send for free. With that said, we can get you a discounted rate on Pro Master Cases (4 Pro Kits) for $239 as a Sectional Host.
 
This is why it is imperative that teams register early. There's nothing worse than being short on equipment and stressin' right before the event.
 
The equipment we send is for you and your club to keep! Just a little token of our thanks for hosting :)

Receive Equipment

Once you receive your equipment, I'd recommend marking it so no one takes it from Sectionals. Again, this equipment will be yours to keep post-event. Before Sectionals, I would be sure to have as many sets put together as possible, as you won't want to be doing this the morning of.

Buying Paint, Snacks, & Water

Head to the store! We'd love for you to pick up paint, snacks, and water for your event.
 
Paint
Per reputable sources, one can of paint should be good for about six courts. Ergo -- six cans of paint should be good for 32 courts (1 field). Sometimes those courts need a little refresh before the Semis / Finals.
 
Home Depot is a great spot to find paint!
 
Snacks
This isn't a must-have, but I know players really appreciate this. We run with bananas, granola bars, and fruit snacks. Simple, easy.
 
Water
Highly recommend getting a big Gatorade cooler or just bringing a bunch of gallons to the field for people to refill their own bottles. In my experience, California Roundnet events will always have a big cooler with ice, but they'll also bring some smaller bottles for those who don't have their own bottles.

Sending the Pre-Tournament Email

Feel free to copy, paste, and add your own flair. We'd love for this email to be sent out on Thursday (Friday morning at the latest) so the players know what they're walking into. You can access folks' emails in the "Registrations" tab on the Fwango page. Export by "List of players."

 

Hey all!


___________ here from _________. We’re so excited to host the Fall Sectionals this weekend.


Logistics for Saturday


Location:

California Polytechnic State University

Sports Complex Rd

San Luis Obispo, CA 93405


Parking: There will be 3 other events playing at the same field so please get there early for a good parking spot. Make sure you park in the lot closest to the field because some of the other lots cost money. The lot we are parking in is free.  



Schedule

Check-In - 8:00 AM to 8:30 AM

Announcements - 8:45 AM

Pool Play - 9:00 AM - 11:30 AM

Lunch - 11:30 AM - 12:00 PM

Bracket Play - 12:00 PM - 5:00 PM


Lunch

We will not be providing lunch, so please bring your own, or there are options within a walking distance and a 5 minute drive!


What else to bring

  • Water/water bottle

  • Sunscreen

  • Tents/Chairs if you like


We will have extra water and snacks as well!


To see the lineup, report scores, and see the bracket, you can click this link:

https://fwango.io/southwestspring2023


To report scores in Squads:

You will be reporting matches in this order: A, B, C, Mixed, Women’s.


Pool Play will be one game, so the scores will look similar to this.



Unfortunately, there is no great way to report the exact scores for a series, so your scores will look like this in Bracket.



Last thing: All of your teams MUST get the Spikeball Membership for this year to compete in Spikeball College Roundnet. If your registration is still marked incomplete by the time Check-In is over, you will not be allowed to play. Please head over to Fwango to ensure your team has completed their memberships.


If you have any other questions please feel free to call or text me at __________!


Thanks! See y'all soon.


[Insert Name Here]

Creating Pools

You will be in charge of creating the Pools for your Sectionals. Please keep the following factors in mind:
  • Skill
  • Geographic spread

If you need help creating even Pools, reach out to the other Club Leadership in your Section for assistance. Obviously, the strength of clubs change from year to year -- semester to semester, even. Lean on others here when you can!

The official Sectionals Format for Pool Play:

Pools of 4 to 8 Squads - Each Squad plays all other Squads in their pool.

  • Open Team A v Open Team A
  • Open Team B v Open Team B
  • Open Team C v Open Team C
  • Mixed Team v Mixed Team
  • Women’s Team v Women’s Team

Pool Play: 1 game to 15 or 21, cap at 25

Ideally, we get as close to Pools of 5 or 6, with games to 21. Feel free to reach out if you want some advice on Pools.

Painting Lines

We love some good lines.
 
Get your whole club out there to help paint lines! If your university's staff can do it, even better. Here are some diagrams that can help show what they should look like.
 
Per reputable sources, one can of paint should be good for about six courts. Ergo -- six cans of paint should be good for 32 courts (1 field). Sometimes those courts need a little refresh before the Semis / Finals.
 
On paint color -- white is preferable. Some of our colorblind friends have trouble with orange.
 

Media

Reach out to your club members or other friends you've got on campus! Taking photos or video from events is a fun way to have attendees remember the event.
 
Handheld phone videos of rallies like the one linked perform incredibly well on social accounts as opposed to tripod clips.

Tournament Weekend

Host Expectations 

You as the host will --
- be responsible for locking down the venue
- painting lines
- providing water, snacks, anything else you think is necessary
- help market the event to local players and schools
- need to have a TD the weekend of -- this doesn't have to be YOU, but you should have someone at the table in a chair to take scores, direct people to bathrooms, etc.
- be in charge of cleanup -- please leave fields better than you found it when you can!
 
On the Spikeball end, we --
- create the Fwango page
- will post to our Spikeball Tour Series Instagram page
- will send prizes to podium winners
- will send 70% of the registration fees to you, which can be used for jerseys, travel, etc.
 

Announcements 

Promptly at 8:30 AM, we'd love for you to gather everyone around for some announcements and a group picture. For some, this will be their first tournament, so let's give them the info they need. Here's a rough outline of some announcements. Feel free to copy this!
 
Hey everyone! My name is _______ from __________ [University] and I'm really excited to host Sectionals.
 
We're going to start the day with Pool Play, then have a lunch break, and finish out the day with Bracket (or the knockout) Play. Your Pools should be listed on the Fwango page where you signed up for this event. If you don't have it up, the URL is...
 
Pool Play will be one game to 21, hard cap 25. Bracket Play will be a best of 3 series to 21, with no hard cap.
 
In both D1 and D2 Squads, you'll have to win the majority of the matchups to move ahead to the next round. A teams will play A teams, Mixed teams, will play Mixed teams, Women's plays Women's, etc. There is no switching teams between rounds.
 
Before we get our games started, let's all gather for a group picture!
 
Bang. Feel free as much info as you feel is needed. Sometimes, you forget how much you know as a tournament veteran.

Podium Pictures

We'd love a post from your club Instagram account of the results from your Sectional! Please take podium pictures of all of the divisions -- Square-able for socials. Let's try to stay away from horizontal posts.  
 
Invite @STS to collab :)  

Other Media

Got some cool photos / top play videos to share? Send them my way! We want to post as many highlights from Spikeball College Roundnet as possible!

Post-Tournament

Receiving Registration Fees 

Club Hosts will receive 70% of the registration fees.

Here's how you get access to that
  • Fill out a W-9
  • Send to joelle@spikeball.com
  • You'll get an email from Bill.com -- this is our Finance team!
  • Create a Bill.com account and get $$
 

Prizes

Club Leadership can reach out to tournaments@spikeball.com or joelle@spikeball.com to receive their prizes! Please send us an email with the following:
  • Name / University
  • Full Shipping Address
  • Section
  • Division / Place earned

We'll get your prizes in the mail ASAP.

If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, please email me:

joelle@spikeball.com

It is never preferred that you text me. In case of an emergency or if I'm not responding to a time-sensitive email quickly enough, you can shoot me a text.

+1 (714) 830 - 9440

Day of, you can call me if something is really going awry -- though I might have a tournament myself. Apologies in advanced if I'm unable to get to you. In that event -- this is Andrew Gasaway's number:

+1 (417) 827 - 5865

Thanks, good luck, have fun!