As of the Spring of 2024 we've updated how we bracket our tournaments for competitors of all ages. This will supersede any previous explanations and policies.
OVERALL:
We're always striving to ensure that registrants are getting the most competitive experience they can at Tap Cancer Out tournaments while also taking into consideration overall output, injury risk, and the potential length of our events. In previous years we offered Round Robin divisions for Youth competitors and Single Elimination divisions for Adults, with exceptions for 2 and 3 person divisions. However, this often led to complaints of too many matches for kids and too few matches for adults. It also led to a higher risk of injury, the necessity of record-keeping, arbitrary tie-breakers, and/or additional tie-breaking matches.
In light of all this, we've decided to make all TCO BJJ Open events DOUBLE ELIMINATION. Of course, there are a number of exceptions depending on division size, some of which will result in the potential of only 1 match if a division is too large (ex: a division of 16+ Adults). But for almost all competitors this guarantees at least two matches.
Below we've outlined how certain division sizes are handled. PLEASE READ THEM CAREFULLY to understand how many matches you and/or your child may have.
YOUTH DIVISIONS:
- Youth Divisions of 2 Competitors: Best two-of-three
- Youth Divisions of 3 Competitors: Round Robin (each competitor fights the other two - best record wins or we go to tiebreakers)
- Youth Divisions of 4 Competitors: Single Elimination with 3rd place matches (all competitors fight twice)
- Youth Divisions of 5+ Competitors: Double Elimination - Loser Bracket fights for THIRD PLACE - Finals of the Winners Bracket is a True Final for 1st and 2nd (A child must win one of their first two matches in order to have a chance at fighting 3 or 4 times)
* All Youth Competitors are guaranteed two matches
* Once Youth Divisions exceed 7 competitors, we do split them by gender, belt, and then weight in order to make more equitable brackets.*More information about splitting youth divisions by gender here.
ADULT (MASTER & EXECUTIVE) DIVISIONS:
- Adult Divisions of 2 Competitors: Best two-of-three
- Adult Divisions of 3 Competitors: Round Robin (each competitor fights the other two - best record wins or we go to tiebreakers)
- Adult Divisions of 4 Competitors: Single Elimination with 3rd place matches (all competitors fight twice)
- Adult Divisions of 5 - 16 Competitors: Double Elimination - Loser Bracket fights for THIRD PLACE - Finals of the Winners Bracket is a True Final for 1st and 2nd.
- Adult Divisions of 17+ Competitors: Double Elimination ONLY BEGINS in the Round of 16 - Prior Rounds are Single Elimination. Competitors must make their way into the Round of 16 to fight for third place.
In conclusion, only when an adult division is larger than 16 competitors will a competitor potentially have only one match.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS:
So you're saying if I lose and move to the Consolation Bracket, I can't win Gold?
Correct. For Adults in divisions of 4 or more, this had always been the case. If you lost you were either eliminated (in divisions of 5+) or you went to the 3rd place match (in a division of 4). The same is true now, however, ALL competitors (in the Final 8) are given the opportunity for a second match as well as the opportunity to fight for a medal, even if you lost before the semi-finals. This will allow for many more matches and second changes for Adult competitors.
For Youth divisions, we understand this is a wholesale change from Round Robin where your child could lose the first match but still end up with a decent enough record to take Gold or even Silver. It also means that they must win one of their first two matches in order for the possibility of getting three or four matches.
Divisions of 2 are still best 2-of-3 and divisions of 3 are still round robin where you fight the other two competitors regardless. Divisions of 4 are treated like SINGLE elimination but with a 3rd place match, so you must win your first match to fight for Gold, but everyone fights 2x.
When is it possible for me to only have one match?
You would have to be an Adult in a division with 16 or more competitors (Youth divisions of 9+ will always be split into smaller divisions). If you lose in the "Round of 32," prior to the Round of 16, you will not have any additional matches. In many cases (particularly for divisions of 16+ competitors) some competitors will be randomly assigned a BYE into the Round of 16, and some will need to fight their way into it, but that's always been the case with our brackets.