News & Updates

March 24, 2023

2023 Season Initiatives

The 2023 season is just around the corner!

With every year, we recognize new opportunities to push the sport forward. The Spikeball Tour Series team is excited to present these initiatives in hopes that they will further elevate and professionalize the sport.

Officiating 
We are delighted to welcome Richard Tarpey as the Officiating Coordinator and Head Referee at each of our US-based Majors.

In addition to refereeing at all of the Majors, Rich will be leading officiating training sessions the Friday before each Major, which we hope will help certify more Observers and Referees.

In conjunction with USA Roundnet, we will be releasing preliminary guidelines for roundnet refereeing in the days to come.

Event Stream Coverage
In 2023, we will be testing out a variety of elements on stream that we think will improve the viewer experience.

We are specifically looking forward to testing out having a manned camera to let viewers get up close and personal with the players, teams, and action on the court.

Testing 
We are thankful for the opportunities we’ve had to partner with different organizations to test these initiatives ahead of the season, such as a Pro Exhibition hosted by Roundnetwork and this weekend at the ATX Spikedown, hosted by Trash Roundnet Players.

We are excited to keep testing these changes out ahead of the season, so we can fully implement them for the first Major in Richmond April 15 - 16.

Be on the lookout for the live coverage schedule of ATX Spikedown coming soon on the @spikeballtourseries Instagram!

February 2, 2023

Changes for the 2023 Season

As always, we’re taking learnings from last season and making changes in an effort to keep moving the sport forward.

We understand that with each decision there are tradeoffs. There is no perfect system, but through our choices we put more focus on areas we think are worth prioritizing. So here’s a closer look at some of those choices, the tradeoffs involved, and the priorities that we’re focusing on:

Majors in One Day

Semis and Finals of Premier on Sundays gave us a greater ability to capture content, tell stories, and focus on various divisions. While it removed some of the frantic hustle to wrap up the events, it also extinguished some of the excitement that builds up on Saturday. We found that Saturdays under the lights were electric and it was hard to get back to that level on Sunday.

We want to prioritize creating the best atmosphere for the most people. With the main event concluding in one day that means more players are likely to stick around, we maintain the energy, and we make figuring out travel a little bit easier. This also allows us to use Sunday for Mixed, giving more ways to play at our marquee events.

Two Game Pool Play Matches (Premier and Women’s Advanced at Majors)

Finishing Majors in one day means the day will inevitably go longer. However, we're still aiming for the events to end at a reasonable time. Using best of three series in pool play creates a great deal of uncertainty in the timing of the event. When each round can vary by 30 minutes depending on if it goes to a game three, it’s nearly impossible to create a reliable schedule.

Having teams play two games against each opponent gives us a much more consistent schedule, reduces the workload on players, and puts the focus on bracket play. While some matchups will end in a split, we don’t see that as a bad thing. In actuality, it creates a more level playing field as each team has an opportunity to choose to serve/recieve and more teams are playing the same number of matches going into bracket play.

Points System

With more Challenger events and potentially a greater range of competitiveness between them we wanted a simple point system that could better adapt. We created additional tiers to adjust the point scale based on the number of premier teams registered for the event. We also adjusted the values of Majors and Championships accordingly.

Last year points earned from the 2021 season were worth 25% in the current season. We felt like this depreciation created a situation where participating in early events overinflated ranking. So this season, 2022 points will be worth 50% of their value. This depreciation still allows plenty of room for upward mobility, but balances the effect of early participation.  

Power Pools (Premier and Women’s Advanced at Majors)

Our belief is that more competitive matches lead to better events. Throughout the years we’ve introduced new divisions to give people the opportunity to play at the best competitive level for them.

While we don’t think we’re in the position yet to break out any new divisions from Premier or Women’s advanced, we do think that both of these divisions would benefit from power pools - a pool play grouping of the teams who have earned the most points, play each other in pool play, and fight for the top seeds.

