Combat sports tournament software
In judo, BJJ, wrestling, taekwondo and boxing a tournament is not one bracket. It is dozens of small competitions, one per age, sex and weight, sharing the same few mats. Whistle.day sets up the categories, takes the weigh-in, draws each category in the format its field calls for, and calls bouts to whichever mat is free.
Updated
- 2 competitors
- Best of 3
- the second win takes the category
- 3 to 5
- Round robin
- everybody meets everybody
- 6 or 7
- Two pools
- then crossed semi-finals
- 8 or more
- Bracket + repechage
- two bronze medals
Free. No account needed to start.
Event, categories, brackets
An event has a name, a date, a hall and a number of mats. Its categories are the combination of an age group, a sex and a weight limit: U14 boys −42 kg, senior women +78 kg. Each category is its own small tournament, with its own competitors, its own bracket or table, and its own public page that a coach or a parent can open on a phone.
Categories can be made one at a time, or all at once from a federation's weight table.
The weigh-in decides the format
Each competitor is registered with a declared weight and weighed on the day. Within the limit, they are in. Over it, the table can move them to the next category up in one step, or scratch them. Anybody who never comes to the scales is scratched when the weigh-in closes.
Categories left with one or two people can be merged into the next one up before the draw, which is how most club tournaments deal with the −34 kg category that one child turned up for.
A format for every field size
Two competitors fight a best of three. Three to five fight everybody. Six or seven are split into two pools, and the top two of each cross into the semi-finals: first of pool A against second of pool B. From eight, the category is a bracket with a repechage for the quarter-final losers and two bronze medals, or a double elimination if you prefer it.
Clubmates kept apart in the draw
Two children from the same club meeting each other in the first round is the complaint every organiser hears, and the one a random draw makes likely. The draw places clubmates as far apart as the field allows: opposite halves of the bracket when a club has two people in a category, opposite quarters when it has four, different pools when the category is fought in pools.
Ranked competitors keep their seeds, and everybody else is drawn at random around them, so the separation never moves a seed.
One queue for every mat, and the rest time enforced
The categories do not each run on their own from start to finish. Bouts from all of them go into one queue, and the next one is called to whichever mat comes free: "Mat 2, bout 12, U14 −42 kg; bout 13 get ready".
Nobody is called back before their rest is up. A competitor who has just finished is held until the rest time set for the event has passed, and nobody is called to one mat while still fighting on another. Categories can be split into blocks, the morning juniors and the afternoon seniors, and a category can be pinned to one mat.
Common questions
When are the brackets drawn?
When the weigh-in closes, and not before. A bracket drawn on Friday for eight who registered is the wrong bracket on Saturday for the five who made weight, so every category is drawn from the people who actually stood on the scales.
Do I need an account?
No. Setting up an event takes a name, the number of mats and the weight categories, with no signup in front of it. You can add an email later if you want to sign back in from another device.
What does it cost?
Nothing. The setup, the brackets and the public results pages are free.