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Mini-league Playbook

Sign up, post scores, and view results — Club Rankings™

Product

Club Rankings™ (included in Club Court Manager or standalone)

Audience

Members, mini-league captains, and tenant admins

Operator

StoufferAI

Version

July 20, 2026

PDF

/docs/mini-league-playbook.pdf

Table of contents

1. Overview — three layers
2. Prerequisites
3. Sign up for play
4. Post scores
5. 4.4 Club Play formats
6. 4.5 Session scoring & placement
7. View results
8. Role cheat sheet
9. Worked example — Mighty Wonders
10. Scoring weights & age handicap
11. Practice first (Training)

1. Overview — three layers

Club Rankings uses three related concepts. Do not conflate them:

Intent: The mini-league is the season container. Club Play is how you run one dated event (pairings, courts, scores). Sessions and the leaderboard are what members browse afterward. Prefer Club Play for weekly or daytime league events; use captain manual entry as a backup.

Members do not enroll in a mini-league season like a separate membership product. They must be on the sport roster, then sign up for each Club Play (or linked events) or simply play and have a captain post results.

When a Club Play is completed, game scores aggregate into session totals, update the mini-league standings, and (if configured) the club-wide leaderboard.

Admin → captain → member handoff

1. Admin creates the mini-league, sets eligibility, assigns captain(s), and keeps the sport roster current.
2. Captain creates a Club Play for that mini-league, starts live play, enters scores, and completes it (or enters results manually on the Captain tab).
3. Members sign up while registration is open, play, then check Mini-leagues / Sessions for results.

One-page summary: Club Play & mini-leagues — who does what.

2. Prerequisites

Before anyone can participate in a rated mini-league:

1. Sign in to your community site — email magic link, SMS code, or password.
2. Sport roster — an admin must have you on the sport (e.g. Pickleball) under Admin → Members.
3. Complete profile — your admin sets Member profile rules (email, skill rating, photo ID, etc.). Finish any required fields on My Profile before booking or signing up for rated play.
4. Rating & gender — stored on your roster profile; used to enforce mini-league eligibility (e.g. 3.25+ women's doubles).

Admins create mini-leagues under Rankings → Admin → Mini-leagues (templates available for common rating bands). They assign mini-league captains who run sessions and enter results.

3. Sign up for play

There is no separate "join this mini-league for the season" button for members. Participation happens per session:

3.1 Club Play (most common for weekly or daytime leagues)

1. Captain or admin creates a Club Play: site nav Club Play, Rankings → Captain → Run Club Play, Admin → Club Play, or open the hub at /club-play.
2. Captain shares the session URL or members pick their sport on the hub.
3. While the session status is registration, signed-in members tap Sign up (if a max player cap is set, signup closes when full).
4. At the courts, captain or admin taps Start live play — registered players are checked in automatically. Optionally set Number of rounds (see §4.4).

During live play, members can follow courts and scores on the same page (scores refresh about every 20 seconds).

When creating a session, choose the format (King of the court, Round robin, Ladder, or Swiss), number of courts (1–20), and an optional max players cap. Planned round count is set later at Start live, not at create. See §4.4 for how each format pairs players.

3.1a Guests and entry fees (mini-tournaments)

• Captains can enable Allow guests so non-members can be added by name (walk-ups) or via a shared guest register link (/club-play-guest?token=…).
• Guests play the night only — they do not receive mini-league or club leaderboard points. Member results from games that included guests still count for those members.
• Optional entry fee: captains track unpaid / paid / waived (cash or check), or enable card payments when the club has Stripe Connect set up (same bank connection as membership dues).
• With card pay on, unpaid players are not checked in for pairing until paid or waived. Guests paying online go through Stripe Checkout after entering their name.

3.2 Event registration (optional — tournaments)

If admin links an Admin → Events page to a mini-league:

1. Members open /event?code=… (shared link or QR).
2. Click Register. Eligibility (gender, rating, format) is checked automatically.
3. After the event, admin can score from the registration roster.

