Contents
- Six competition formats side by side
- A season of regular matches: the box league
- Matches all year, with people coming and going: the ladder
- One evening, numbers unknown: the americano or mexicano
- A fixed group for an afternoon: the round robin
- Crowning a champion: the knockout
- A championship where everyone plays more than once: groups, then a knockout
- Other tournament formats you may hear of
- Which competition format suits new members, juniors and mixed abilities
- A year of competitions at one club
- Which competition format to start with
- Questions organisers ask
There are only six competition formats a racket club really needs, and each was made for a different occasion: a box league for a season, an americano for one evening, a knockout for a champion. Run the wrong one and nobody complains about the format. They just stop entering.
So start from the occasion. Ask how long you have, how many people will play, whether you know who is coming, and what the competition is for. The answers point at the format, and the format points at the free tool that does the arithmetic.
Six competition formats side by side
| Format | How long | Players | Best for | Free tool |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Box league | Rounds of four to eight weeks, all season | 10 to 200 | Regular matches for everyone | Box league spreadsheet |
| Ladder | All year, no rounds | 8 to 100 | The keen and the busy | Ladder spreadsheet |
| Americano or mexicano | One evening | 8 to 32 | A social night with a winner | Americano generator |
| Round robin | An afternoon | 4 to 8 a group | A fixed group, where every match counts | Round robin generator |
| Knockout | A day, or a few weeks | 8 to 64 | Crowning a champion | Draw generator |
| Groups, then a knockout | A day or a weekend | 12 to 48 | A championship where everyone plays more than once | Both of the last two |
The rest of this article takes each occasion in turn.
A season of regular matches: the box league
When the aim is more members playing every week, run a box league.
It is the format that gets the quiet members playing. A list of names makes it normal to message somebody new, and nobody is knocked out: the member who loses every match in the first round plays the second against people nearer their own standard. It asks the most of the organiser, with a draw each round and a closing date to keep.
How to run a tennis box league and how to run a squash box league cover the set-up for any racket sport. The box league rules template writes the rules, and walkovers and no-shows settles the matches that never happen.
Free tools: the box league spreadsheet, and the squash box league spreadsheet for best-of-five games.
Matches all year, with people coming and going: the ladder
When members want to play on their own terms, run a ladder.
A ladder needs less organising than any other format, and a new member can join on any day. It suits the players who will send a challenge, which is why many clubs run one beside a box league rather than instead of it. Ladder or box league: which suits your club sets the two side by side, and ladder rules for a tennis club has rules to copy that work for any sport.
Free tool: the ladder spreadsheet, which reorders itself after every result.
One evening, numbers unknown: the americano or mexicano
When you will not know who is coming until they walk in, run an americano.
It works with any number that fills the courts and needs no teams made in advance. The weakest player in the room plays as many games as the strongest, and because each round is played to a points total, every court finishes at about the same time.
A mexicano changes one thing. After the first round, players are paired by the points table, first and fourth against second and third on each court, so the matches get closer as the evening goes on.
Sitting out: Penrose and Brook
The table
| # | Player | Rounds | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A. Tierney | 2 | 29 |
| 2 | C. Lund | 2 | 28 |
| 3 | S. Ruddock | 2 | 27 |
| 4 | E. Darby | 2 | 25 |
Both started in padel and now fill club nights in tennis, badminton and pickleball. How to run an americano and how to run a mexicano night cover the scoring and what to tell players before the first round. If people drift in and out all evening and nobody wants a winner, a peg board may suit you better: who plays next compares the rotation systems.
Free tool: the americano and mexicano generator, which deals partners and courts for the whole evening, including who sits out.
A fixed group for an afternoon: the round robin
When you know exactly who is playing and want every match to count, run a round robin. Everyone in the group plays everyone else once, and the table at the end is the result. Nobody’s place depends on the luck of the draw.
The limit is arithmetic. A group of n players needs n × (n − 1) ÷ 2 matches:
| Players | Matches each | Matches in total |
|---|---|---|
| 4 | 3 | 6 |
| 5 | 4 | 10 |
| 6 | 5 | 15 |
| 8 | 7 | 28 |
| 10 | 9 | 45 |
Six players is a comfortable afternoon. Ten players is forty-five matches, which is a weekend. For anything bigger, split the field into groups, or move to a box league and let the rounds do the work.
A round robin also works in doubles. With rotating partners, everybody partners everybody else, which makes it a fair way to run a mixed-ability social. Tennis round robin formats works through the schedules for four to sixteen players.
Free tools: the tennis round robin generator for singles, doubles or mixed, and the pickleball round robin generator for a session with a new partner every game.
Crowning a champion: the knockout
When the competition exists to find a winner, run a knockout. Players are drawn into pairs, the winner of each match goes through, and the loser is out. It is the fastest way to a champion: a draw of sixteen needs only fifteen matches over four rounds.
That speed has a cost. Half the entry is out after one match, and a strong player drawn against the favourite in the first round never gets the run their standard deserves. Two things fix most of it:
- Seeds. Place the strongest entrants so they cannot meet until the later rounds. One seed per four entrants is the usual rule.
- A plate. Put every first-round loser into a second draw, so everybody plays at least twice.
When the entry is not a power of two, some players get a bye into the second round. The byes go to the seeds, spread through the draw. How to make a tournament draw with byes shows where each one goes, and how to seed and draw your club championships covers the rest.
Free tools: the tournament draw generator, with seeds and byes placed for you, and the pickleball bracket generator for a bracket of teams.
