THE National Series

2025 National Series Overview

There are opportunities for players at every level to pursue achievement through the National Series.

USA Roundnet is elevating 6 Regional tournaments this season and will be elevating 20+ Sanctioned events to be Sectionals (final application deadline to host a sectional is February 16). The goal of this National Series is three-fold:

1. Community
   Build and sustain your local club with your community’s unique priorities and needs top of mind
   Earn community grants to supercharge efforts to improve the local roundnet experience
   Earn player status or premier locally so you can be properly seeded if and when you travel (including premier status)
   Reduce travel costs and player burnout through a local community emphasis

2. Competition
   Advance US Player Status, including Premier, Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Pro Status — These will determine Division and Power Pool Qualification for Regionals.
   Increase your ELO rating — This will determine your seed at in any nationally sanctioned play.
   National Squad Championship Qualification
   Qualify for the Nationals Pro Division
   Qualify to represent Team USA at the Pan-American Championship and USA v Canada International Event.

3. Change
   Test experimental rules to advance the sport alongside the International Roundnet Federation and other National Governing Bodies (top divisions only)
   Grow the sport by capturing and sharing more content with new players

DIVISIONS AND SEEDING

Familiarity with US Player Status is instrumental for knowing how to qualify for divisions and power pools across sectionals and regionals. Read all the details here. The flexibility of US Player Status combined with power pools will allow for tournaments with players of all levels to compete against one another while also cultivating an environment for balanced matchups for different levels as well. Additionally - players will be able to earn or retain their STS Premier Status at Sectionals, Regionals, and Nationals. More details to come.

DIVISIONS

All Sectionals and Regionals will offer a Bronze+ Division. All players in this division must hold STS Premier or US Player Status of Bronze or higher levels.

• If fewer than 6 teams register for this division, it will be merged with an open contender division.

  • A combined Bronze and Open Contender division will use a power pool for any division with 4+ Bronze+ teams.

• If a Bronze division has 12 or more teams, a power pool will created accordingly

  • If a division has 4 or more Pro+ teams, the division will use a Pro power pool

  • Else, if a division has 4 or more Gold+ teams, the division will use a Gold power pool

  • Else, if a division has 4 or more Silver+ teams, the division will use a Silver power pool

  • Else, no power pool will be used in this division

SEEDING

While Divisional qualification will depend on player status for sectionals and regionals and National Series points for the National Championship, the seeding within divisions will be dependent on your National Ranking.

Instead of worrying about depreciated points from last year, everyone will start at zero points for the National Series. However, your ELO will carry forward as the best estimate of your skill level.

One additional benefit of using ELO for tournament seeding: if you lose early in an elimination bracket and cannot earn as many points as the winners, you can still demonstrate your skills by winning placement matches so that your ELO can increase to improve your seed at future tournaments. Every match matters, win or lose! Note: in the interest of having sufficient observers available and promoting spectating opportunities for the later bracket rounds, all placement bracket matchups will be played as a single game to 21 with a hard cap at 25.

Nationals

Date and Location is TBD but will include at minimum a Pro Division for Open and Women.

The format structure for the second day of Nationals is TBD. It may feature a mixed pro division, a regional pro squad division, and/or something else.

PRO DIVISIONS*

The Open Pro Division will feature 24 teams, where the top 8 teams will play in a power pool to begin the tournament. This promotes incentive for more teams to attempt to qualify and also pushes top level teams to strive for a place in the power pools after securing a spot in the pro division.

*The Women’s Pro Division format and structure is being reviewed and will be published AS SOON AS IT IS FINALIZED.

BRONZE, SILVER, and GOLD DIVISIONS at nationals

Teams will register for The National Championship based on their player status at time of registration. National Champions for Bronze, Silver, Gold, as well as Contender Divisions TBD.

Pro Qualification

Teams may use up to three events from the National Series (Sectionals and Regionals) to accrue points to qualify for the Pro Division at Nationals. If a team wins a Regional, they will automatically earn a bid to the Pro Division.

Power Pool Qualification

If a team wins a Regional and podiums at a minimum of one sectional, they will automatically earn a spot in a power pool. All remaining power pool spots will be awarded to the team with the most points.

NATIONAL SERIES POINTS RACE BREAKDOWN

1. Sectional points are based on total event participation — players hoping to earn points for the Pro Division are incentivized to build communities that include players at all levels.

2. Points will only be used from a team’s top 3 results to reduce travel requirements and burnout.

TEAM USA

USA Roundnet is preparing to send Team USA to represent our country at both the Pan-American Games and in a USA versus Canada International Event in 2025. The exact process for selection is to be determined, but a player must place in the top 3 at a Regional event in order to be eligible.