Team Up Help – Edit Configuration Screen (see also v1.1)

In the Edit Configuration screen, you specify the rules for your event. And, very importantly, you specify what factors Team Up should prioritize when automatically generating matches. You get to this screen in the following ways:

• From the Event Configurations screen, when you click click the round button in the lower right corner, you can create a new default event configuration.
• From the Event Configurations screen, when you long-click on a configuration, the following menu options bring you to this screen:
  • New: To create a new default event configuration.
  • Edit: To edit the default event configuration you long-clicked on.
  • Copy: To make a copy of the default event configuration you long-clicked on and then bring you to the Edit Configuration screen to edit it.
  • View: To see the default event configuration in read-only mode.
• From the Edit Event screen, when you click on the Edit Configuration button, you can edit the configuration used for that specific event.

Match Generation Priorities

The match generation priorities are the key to how Team Up automatically generates matches. They appear as a list below the “Similar win % on same court” check box. The items higher in the list have higher priority.

• To move an item up or down, long-click it and drag it up or down.
• To delete an item from the list, swipe it to the left or right.
• To add an item to the list, click the three vertical dots in the upper right corner and choose the item from the menu displayed.

Three Vertical Dots: If you click on the three vertical dots in the top right corner, in addition to see possible priorities to add, you will get these menu options:

• Display Log: Shows the Session Log screen.
• Help: Displays this web-based help page.

Priorities

In generating matches, Team Up always gives the highest priority to making sure everyone plays the same number of games (except as described above for the Late arrival penalty, and as described below for co-ed events). After that, it applies the priority items specified in the Edit Configuration priority list. In the first round of play, before any matches have been played, Team Up assigns teams and matches randomly.

The priorities can be mixed and matched as desired. Note that these are priorities, not guarantees! A more important constraint may prevent one or more of the priorities from taking effect. For example, the highest constraint is to equalize playing time, so if the only way to achieve that is by not respecting one of the priorities, so be it. Or, for example, if “Avoid repeat teammates” is configured as a higher priority than “Balance Men & Women”, Team Up might generate unbalanced teams in order to avoid repeating teammates.

• Avoid repeat teammates: Team Up will try to avoid putting players on teams with other players they’ve already teamed up with.
• Avoid repeat opponents: Team Up will try to avoid matching players against other players they’ve already played against.
• Equalize on points: Team Up will try to create equally matched teams, using points for and against to equalize the teams. See note below for more information.
• Equalize on games: Team Up will try to create equally matched teams, using won-loss record to equalize the teams. For example, if player A is 5-1, players B and C are 3-3, and player D is 1-5, Team Up might create a match in which A and D play against B and C. See note below for more information.
• Balance Men & Women: Team Up will try to minimize the imbalances between men and women across all courts generated. For example, instead of having two women play against two men in a doubles match, Team Up will give preference to splitting up the women and men. Or, in a threes match, instead of making one team with three women and another with just one, Team Up will prefer to put two women on each team. Note that this option can even be helpful in co-ed events with 3vs3 or 4vs4. For example, Team Up will prefer to make a match that has two women on each team rather than a match that has one woman on one team and two women on another team.

Notes

Similar win % on same court: Keep in mind:

• This method helps ensure that the players who are playing well on a given day will play against each other, and those who are having an off-day will play against each other.
• When this option is selected, it is best to start all courts at the same time for every match. That way the generating algorithm can assign players to appropriate courts.
• If several players have equal win percentage and there isn’t enough room for them on one court, the match generating algorithm will assign one or more of them to a different court in a way that best meets the event’s priorities.

Co-ed: Every team will include at least one guy and one woman. Although normally Team Up tries to equalize the number of games played by all players, that may not be possible with co-ed events. Instead, Team Up will equalize games played within the group of guys and independently within the group of women. For example, if there are five guys and four women playing on two courts, the four women will play every game while one guy will have to sit out each round.

Co-ed four-on-four: If playing co-ed four-on-four, Team Up will also make sure that the difference between the number of women on the two teams does not exceed one. For example, if one team has one woman, the other team can have one or two, but not three. But if one team has two women, the other team can have one, two or three women.

Num Courts: If you have a lot of players and not enough courts, you should consider setting Num Courts to the number of courts that would theoretically allow the highest number of players to play at the same time. This will allow Team Up to do a better job at optimizing the pairings. For example, if, in a doubles event, you have eight players but just one court, it would make sense to set Num Courts to 2. That way, Team Up will generate two matches each round, and you’ll need to play them consecutively on the one court.

Mixing and matching: You can specify more than one priority in the priority list. For example, in the screen capture above, the event configuration specifies two priorities: “Avoid repeat teammates” and “Equalize on games”. So Team Up will give most importance to trying to make sure that players don’t play with the same teammates very often. But, given that constraint, Team Up will also try to create equal teams in each match.

Equalize on points: Because it is possible that players have not all played the same number of games, this priority method doesn’t use absolute number of points to equalize the teams. Instead, it creates teams that have the closest possible ratio of “points won” to total points.

Equalize on games: Again, because it is possible that players have not all played the same number of games, this priority method doesn’t use absolute won-loss record to equalize teams. Instead, it creates teams that have the closest win percentage.