VolleyELO — Regulations

VolleyELO is a weekly open beach volleyball 2×2 tournament where everyone plays at their level and sees their rating progress.

Project goals:

• regular weekly games for players who can already sustain a rally up to advanced; not for national-level players;
• fair seeding: a strong newcomer rises quickly, and regulars do not sit on top just by showing up;
• personal rating and stats for every player;
• a multilingual Valencia player community.

Consent is given once at app registration and covers all tournaments. By registering, a player confirms they have read these regulations and accept the rules, liability, and photo/video terms.

Teams of 2, open category: men’s, women’s and mixed pairs play together. Category and net height are set by the organizer for each tournament and stated in the announcement. Separate regulations will apply for men’s, women’s and mixed-only events. Each court has 4 teams, so the team count is always a multiple of 4 starting from 8: 8, 12, 16, 20, 24, and so on.

A round is 2 games by the same 4 teams on one court:

1. Game 1: team 1 vs team 3, team 2 vs team 4. Both matches share the court, rally by rally in turn.
2. Game 2: winners play for 1st and 2nd; losers play for 3rd and 4th.
3. After the round, all teams move courts by total points.

A match is to 15 with a 2-point margin. Cap at 17: at 16–16 the next point wins.

Breaks: 5 minutes after round 1, 15 after round 2, 5 after round 3. A 16-team tournament lasts about 3 hours.

Each round awards points by place on the court. Higher courts pay more, but a win on a lower court equals 2nd place on the court above — so a strong team can climb in one day.

Round points with 4 courts:

Table rule: the lowest court awards 6, 4, 2 and 0; each court above adds +1 to every place. Adjacent places on a court differ by 2; adjacent courts differ by 1.

Round points are multiplied by round weight: round 1 ×1, 2 ×2, 3 ×3, 4 ×4. The last round is worth the most — fighting to the last point matters.

Example with 4 courts. Team A starts at the bottom and climbs; Team B stays on court 1:

Team A started on the lowest court and became week champion by winning the most valuable final round.

After each round teams are sorted by total points. Ties break in order: place in the last round, match point differential (capped at ±3 per match), then starting seed. Top 4 go to court 1, next 4 to court 2, and so on.

Starting seed. Registration order only decides who gets in when demand exceeds capacity. Round-1 placement is by rating:

1. Team rating = average of both players’ ratings. New players use the starting rating for their level.
2. Teams sorted high to low. Equal rating → earlier registration ranks higher.
3. Teams 1–4 on court 1, 5–8 on court 2, and so on.
4. On each court teams are numbered 1–4 by rating; game 1 is 1 vs 3 and 2 vs 4.

Pairs. Players who register together stay together for the whole tournament. Solo players are paired by the organizer for level balance; preferred partners are considered but not guaranteed. In “mixer” events the organizer forms all pairs.

Day awards:

• 1st in the final table — week champion, rotating cup;
• medals for the best team in each final-table group of four: places 1, 5, 9 and 13.

Personal Elo is for fair seeding. It changes only with match wins and losses: beating a higher-rated opponent gains more; losing to a weaker one costs more. Score margin does not affect rating.

• Starting rating depends on the level chosen at registration. Organizers may adjust it before the first match.
• For the first 16 matches rating moves quickly; later about ±9 per match. While calibrating, a “?” appears next to the rating.
• Team rating at the start is the average of both players.
• After a break of more than 4 weeks, rating temporarily moves faster again.

The season table is separate from Elo and does not affect seeding: participation +1, medal +3, cup +5. It resets at season end.

We play by beach volleyball rules. Net height is the same on all courts and announced before registration opens.

• Upper courts: full rules.
• Lower courts: learning mode — held ball and double contact are forgiven. Everything else still applies: net touch, foot faults, tip on second contact.

No referees. Officiating relies on honesty:

1. A team calls its own fault (net, double, foot fault).
2. If teams disagree, the rally is replayed.
3. One team enters the match score in the app. If the other disagrees, they have 10 minutes to ask the organizer, who corrects the result.
4. The organizer has the final word in any dispute.

Match-fixing and intentional losing are forbidden. If seen, the result is voided and the team may be removed from the tournament.

Tournament places go in registration order. Overflow goes to the waitlist.

Cancellation:

• Cancel by 20:00 the day before — in the app or by messaging the organizer.
• Freed spots are offered to waitlisted teams by call or message. Priority goes to who can arrive sooner, not strictly first on the list — the goal is to fill the spot before start.
• If the team count is no longer a multiple of 4, the organizer may form a team from solo players. If not possible, the event runs with the next lower multiple of 4 and the last registered teams move to reserve.

Cancel after 20:00 the day before, or no-show: fee is not refunded. A team that no-shows without notice registers last for the next two tournaments. Rating does not change for a tournament not played.

More than 10 minutes late after start — the organizer may give the spot to a reserve team.

Player substitute. If a player no-shows, is late, or is injured, the team may replace them before or during the event. The organizer approves and records it in the app. Each player earns rating only for matches they personally played.

Team withdrawal. If there is no substitute, the team is withdrawn:

• remaining matches count as 15–0 wins for opponents in the tournament table;
• withdrawn-team matches do not affect Elo for either side.

Usual fee is €10 per player per tournament. Launch price for first events is €5. Test tournaments are free. Pay in advance; a place is confirmed after payment.

Where fees go:

A cost breakdown by amount is published in the players’ group once per season.

Liability. Each participant plays at their own risk and is responsible for their health and fitness. The organizer is not liable for injuries or for loss or damage to personal belongings.

Photo and video. Tournaments are filmed for VolleyELO social media and website. By registering, a player agrees to use of their image in those materials. Anyone who does not want to appear should tell the organizer before the event — those shots are not published.

Rule changes. The organizer may update the regulations. Changes are published in the players’ group before the tournament they take effect.