We will be using an exciting format called a Squad League. Each week you'll get to play on a team, known as your squad, with a different group of people in our awesome community!  Each week everyone gets seeded and put into squads for the day, and then you'll play matches against the other squads - getting in up to 6 games to 13 or 17 every night. A match will look like this:

There will be 2-3 nets on the field for each squad match where both squads send out various combinations of players to compete in a game to 17. This is called a round. In our league we will play 2 rounds in each squad match (so the rounds may also be known as halves).

Before the first half Squad A will assign their players to the nets on the field. Then Squad B will assign their players to each of the nets on the field.

After the net assignments are made, the playing begins. A win on a net is worth 1 match point for your squad.

Once the games are finished, the scores are recorded, and it’s on to the next round.

In round 2, Squad B will go first in assigning their players to the nets. Squad A will then assign their players to the nets. 

If, after both halves, the squads are tied on points, each squad will send out 2 players to compete in a game to 17 to decide the matchup. Teams decide their players separately and then send out players at the same time. If the Net Variance is too big, the squad with the larger Pair Score gets to choose 2 different players to compete. 

(Read below to learn about Net Variance and Pair Score)

Skill Rankings:

Before the League starts, we will create a skill ranking of all the players participating. It will be an ELO style ranking where each player has a score that determines their skill ranking. Your score will go up or down as you play games against other players, depending on the results of the games. This ranking will determine the squads each week, meaning that the squads will change each week as everyone's score goes up and down. The ranking system in itself holds no value and won't be released publicly - it exists purely to help make the squads as fair as possible each week. 

Pair Score and Net variance:

The players on your squad will be ranked 1-6 (or however many players you have in your squad). When you add up the rankings of the two players assigned to a net it creates what we call the “Pair score”. For example, on Net 1, Squad A assigned their #2 player and their #5 player to play together. When you add those rankings up, you get a pair score of 7.

When Squad B is assigning players to this net they can only assign two players who have a pair score up to 3 points difference from Squad A’s pair score (only up to 2 points difference if there are only 2 nets in play during the matchup). This point range up or down is called the "Net Variance”.

Pair Limit Rule:

This rule means that you can’t have the same two people play together in two consecutive games across an evening.

Sub Rotation Rule:

The sub rotation rule means that a player may not miss out a round for a second time until everyone on the squad has been subbed out at least once.

Captains:

Captains for each squad will be randomly chosen each week. The captain of the squad will be in charge of filling out the details of each match and making sure scores and player assignments are inputted correctly.