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Discussion: Why are there elemination games on Friday of a Thursday-Sunday Format?

Posted Discussion
Sept. 25
DonC13
Men's 55
12 posts
Why are there elemination games on Friday of a Thursday-Sunday Format?
I want to start by saying thank you to the SSUSA Staff for their work getting these tournaments off the ground. I can understand that creating the brackets is a daunting task. I am not sure if this is normal but this year in the 55AAA 43 team division they had two pods. In each pod on Friday, at least 3 teams would play only one game and a possibility of another 5 that could also play only 1 game. Then there was the chance for 5 teams in each pod that if they won the first game and lost the second they would play a third game on Friday that would be an elimination game for them if they lost it. If these paths all happened there would be 16 teams that would play only 1 game on Friday and 10 teams that would play 3 games and be eliminated by as early as 2pm. Teams travel to a four-day tournament with the goal of making it to that fourth day. I could see some circumstances where the number of teams and field availability could factor into some less desirable bracket paths. Fields were available because so many played a third game. Maybe these games could get pushed to Saturday and now open field times get replaced by games with the teams that only played 1 game. To have a setup where so many teams could have only 1 game and so many others could have 3 games and be eliminated on Friday is very undesirable for any team. For teams that travel and could land is this bracket path could be a cause for teams and players to not want to take that chance again for future tournaments. We are all playing for the love and fun of the game and I want every team and every player to enjoy the experience so that they continue to play and keep SSUSA strong. Maybe this is something to consider going forward that brackets like this could get adjusted or in my opinion they should be adjusted so that no team could be eliminated on a Friday in this four-day format. Again thank you all for the work you do for us to play.
Sept. 25
DaveDowell
Men's 70
4443 posts
Why are there elemination games on Friday of a Thursday-Sunday Format?
DonC13 ... It's just a (fields) supply/demand (games) puzzle ... I try to take as many teams into Sunday as I can reasonably handle for an "If" game at 3:30 PM ... I also schedule everyone for just two games on Thursday, because playing a couple of seeding games at 8:00 and 9:30 AM and then doubling back for a single bracket game that evening isn't ideal ... So, everything else has to "fit" into Friday and Saturday ... I needed to play 19 games in each Bracket pod on Friday so that I didn't have to schedule 9:30 PM games on Saturday at Sunset ... That's a fairness issue so that the pods don't favor one group over another with unbalanced bracket progressions ...

I filled Saturday to capacity, and the rest of the games, working backwards, had to fit into Friday ... Some of those games, in a 43-team bracket, are going to be elimination games ... It's simply unavoidable ... And once scheduled, someone is going to play in, and lose, those elimination game(s) ... Your goal is to avoid [1] being in that game, or [2] winning it if you are ... Thanks for your inquiry ...

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