A championship where everyone plays more than once: groups, then a knockout
When you want a real champion but the knockout’s early exits feel harsh, put a round robin in front of it. Split the entry into groups of three or four. Everyone plays everyone in their group, and the top one or two from each group go into a knockout draw.
A group of four guarantees every entrant three matches before anybody is out. The knockout that follows is shorter and stronger, because the players in it have already earned their place. The cost is time: a championship of thirty-two players in groups of four is forty-eight group matches before the first knockout round.
Spread the seeds one to a group when you draw them. Decide the tie-break before the first ball is hit: the result between the two players first, then sets, then games.
Free tools: the round robin generator for each group, then the draw generator for the knockout.
Other tournament formats you may hear of
Search for tournament formats and you will meet a few more. Each solves a real problem, and each costs more organising than most clubs need:
| Format | How it works | Why a club rarely needs it |
|---|---|---|
| Double elimination | A player is out after two defeats. First-time losers drop into a second bracket and can fight back to the final | Nearly twice the matches of a knockout. A plate gives most of the benefit |
| Compass draw | First-round winners go east and losers west, and the draw keeps splitting. In a draw of sixteen, everyone plays four matches | Every player needs four free slots, and the draw is fiddly by hand |
| Feed-in consolation | First-round losers, and sometimes second-round losers, feed into a consolation draw | It is a plate with an extra entry point, and harder to explain |
| Swiss | Nobody is knocked out. Each round pairs players on the same score, for a fixed number of rounds | Each round needs drawing after the last one finishes, so everyone waits |
| King of the court | Short timed games. Winners move up a court and losers move down | A good warm-up or social, but it produces no result worth recording |
Which competition format suits new members, juniors and mixed abilities
Some occasions are about who is playing rather than how long you have.
| Who | Format | Why |
|---|---|---|
| New members | A mexicano, then the box league | The mexicano finds their level in one evening, and the box league gives them a list of names to play |
| Juniors | A round robin in short formats | Everyone plays the same number of matches, and nobody goes home after one |
| A wide range of standards | A box league, or an americano | Boxes keep matches even; an americano mixes everyone and scores each player separately |
| Doubles partners | A doubles box league, or a pairs ladder | How to run a doubles box league or ladder compares fixed pairs and rotating partners |
| The keen few | A ladder | They can play as often as they like without waiting for anyone else |
| A club open day | An americano | It needs no entry list, and a visitor plays with half the members in one evening |
A year of competitions at one club
The clubs with the busiest courts rarely run one format. They run three or four at once, each doing a different job, and the same members play in all of them.
- All yearThe ladderAnyone joins at any time and plays when they can.
- Each roundThe box leagueFive to eight in a box, a closing date, up and down.
- Every weekClub nightAn americano or a round robin for whoever turns up.
- Once a seasonThe championshipsA seeded knockout, with the seeds taken from the ladder and the boxes.
The formats feed each other. The ladder and the box league decide the seeds for the championships. Club night is where a new member meets the people they will later play in their box. The championships give the keen players something to aim at, and give the season an ending.
Put the year on the noticeboard so every member can see what is on and when to enter. Change the words in brackets:
[Club name] competitions this season
- The ladder runs all year. Join at any time by telling [name]. Challenge anyone up to [three] places above you.
- The box league runs in rounds of [six] weeks. The next round starts on [date]. Enter by [date].
- Club night is every [Tuesday] from [7pm]. Turn up, no need to book. We run an [americano] on the [first] [Tuesday] of each month.
- The club championships are played over [dates]. Entries close on [date]. Seeds are taken from the ladder and the box league.
Questions to [name] at [email or phone].
Which competition format to start with
If your club runs nothing yet, start with one evening and one season.
Start the evening first. An americano needs no entry list, no rules sheet and nothing to arrange. Run one on your quietest night and you will learn in two hours who wants to play more, and at what standard.
Then start a box league with the people who came. It is the format that turns an enjoyable evening into a regular match every week, and the one that gets the quieter members playing. Add a ladder for the keen players once the box league is running. By the end of the season, the ladder and the boxes will give you the seeds for the championships.
The free tools that work out each schedule, draw and table are on the free resources for club organisers page, with templates to copy.
Questions organisers ask
What is the fairest competition format?
A round robin, because everyone plays everyone and nobody's result depends on the draw. Its limit is size. Past about eight players in a group the matches take too long, which is why a box league splits a big field into small round robins.
Which competition format gives every player the most matches?
A box league over a season, or an americano on a single evening. In both, nobody is knocked out, so the weakest player plays as many matches as the strongest.
How many players do you need for a round robin?
Four is the smallest that works, and eight is about the most for one afternoon. Six players play fifteen matches between them, and eight play twenty-eight.
What is the difference between an americano and a mexicano?
In an americano, partners and opponents are fixed in advance, and with the right numbers everyone partners everyone else once. In a mexicano, only the first round is fixed, and each round after that pairs players by the scores so far, so the games get closer as the evening goes on.
Can a club run a ladder and a box league at the same time?
Yes, and many do. The ladder runs all year for the keen players, the box league runs in rounds for everyone else, and the same member can be in both.
What is a compass draw?
A knockout in which every player plays the same number of matches. First-round winners go one way and losers another, and the draw keeps splitting, so in a draw of sixteen everyone plays four matches and finishes with a place from first to sixteenth.
What format suits a club championship?
A seeded knockout if the entry is big and the time is short. Groups followed by a knockout if you want every entrant to play at least two or three matches before anybody goes out.
Filed under Competitions · Every sport