3.3 Show up without pre-signup

Captains can enter results manually after play from the Captain tab — signup is optional when using manual entry or walk-ups checked in at the courts.

4. Post scores

4.1 Club Play flow (recommended)

1. Registration — members sign up at /club-play.
2. Start live play — courts and pairings generated (king of the court, round robin, ladder, or Swiss).
3. Per-game scores — captain enters score on each court after each game.
4. Advance round (king of the court, ladder, or Swiss) — when every court in the round is scored; round robin uses a pre-built schedule instead.
5. Complete session & update standings — aggregates games, publishes the session, recalculates standings.

See §4.4 Club Play formats for format-specific pairing behavior.

4.2 Captain manual entry (backup)

Rankings → Captain → select mini-league → enter event name, date, type → add each player from roster search → wins/losses/points → Save & update leaderboard.

4.3 Member submit + confirm

Rankings → Submit results → other players confirm via Confirm tab, wallet QR, or 4-digit code at /rankings-wallet. Use this for casual play when there was no live Club Play. It is not how scores are entered during a Club Play night — on a live session the captain (or admin) enters court scores and members only watch.

4.4 Club Play formats

When you create a session at /club-play, you choose the format, courts (1–20), and an optional max players cap. At Start live play, registered players are checked in and pairings are generated automatically. Format controls who plays whom; scoring weights still apply only after Complete session (see pairing vs scoring).

Choosing a format

Shared settings

Doubles — partner mode (Start live)

For doubles mini-leagues, captains choose how partners are assigned at Start live play:

Mixed doubles mini-leagues (no gender restriction on the series): random mix pairs one man + one woman on each team. Requires equal men and women checked in, with gender on every roster profile.

King of the court

• How matchups work (fixed partners / singles): winners stay on their court; losers go to a shared waiting queue; idle players join the front of the queue. When all courts were full, losers rotate to other courts so you are not stuck in an immediate rematch.
• How matchups work (random mix doubles): every round is a full remix — new M+F or social pairs and new court matchups when every court is saved. Winners do not stay on court (same behavior as a social mixer).
• Round 1 (fixed / singles): players paired in signup order — team 1 vs 2, 3 vs 4, etc. — filling up to your court count. Anyone beyond courts × 2 teams (or singles pairs) waits for later rounds.
• Later rounds: when all court scores are entered, the next round starts automatically from the queue / remix rules above. The Next round (if needed) button remains as a fallback.
• Scores: enter a clear winner — tied scores (e.g. 11–11) are not allowed.
• Number of rounds: optional at Start live; stops auto-advancing after that many (blank = play until End session).
• Best for: weekly open play with rotating challengers (fixed teams) or social doubles mixers (random mix).

Round robin

• How matchups work: the full schedule is generated at Start live — all rounds appear on the session page. Fixed doubles rotates fixed teams and pairs adjacent teams up to your court count. Random mix doubles re-pairs players each scheduled round to spread partners and opponents.
• Round 1 and later: follow the pre-built schedule in order. There is no Next round button — enter scores court by court across the list.
• Scores: tied game scores are allowed; both sides get a tie for that game.
• Number of rounds: optional at Start live sets how many rounds are scheduled (blank uses the default length from team/player count).
• Best for: nights where everyone should know their full schedule up front; random mix when you want social doubles without fixed partners.

Ladder (adjacent-rank swap)

• How matchups work: a live ladder order drives courts — court 1 = #1 vs #2, court 2 = #3 vs #4, and so on (up to your court count). Singles or fixed/manual doubles teams only (random mix is not supported).
• Round 1 seed: players ranked 1–N from current mini-league standings; anyone not yet ranked is appended in signup order.
• Later rounds: if a lower-ranked player or team beats a higher-ranked opponent, they swap positions on the ladder. When all court scores are entered, the next round starts automatically from the updated order. Use Next round (if needed) only if the page did not advance. The live session page shows the current ladder order list.
• Scores: enter a clear winner — tied scores are not allowed.
• Number of rounds: optional at Start live; stops auto-advancing after that many (blank = play until End session).
• Best for: placement-focused league nights where season-rank movement on a ladder board matters.

