The question we want to help you answer is, how many teams should there be in a division? Here are the options, and our views on each
- 4 team divisions: It's the smallest viable division. Each team plays one game against each other. After the 3 games, you can have #1 play against #2 for the finals. If you've promised every team 4 games, then you would also have a consolation game. We only like to form 4 team divisions when there's no choice. That's because the fourth game is between teams that have already played each other. It could even be on the same day. It's not particularly exciting for the athletes or the parents
- 5 team divisions: Every team plays every other team once. The winner gets decided on points. One benefit is that the teams know exactly who they're playing and when. If you're a parent, it's easier to plan your day around the schedule. One downside is that there is no "final" game, so you may not know you won until a few hours after your game
- 6 team divisions: The most popular way of scheduling a 6 team division is by dividing them into two brackets. Every team in one bracket plays a game against every team in the other bracket. You now have 3 group games per team. The final is between the overall #1 and #2 teams. One downside is that the final can end up between teams that have already played against each other. Another option is to have the team play round robin. Every team plays 4 other teams within the division. You don't get a final, but the teams get to play 4 different games. One downside with that approach is that the two top teams could end up not playing each other at all, and may feel disappointed when one of them is declared a winner on points
- 7 team divisions: 7 team divisions are hard to handle. It would be wonderful if they could all play 3 games against each other, and the top two teams go to finals. Except that math doesn't allow it. You could have them play 2 games against each other, send top 4 into semi-finals and have the bottom 3 play either other for 2 consolation games. That can feel a little unfulfilling because whether you move to the semi finals or not depends partly on who you ended up playing the first two games against. And two teams could end up playing each other twice. Another option is to have them play round robin with 4 distinct games. The downside of that approach is that you could end up having ties since not everyone gets to play everyone else. Overall it's a beast that you put together because you have to
- 8 team divisions: These are probably the most elegant structures. If you were running an invitation only tournament, you would want only 8 team divisions. You divide them into two groups. Everyone plays 3 games within their group and the top team from each group goes into finals. You could have second, third and fourth placed teams also play against each other if that's what the tournament promises. No one plays the same team twice, you get the excitement of making it to the finals if you do, and overall it seems a fair setup because if you win the final you are really the best team out of the 8
- 9 or more teams: If there are 9 teams, we like to break them into a groups of 5 and 4. Same with higher number of teams