¶ Welcome
Rapid Brackets is simple to learn. When you finish this tutorial, which takes about 15 minutes, you will have a clear picture of how an event works and a full understanding of your responsibilities.
¶ Event Overview
Almost everything at Rapid Brackets is taken care of automatically. From start-times, to building brackets, to notifying athletes; everything is handled by our system. The only interaction that your staff will need with Rapid Brackets is entering weigh-ins and running the scoreboards.
If you have laptops and monitors available, you can display the customer-facing scoreboard. This is recommended but not required. Every job can be completed from a cell phone.
¶ Notifications
- We will send text messages to athletes throughout the event. We also send push notifications to anyone who has downloaded our app.
- Text messages can only go to 1 phone number for each wrestler.
- Anyone can "follow" a wrestler and receive push notifications if they download our app. This is recommended for coaches.
¶ Start Times
- We initially provide ESTIMATED start times for each division.
- These times change dynamically every time someone registers.
- At a designated time (typically at 4 pm the night before the event), we will FINALIZE start times.
- Once start times are finalized, all customers will receive a notification/email with their exact weigh-in times, start times, and end times. We will also send them a short tutorial. The event schedule is now very precise.
- Customers can continue to register after start times are finalized, but there is a $10 late fee.
- Walk-ins do not slow down the event; people can register up until 10 minutes before their division begins.
¶ Weigh-ins
- Each division gets its own weigh-in time; athletes will arrive in small batches.
- Weigh-ins for each bracket happen directly before the bracket begins.
- No one is allowed to weigh-in early.
- Once weighed in, each athlete will receive a notification confirming their weight.
- If an athlete is overweight, it may be possible for them to change their division. We will send them a message with instructions on how to handle their own weight class change.
- Weigh-ins will be open most of the day.
- IMPORTANT: Weigh-ins should be in the same room as the event. The tournament director must be able to see if a line is forming, and immediately disperse the line. The most common way that an event gets messed up is because a line forms at weigh-ins (because people are trying to weigh-in early). Pay attention to weigh-ins!
¶ Brackets
- Once the division's weigh-in closes, athletes who did not make weight or did not weigh-in will be automatically removed from the division.
- The bracket will be automatically created 5 minutes later, and we will send the athletes notifications with a link to view their bracket.
- Teammates will be automatically separated, unless a different seeding criteria was selected.
¶ Matches
- Every match will be assigned to a mat at an exact scheduled time. This time is listed on the bracket.
- When the match is assigned to a mat, the athletes will be sent a text message with the mat number and the names of both competitors.
- The match will also show on the corresponding mat-side table worker's cell phone or laptop.
- Matches are never dispatched early (before their scheduled times).
- It is rare, but a match can be dispatched late (after its scheduled time). This only happens if we are awaiting the result of a previous round (for example, we won't dispatch the final match if we are still waiting for one of the semi-final matches to complete).
- When a match is complete, the athletes will receive a text message with the result (to ensure correctness). They will also receive the time of their next match (or that their tournament is complete).
- We fill mats with matches to a specific depth (typically 3 matches), before moving on to the next mat. For example, the first 3 matches will go to mat #1 before we send a match to mat #2. The reason for this is that customers want adequate notification time before they have to wrestle, this gives them a few minutes to get to their mat.
- It is normal for there to be periods when no matches are running on a mat. This is scheduled downtime and it is how we are able to run on a precise schedule. Doing it this way might seem slower, but the event will take less time overall due to the time saved with weigh-ins. Your customers receive a substantially quicker event experience, and hundreds of hours are collectively saved.
¶ Awards
- Upon completion of a division, if you are doing awards and/or a podium picture, all athletes who qualify will receive a text message with their awards time.
- We provide the person in charge of awards with a list of divisions, awards times, and results.
¶ Frequently Asked Questions
- How can I display all of the upcoming matches on a monitor or projector?
- Create a new staff login (with tableworker permissions).
- Log in and click "Upcoming Matches Display".
- Zoom in/out to fit the desired number of matches per page.
- It will cycle through all of the upcoming matches.
- What should I do next?
Start filling out your Staff Roster and promoting the event!