Swiss (record-based pairing)

• How matchups work: each round ranks active players (or fixed doubles teams) by tonight's session record — wins first, then point differential — and pairs nearby records so strong play strong. Courts fill each round when you have enough players (e.g. 24 doubles players → 6 courts of 4).
• Round 1 seed: mini-league standings when available, otherwise signup order (same idea as ladder seed, but only for the opening round).
• Later rounds: re-rank from completed games and re-pair. The system prefers new opponents (and new partners in random-mix doubles) when several pairings score equally well. When every court is saved, the next round starts automatically (same auto-advance as king of the court / ladder). Next round (if needed) remains as a fallback.
• Partner modes: fixed or manual keep the same partner while teams move by combined record; random mix re-forms partners from the standings list each round (unlike ladder).
• Scores: enter a clear winner — tied scores are not allowed.
• Number of rounds: optional at Start live; stops auto-advancing after that many (blank = play until End session).
• Session placement: like king of the court and round robin — final placement from session W–L and point differential (not a ladder board). Weights still apply only after Complete session.
• Best for: larger fields with skill variance where a flat round robin creates blowouts, but you still want every court competitive round after round.

What drives pairings vs scoring

Pairing (who plays whom each round) and scoring (how the night affects standings) use different inputs. Weight sliders, skill ratings, and age handicap affect standings points after you complete a session — they do not change who is matched on court.

Per-game winner (all formats)

For each court, the captain enters Team A and Team B scores. The higher score wins that game.

• Round robin — tied game scores are allowed; both players get a tie for that game.
• King of the court, ladder & Swiss — tied scores (e.g. 11–11) are rejected; enter a clear winner.

Per-game results drive round advancement (KOTC queue, ladder swaps, Swiss re-pair) and end-of-night session totals.

4.5 Session scoring & placement

When you tap Complete session, Club Rankings runs two related calculations:

Layer 1 — Session placement (who finished where tonight)

Game scores aggregate into each player's session record: wins, losses, ties, points for, points against.

King of the court, round robin & Swiss — placement is decided in this order:

1. Most wins
2. Fewest losses
3. Most ties (if any)
4. Highest point differential (points scored minus points allowed)
5. Weighted tiebreaker — if still tied, a performance blend using your club's scoring weights (excluding placement, to avoid circular logic): win %, point differential, opponent strength, partner strength, and optional age handicap. Opponent/partner strength use the hidden skill rating built from prior sessions.
6. If still tied, lower member ID (stable fallback).

When the tiebreaker applies, Training shows an asterisk (*) beside placement and a footnote on the session preview. For Swiss, the same W–L / point-diff order also drives in-session pairings each round; placement at Complete session uses this list, not a separate ladder board.

Ladder — session placement comes from final ladder order on the session page (not raw W–L–T). Upsets during play move players on the ladder; completing the session records that order as finish position.

Layer 2 — Leaderboard points (season & club-wide standings)

The same night is also stored as a completed event. The rankings engine computes each player's performance score (0–100) from win %, placement, point differential, opponent strength, partner strength, and optional age handicap — using club-wide weights or mini-league custom weights when enabled. That score converts to performance points added to mini-league and (when configured) club-wide leaderboards, plus participation bonus, champion bonus for 1st place, and hidden skill-rating updates.

This is why the player with the most wins might move the leaderboard differently than someone with fewer wins but tougher opponents — both can be correct: raw record for “tonight’s sheet,” weighted quality for season standings.

In Training, the Complete session preview shows session totals with a Perf column (performance score) and before/after standings columns.

Full formulas: Calculations reference CR-30 and §8 Scoring weights below.

5. View results

5.1 Season standings (mini-league)

1. Open /rankings and choose your sport.
2. Go to the Mini-leagues tab.
3. Pick a mini-league from the dropdown — season dates and eligibility appear above the standings table.

