Instructer's Guide - Running tournaments

RUNNING TOURNAMENTS

Once you have your class going, you and the students will probably want to have class tournaments. These are both fun and easy to run. There are a number of types of tournaments you can run.

Single Elimination

The simplest is a single elimination tournament. You will need to make up a draw sheet for this. An example of a single elimination tournament draw sheet for eight players (results included) is shown on the next page. For more players, simply extend the draw sheet further to the left with more branches. Note that if you have “N” players, it will take “N”-1 matches to complete the tournament.

You should seed your best players. Put the best one at the top of the draw, the next best at the bottom. Otherwise, the best two players might play the first round. Of course, at this level that might not be as important and you might just place everyone in the draw at random.

Round Robin

In a round robin, everyone plays everyone else. This means that if a lot of players are in the class, it’s going to take a long time if they are all in one group! It is usually better to put them into groups of four or more, with all those in a group playing each other. The winners of each group (as well as the second place finishers, the third place finishers, etc.) can then be put into a final round robin or into a single elimination draw. This format allows all players to play in more matches than would otherwise be possible and keeps the weaker players from being knocked out of the tournament after one match.

An example of a round robin group for five players is shown on the following page. Note that if there are “N” players in a round robin, it will take [N(N-1)]/2 matches to complete.

The winner of the round robin is the one with the best won/lost record. If there is a tie between two players, the winner is the one who won between those tied.

If three or more players are tied, then all that counts is the record among those tied. If they are still tied in matches among themselves, check their records among themselves first in games and then in points.

Other Types of Tournaments

There are many other types of tournaments you can set up. You can have doubles tournaments, Brazilian or Canadian team tournaments, or even table tennis Olympics (see chapter on Games Kids Can Play). It’s up to you and the kids. Offer prizes if you can, but either way the kids will have a great time.

Example of Single Elimination Draw Sheet

Example of Round Robin Draw Sheet

Physical Conditioning <

Index

> Final Word

Last Update : 06 Kasım, 2002

Webmaster :