FIT Event Structure & Seeding Policy
Purpose of policy
The purpose of this policy is to provide event managers and participants with a uniform process for determining event structure that removes ambiguity and subjectivity for all FIT events.
Policy scope and application
This policy applies to all events classified as Tier 1-2 according to the FIT Event Classification Policy.
Tier 3 events are bilateral and do not require seeding or tournament constructs.
Event managers responsible for delivering Tier 4-5 events are encouraged to adopt this policy in so far as it is applicable.
Definitions
- Age group
- an upper or lower date of birth boundary used to distinguish eligibility
- Category
- a gender qualifier used to distinguish eligibility
- Division
- the combination of an age group or open age group with a category
- Open age group
- the absence of an upper or lower date of birth boundary
- Round robin
- a tournament in which each competitor plays in turn against every other
- Seeding
- process of ordering teams based on prior performance in an attempt to equally distribute strength across pools
- Serpent distribution
- the process of distributing seeded entities by snaking from left to right, down, right to left, down, and continuing until all entities are expired.
Regulatory background
N/A
Policy statement
FIT is committed to ensuring all events provide the opportunity for the best teams to meet in the finale of every division.
FIT events must have an operating environment where the use of preliminary pools is atypical. Competing constraints of event duration, available space, number of teams and player welfare considerations can occassionally encumber this goal. It is in such cases this policy provides the framework on how to proceed despite these impediments, in line with the FIT objective above.
FIT event structure & seeding policy
Structure
It is always preferable that preliminary stages of an event are a round robin of cycle one. If time permits subsequent cycles may be included on the proviso that all cycles are complete.
- All events must use the FIT Tournament Planner tool to produce a model competition structure for each division.
- The planning tool asks for the following input parameters to determine the model structure:
- who are the teams, in seeding order?
- how many days of competition are available, including the final series?
- what is the daily maximum number of games a team may play?
- what is the daily minimum number of games a team must play?
- If the planning tool determines that pools are required it will distribute the teams across the number of pools using a serpent distribution.
- No variation to the pools or ordering of matches is to occur – allowances for extraordinary
occurences have been factored into draws wherever possible
- If one or more teams withdraw any time prior to the start of the competition the model draw is to be reproduced using the remaining teams without adjusting any other variables
Seeding
- Seeding is to be determined by a team’s world ranking 90 days prior to the event commencing
- When returning to an event the most recent gold, silver and bronze medalists, plus the semi-finalist, will retain their finishing position and become the first, second, third and fourth seeds, respectively, in place of their world ranking.
- The remaining seeds are awarded based on world rankings where the nation has ranking points.
- After all teams with world ranking points have been seeded remaining teams will be drawn in a lottery.
- The FIT World Ranking Policy details the method used to determine world rankings
Contact
Enquiries in relation to this policy should be directed to the FIT Event Commission Chair.
Appendices
Nil
Authorisation
This document has been authorised by: