THE National Series

Series Overview

There are opportunities for players at every level to pursue achievement in The National Series.

The THREE goalS of thE National Series

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 your US Player Status, including Premier, Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Pro Status — These will determine Division and Power Pool Qualification for Regionals and Nationals.
   Increase your ELO rating — This will determine your seed at in any nationally sanctioned play.
   Qualify for the Open, Women’s, and/or Mixed Pro Division at Nationals
   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.

PREMIER STATUS

Spikeball has concluded running its own Tour Series and transitioned the stewardship of Premier Status to the North American Roundnet community under USA Roundnet and Roundnet Canada. This program will run parallel to the US Player Status and can be earned at Sectionals, Regionals, and Nationals.

These criteria have been reviewed and rebuilt with an emphasis on highlighting achievement, incentivizing communities to grow locally at all levels, and lower the cost of travel for players seeking to qualify and requalify, all while having plenty of room to continue progressing as players in your community and nationally.

A fully updated list of premier players is being developed in cooperation with Roundnet Canada and will be available for public viewing as soon as it is complete.

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.

IMPROVE YOUR RANK / EARN PLAYER STATUS

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 prove your ability by winning placement matches so to improve your ELO and seeding 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. The ELO model treats each game as a match. Therefore, by only playing one game instead of two, there will be less movement in the placement bracket.

Nationals

Date and Location is TBD but will include an Open, Women’s, and Mixed Pro Division, as well as competitive divisions at each level from Gold down to Beginner.

The exact format and schedule of the weekend is TBD. In addition to a Mixed Pro and other Mixed divisions, Sunday may feature additional formats.

Pro DIVISION 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. Unlike in previous years, points will be accrued at the individual level* and teams will qualify for the pro division by aggregate points for two reasons.

1. In the event of a mid-year injury, players should not be burdened to take on additional, extensive travel to pursue a Pro Division berth.

2. This will allow for players to be rewarded for achievement when they may not otherwise compete without their dedicated teammate (due to any number of logistical or financial barriers to playing all national series events together).

   * Though teammates can accrue points individually, they must play a minimum of one regional together in order to be eligible for the Open or Women’s Pro Divisions.

OPEN PRO

The Open Pro Division will feature 24 teams, where the top 8 teams ranked by series points will play in a power pool to begin the tournament. This expansion to 24 teams incentivizes more players and teams pursue Open Pro and also pushes top level teams to strive for a place in the power pools after securing a spot in the pro division. To be eligible for the open pro division, a team must play on the same team at a minimum of one regional tournament. Power Pool and Non-Power Pool teams will be seeded by ELO after being separated based on National Series points.

Women’s Pro

The Women’s Pro Division will feature 8 teams. Due to a more nationally focused series, this division size has been decreased to elevate the competitiveness for earning a spot and supporting an environment for a Women’s Advanced division at Nationals. To be eligible for the women’s pro division, a team must play on the same team at a minimum of one regional tournament.

Mixed Pro

The Mixed Pro Division will feature 16 teams. At the end of the regular season, every women’s player ranked in the top 16 will choose their mixed partner. Teams will be seeded based on their combined season rank in the respective open and women’s divisions.

OTHER DIVISIONS

Teams will register for The National Championship based on their player status at time of registration. National Champions for Gold, Silver, and Bronze divisions, as well as Contender Divisions qualifying for Premier Status and more developmental divisions.

TEAM USA

USA Roundnet is preparing to send Team USA to represent our country at both the Pan-American Championship 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.

While the points used for the national series pro divisions will be the same ones used for the Team USA points race, there will be a different expectation for Team USA. Team USA qualification will be based on a player’s Nationals performance plus their two best performances from the year. This encourages a more accessible method to qualify for the National Team and balances season-long achievement with urgency to perform at a high level in the most competitive event of the year.

ROSTER SIZE

The roster sizes for Team USA events is not yet finalized due to pending information about the formats and structures of International Competition.