Compass Draw
(Presented by James Newman, ITF)
What is a Compass Draw?
Pyramid competitions are similar to ladders. They enable players to challenge each other to a match, the winners move up and the losers move down. The aim is to get to the top of the Pyramid.
Organiser tips
COURTS AND PLAYERS: Works best with 16-64 players but can have larger numbers. Byes can be given if not enough players show up. Aim to have enough courts to complete all first round matches in 1 day (or in 2 hours if running a 1 day event).
SCORING: Choose a scoring format to suit time and courts available. Eg tiebreak to 7, best of 3 short tiebreak sets (44tb) or best of three tiebreak sets (66tb).
SCORESHEETS: Players report scores to a desk after their match. Organisers fill in the drawsheet (see next page). In the first round all winners go to the right of the draw and losers go left. Then follow the codes to see where to place winning and losing players
Activity
ORDER OF PLAY: Conduct the draw; if seeding players, keep them separate in the draw for the 1st round (see next page). Once the draw is complete give players a reporting time to sign-in, half your draw could turn up at 1000 hours and the other half at 1200 hours.
AT THE END: Main winner is the player who lost no matches, other winners can be found across the mini draws shown on the drawsheet.
Adapt the Format
Many formats can easily be adapted to suit players aged under 10, mixed ages, teams and to be a more or less competitive event.
Download ‘ADAPTING COMPETITION’ for a quick and easy guide to adapting this format to suit your needs.
Themes
Many competitions are more fun and easier to promote if they have a theme such as Davis Cup, Olympics or Family Day attached.
Download ‘ADDING THEMES’ for ideas.
Sample Compass Draw
Instructions for use:
- Enter all players in a name space in under ‘ROUND 1’, keep seeds separate as below
- Winners of the first round (eg Barbara) move to the right of the draw, losers move left
- The losers of the Quarter Finals move down to the space marked for them below (eg Elena lost QF (Quarter Final) B so move to the space entitled ‘Loser of QF B’ – do this for all players. Winners of the Quarters stay in the same draw but move to the Semi-Final (eg Sania or Serena)
- The losers of the Semi Finals follow the instruction above. Notice the draws below also have winners and losers
GENERAL RULE: All players who lose still have a place in the draw and play the same number of matches as all other players. Make sure that you find the correct place in the draw for them to move to
Blank Drawsheet
Instructions for use:
- Enter all players in a name space in under ‘ROUND 1’, keep seeds separate
- Winners of the first round to the right of the draw, losers move left
- The losers of the Quarter Finals move down to the space marked for them below. Winners of the Quarters stay in the same draw but move to the Semi-Final
- The losers of the Semi Finals follow the instruction above. Notice the draws below also have winners and losers
GENERAL RULE: All players who lose still have a place in the draw and play the same number of matches as all other players. Make sure that you find the correct place in the draw for them to move into
