Everyone understands how and why we keep score during a game, or during a tournament, but the points system we use to rank teams throughout the season is the source of many questions and misunderstandings. I would like to explain a little bit about how the points system works and how we use it.

The points system itself is fairly simple. All teams in a division (Women's Silver, for instance, or JO-17 Gold) start with the same number of points. When one team defeats another team in a game, the winner takes points from the loser. The number of points the winner takes is determined by how many points each team starts with. An upset (defeating a team with more points) will earn the winner more points than defeating a lower ranked team. A Bronze team defeating a Gold team will take lots of points, a Gold team defeating a Bronze team will take very few, and a Bronze team defeating a Bronze team will be somewhere in the middle.

This system has some nice properties. It does not penalize teams which play up. A team playing in a higher division (in same age group for Juniors) has very little to lose (only a few points will go to a higher ranked team) and a lot to win. Even splitting a match with a higher ranked team will result in the lower ranked team taking points from the higher ranked team.

We know that there are variables. A team may not do as well one week without their starting setter, for instance. The points system does not take into account which players show up each tournament, but we count on the results of several tournaments to even things out. During the course of the season, teams gravitate to the right position in the rankings.

So, how do we use the points system? We use it to divide teams into divisions, and to create and seed pools within those divisions for tournament play. Looking at the points standings helps us see where there are logical breaks between divisions. Once we have established divisions, the points standings help us seed the pools (although we may tweak the pools to avoid having the same pools at consecutive tournaments).

Overall, the points system is intended to increase competition by helping us to group teams of similar skill levels together. We do our best, every tournament, to ensure that each pool and each division is balanced. We know that it is not fun to get soundly beaten every game, nor is it fun to win every game without being challenged. We try to make sure that all teams are somewhere in the middle.