5.2 That night's detail (game-by-game)

1. Rankings → Sessions tab.
2. Click a completed session row.
3. See per-player totals; Club Play sessions include game-by-game scores.

5.3 Club-wide leaderboard

Rankings → Leaderboard — if the mini-league has Counts toward overall leaderboard enabled, session points roll into the sport-wide board.

5.4 Personal view

Rankings → My ranking — your points breakdown, recent sessions, rankings wallet QR, and confirm code.

6. Role cheat sheet

7. Worked example — Mighty Wonders

Typical league at a pickleball community:

1. Admin creates mini-league Mighty Wonders (or Women's Doubles 3.25+ from a template) under Admin → Mini-leagues.
2. Admin assigns a volunteer as mini-league captain.
3. Captain or admin creates a Club Play under Mighty Wonders (site nav, Captain tab, or Admin → Club Play) and shares the hub.
4. Eligible members sign up before play.
5. At the courts: host starts live play (optional round limit), enters per-game scores, completes the Club Play.
6. Everyone checks Mini-leagues for season rank and Sessions for that event's box scores.

8. Scoring weights & age handicap

When a session is completed, Club Rankings blends several factors into each player's performance score for that night — win rate, placement, point differential, opponent strength, partner strength, and (optionally) age handicap. Admins tune club-wide weights under Rankings → Admin → Settings; captains may override weights for their mini-league only when Use custom scoring weights is enabled.

Important: these weights apply when standings are recalculated after each completed session. They do not affect live court pairings (see §4.4 pairing vs scoring). Session placement uses the same weight preset for tiebreaks only (placement weight excluded) — see §4.5.

8.1 Default weights (typical)

Weights are relative (they do not have to add up to 100). Saving settings recalculates completed sessions for that sport.

8.2 Optional age handicap (senior boost)

Some communities enable a sixth component that gives older players a modest boost based on date of birth on the member profile:

• Who turns it on: tenant admin only — Rankings → Admin → Settings → set Age handicap weight above 0 (e.g. 5–10).
• Baseline / spread: age that scores neutral (default 50) and years to reach 0 or 100 (default 25). Example: age 60 → higher component than age 50; age 40 → lower.
• Missing birth date: scores neutral (50) — no penalty, no boost.
• Captains: may set a mini-league-only Age handicap weight when custom weights are enabled; baseline and spread stay club-wide.

Encourage members to complete profile birth dates before enabling age handicap. Preview the effect safely in Training — choose Administrator on the welcome screen, set age handicap weight, and compare the two leaderboard columns (fictional players have varied ages). Full formulas: Club Rankings manual Part 3.

9. Practice first (Training)

Before your first live night, open shared Training from clubcourtmanager.com/platform/rankings or https://your-sports-club.clubcourtmanager.com/rankings-scenario. Choose Captain (or Administrator) on the welcome screen, then walk through a fictional session with 24 fictional players:

1. Open Club Play practice.
2. Click Sign up all, then Start live play.
3. Pick a format (try Swiss for competitive 24-on-6 pairings, or king of the court / round robin / ladder). Enter scores for each court — for king of the court, ladder, or Swiss, the next round starts automatically when every court is saved; then Complete session to preview standings, session totals (including Perf score), and tiebreaker footnotes when applicable.
4. Nothing is saved to your club — fictional data only.

Members can choose Member on the welcome screen to practice signup and score entry from a player's perspective. Choose Administrator to preview club-wide weight sliders including optional age handicap. See also Club Rankings manual Part 8 — Training.

Related manuals

• Club Rankings complete manual — settings, CSV import, confirmations, admin
• Mini-league Captain manual — captain tab, custom weights, events
• Club Court Manager manual — court booking + rankings in full CCM

Support

Email support@stoufferai.com · Product: clubcourtmanager.com/platform/rankings

Club Rankings™ · Mini-league Playbook · July 14, 2026