We are using the number of teams registered to determine the number of power pool spots and our point system to rank those teams. Every team in the division still has the ability to win the tournament, but the players who have performed well historically get more matches against the other top teams. It’s an earned advantage. Inevitably, this means that some good teams will be on the bubble and left out of power pools. Overall, however, more teams will get more competitive matches (both inside and outside of the power pools) and the seeding will be more accurate because of that. It also means that the teams in power pools will be evaluated against the same number of matchups. Rather than the one seed being based on whatever team obliterated the weakest team in their pool, it will be based on how teams performed against the top. Here’s what it would have looked like if we used the system for 2022 Majors. 

Women’s Pro Division

We want to reward results throughout the season, promote teams sticking together, and elevate the Championship. A Women’s Pro division is a great milestone to further professionalize the women’s scene. Introducing this system puts more at stake for each of our Majors and allows us to highlight the best of the best at the Championship. Furthermore, it ensures even pools and high caliber competition at the Championship. The tradeoff here is that some talented teams will not make the cutoff. That said, this is the case in any high level sport, and we believe the motivation to make it into the 12-team Women's Pro Division will positively impact the women’s division as a whole.

New Challenger Format

Last season, Challenger events were run by independent tournament directors off of Spikeball’s playbook. Spikeball determined what price registration should be, how pools would be made, what time bracket play should start, and the prize money. While this created very standardized events, the process took away from the host’s ownership, creativity, and personal brand. Any event was just “Tour Stop X of 16”.

This year Spikeball is focused on better supporting local roundnet organizations by giving them more room to create value, innovate, and have ownership of their event. Spikeball requires certain levels of standardization to ensure safety and quality, but overall we’re putting the decision making power in the hands of the host. They own the events! They’re branding their own tournaments which are part of the Challenger Series. Our hope is that by sponsoring these events and giving hosts the ability to make them their own the best ideas will rise to the top, and the sport will move forward at a faster pace.

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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. Spike on!

- The Sports Development Team

December 14, 2022

College Nationals - Bids and D1 Squads

College Nationals will be in Richmond, VA May 20 - 21!

Unlike in seasons past, you will not need a bid to compete in the D1 Squads Division. D1 Squads at Spring Sectionals and College Nationals will be using 5-Team Squads (3 Open, 1 Mixed, 1 Women's team).

Registrations will open soon.

July 22, 2022

Pro Division Tie Breakers

1. (if applicable) Head to head bracket play record from 2022 Challengers and Majors
2. Record from 2022 Challengers and Majors against (same) teams that have earned Pro Auto Bids (doesn't matter whether or not they accepted them)
3. Most points earned from a single event
4. (if applicable) Highest finish at 4th event. Keep extending if necessary.  

April 29, 2022

European Premier Update

We have updated the format of our European Challenger events to improve competition based on the unique context. Specifically, we have removed the Premier division and all teams who want to prove they are the best will compete in Contender. Because there has been less opportunity to earn Premier in Europe, we want to make sure that top European teams get to compete for the top spots and prizes at this event. The top 8 teams that are not fully Premier will earn Premier. If 8 fully Premier teams participate then the event will earn full Challenger points towards the Spikeball Tour Series ranking. Premier points can only be earned by teams that also earn/have Premier. As this is the first year that the Spikeball Tour Series has events taking place in Europe, we think this change will yield better competition and more accurate results.

April 20, 2022

Tournament Cancellation/Weather Policy

Spikeball aims to provide a safe environment for its events. In general, we run events rain or shine. However, if for some reason we must cancel, postpone, or relocate an event due to uncontrollable weather conditions or other circumstances beyond our reasonable control, emails will be sent to all registered participants and announcements will be made on the event website and our social networking channels.

We will do everything within our power to make sure that events take place, but the safety of our participants is our number one concern. When registering for an event, you are accepting a small risk that uncontrollable circumstances might mean events need to be modified, postponed, or canceled. As such, no refunds will be given if a tournament is modified, postponed, or canceled for circumstances beyond Spikeball™’s reasonable control.

Coed Sunday

Coed has been CRUSHING it this year!! With the extra round (or two) of bracket play the tournament has been going until 4 or 5pm so please book your Sunday night flights with that in mind.

SAO Premier Qualifiers (formerly known as Sanctioned events)

The top 3 non-Premier teams at each event will earn Premier status and will be able to compete in the Premier 5.0 division of the Spikeball Tour Series

Questions? Shoot us an email over at tournaments@spikeball.com