State Championships and Challenge Cup Structure Changes for 2010-2011 Season
Regional/Local Groupings For Tournament Play and Preliminary Games
Play in the early rounds of each State Cup will now be regionalized. This will allow the host sites to handle larger team pools for each age and gender in smaller periods of time, increasing competitiveness and reducing demands on families.
The preliminary rounds may be executed at a central host site, which minimizes the frequency of travel in challenging weather conditions and reduces a 3-6 week process to 2-3 weekends. An application to become a host site will be available online the week of Sept 1, 2010. These applications will be reviewed by the Tournament Committee and Administrator of State Cups the host site applicants will then be notified of the chosen host sites. Host sites will be announced to participants prior to State Cup play.
New Bracketing Process
- Seeding Top Teams and Creating Play-In Opportunities
Ideally, each State Cup appeals to a specific level of play. However, in the past some teams have wished to challenge themselves by entering a more competitive State Cup bracket. Rather than an application determining which teams belong in which State Cup, the new Play-in format will now allow teams to literally play their way into the most appropriate State Cup level by deciding all placements on the field of play.
a. Any team may apply for the State Championships or the Challenge Cup brackets, but will play-in if they do not hold a seeded position. For ages Under 14 and up, teams ranked from 1 to 8 (up to 12 in some brackets depending on the pool size) based on their Competition Analysis Program (CAP) score, will provide seeds for the State Championships and from 9 to 16 (or 12 to 24 depending on the pool size) will provide bracket seeds for the Challenge Cup.
b. Any seeded team in the Challenge Cup may choose to play into the State Championships and not lose their seed position for the Challenge Cup.
This play-in format is executed by the State prior to State Cup play. A lower-ranked team will play a higher-ranked team in either a double-elimination or single-elimination format, based on the number of teams registered for that State Cup. The losing team will not be eliminated from all State Cup play, only bracketed into a lower State Cup format.
For example, if a team’s CAP ranks 20th, they have the freedom to play into the State Championships, but will face the highest-ranked, non-seeded team in a single-elimination format. If that 20th-ranked team wins, they advance to one of the pools for preliminary round play in the State Championships. If they lose, they proceed instead to preliminary round play in the Challenge Cup.
- Balancing Preliminary Round Brackets to Ensure Level Playing Fields
For better balance and opportunity, the preliminary round brackets are balanced by rank, similar to nationwide tournament formats in other sports. This ensures there is no random bracket of highly ranked opponents that should instead meet in the quarter- or semi-finals, or a lower-ranked pool of teams that provides less competitive value than the others.
For Example: Bracket A of the State Championships Pool will be comprised of the 1st, 8th, 9th, and lowest ranked team qualifying for that age group in a 16 team format. In a 32 team format for larger brackets, Bracket A will be comprised of the 1st, 16th, 17th, and lowest ranked team and so on.
State Championships and Challenge Cup Structure Changes for 2010-2011 Season
Regional/Local Groupings For Tournament Play and Preliminary Games
Play in the early rounds of each State Cup will now be regionalized. This will allow the host sites to handle larger team pools for each age and gender in smaller periods of time, increasing competitiveness and reducing demands on families.
The preliminary rounds may be executed at a central host site, which minimizes the frequency of travel in challenging weather conditions and reduces a 3-6 week process to 2-3 weekends. An application to become a host site will be available online the week of Sept 1, 2010. These applications will be reviewed by the Tournament Committee and Administrator of State Cups the host site applicants will then be notified of the chosen host sites. Host sites will be announced to participants prior to State Cup play.
New Bracketing Process
- Seeding Top Teams and Creating Play-In Opportunities
Ideally, each State Cup appeals to a specific level of play. However, in the past some teams have wished to challenge themselves by entering a more competitive State Cup bracket. Rather than an application determining which teams belong in which State Cup, the new Play-in format will now allow teams to literally play their way into the most appropriate State Cup level by deciding all placements on the field of play.
a. Any team may apply for the State Championships or the Challenge Cup brackets, but will play-in if they do not hold a seeded position. For ages Under 14 and up, teams ranked from 1 to 8 (up to 12 in some brackets depending on the pool size) based on their Competition Analysis Program (CAP) score, will provide seeds for the State Championships and from 9 to 16 (or 12 to 24 depending on the pool size) will provide bracket seeds for the Challenge Cup.
b. Any seeded team in the Challenge Cup may choose to play into the State Championships and not lose their seed position for the Challenge Cup.
This play-in format is executed by the State prior to State Cup play. A lower-ranked team will play a higher-ranked team in either a double-elimination or single-elimination format, based on the number of teams registered for that State Cup. The losing team will not be eliminated from all State Cup play, only bracketed into a lower State Cup format.
For example, if a team’s CAP ranks 20th, they have the freedom to play into the State Championships, but will face the highest-ranked, non-seeded team in a single-elimination format. If that 20th-ranked team wins, they advance to one of the pools for preliminary round play in the State Championships. If they lose, they proceed instead to preliminary round play in the Challenge Cup.
- Balancing Preliminary Round Brackets to Ensure Level Playing Fields
For better balance and opportunity, the preliminary round brackets are balanced by rank, similar to nationwide tournament formats in other sports. This ensures there is no random bracket of highly ranked opponents that should instead meet in the quarter- or semi-finals, or a lower-ranked pool of teams that provides less competitive value than the others.
For Example: Bracket A of the State Championships Pool will be comprised of the 1st, 8th, 9th, and lowest ranked team qualifying for that age group in a 16 team format. In a 32 team format for larger brackets, Bracket A will be comprised of the 1st, 16th, 17th, and lowest ranked team and so on.