Tournament Recurrence: Create Recurring Tournaments Efficiently

Save time and streamline your tournament management with our new recurring tournament feature. Instead of manually creating the same tournament week after week, you can now set up a recurring schedule and manage all sessions together as a Series (called Programs in the US).

What is Tournament Recurrence?

Tournament recurrence allows you to create multiple tournament sessions at once by defining a recurring pattern. All sessions are grouped together into a series, making it easy to manage and track related tournaments.

Key Benefits

• Save Time: Create weeks or months of tournaments in just a few clicks instead of duplicating events manually
• Reduce Errors: Consistent setup across all sessions minimizes mistakes
• Better Organization: All related tournaments are grouped together for easy management
• Flexible Management: Edit, cancel, or add sessions to existing series as needed

Available Recurrence Options

When creating a tournament, you can choose from the following recurrence types:

• Does not repeat: A single, one-time tournament
• Weekly: Repeats every week on the same day and time
• Biweekly: Repeats every two weeks on the same day and time
• Custom: Define your own recurrence pattern

Note: Weekly recurrence is the most commonly used option, with 95% of recurring tournaments using this pattern.

How to Create a Recurring Tournament

1. Navigate to the Tournaments/Programs section in Playtomic Manager
2. Click Create series
3. Fill in the General Information: name, sport, enrollment type, visibility, and optionally add an organizer
4. In the Schedule step, select your preferred Recurrence option (Weekly, Biweekly, or Custom)
5. Set the start date, time, and duration for the tournament
6. Define the registration deadline and cancellation policy
7. Complete the remaining steps: Rules, Price, Courts, and Additional Information
8. Review your settings and click Finish to create all tournament sessions

Important: All recurring tournaments have a maximum limit of 365 days from the creation date.
Additionally, tournaments lasting longer than 24 hours do not support recurrence. To use recurrence, the start and end date must be the same (for the first tournament).

Registration and Cancellation Policies

Recurring tournament offer flexible registration and cancellation management:

Separate Registration Deadline

You can control registration deadlines independently from cancellation policies:

• Set how long before the tournament starts players can still register
• Allow last-minute registrations while maintaining your cancellation policy
• Give players maximum flexibility to join tournaments

Understanding Tournament Series

When you create a recurring tournament, a series is automatically created to group all related sessions together. Each series contains:

• A start date (equal to the first tournament's start date)
• A recurrence end date (equal to the last tournament's end date)
• All the tournament sessions created as part of the recurrence

Viewing Your Tournament Series

In the Tournaments menu, you'll find two sections inside the Tournament List:

• Tournament Series List: Shows all created series, allowing you to view all tournaments within each series and add new sessions
• Tournament Sessions List: Shows all individual tournament dates and sessions

Managing Recurring Tournaments

Adding Sessions to a Series

You can add more tournament sessions to an existing recurring series:

1. Open the tournament series from the Series list
2. Click Add sessions
3. Define the new sessions (dates, times, etc.)
4. The new sessions will be added to the existing series

Editing Tournament Sessions

You have flexibility in editing recurring tournaments:

• Edit individual sessions: Make changes to a specific tournament date without affecting other sessions in the series
• Edit individual fields: You can modify general information, activity date, rules, price, courts, or additional information for any session

Note: Editing the entire series at once is not available in the current version. If you need to make bulk changes, you'll need to cancel upcoming events and create them again with the new settings.

Viewing Series Settings

You can view the configuration and parameters of any tournament series (which will be the same as when it was created), but you cannot edit them directly in this version.

Canceling Tournaments

You have flexible options for canceling tournament sessions:

Cancel a Single Session

1. Navigate to the tournament session you want to cancel
2. Click the menu and select Cancel tournament 
3. Select the option This session
4. Confirm the cancellation
5. Only that specific date will be canceled; other sessions in the series remain active

Cancel a Session and All Following Sessions

1. Open the tournament session from the list
2. Click Cancel
3. Select the option This and upcoming sessions
4. Confirm the cancellation
5. The selected session and all future sessions will be canceled

Cancel Entire Series

1. Navigate to the Tournament Series list
2. Select the series you want to cancel
3. Click Cancel series
4. Confirm the cancellation
5. All non-played tournaments in the series will be canceled

Refunds and Notifications

When you cancel a tournament session or series:

• Enrolled players will be automatically notified via email
• Refunds will be processed according to cancellation policy
• Players who have paid for canceled sessions will receive appropriate refunds based on the cancellation policy

Managing Tournament Organizers

You can assign organizers to your recurring tournaments:

• During creation: Add an organizer in the General Information step
• After creation: Use the Shortcut add organizer button in the series view to quickly assign staff

Organizer Notifications

To avoid spamming organizers with multiple emails when creating recurring tournaments:

• When an organizer is added to multiple sessions at once, they receive a single summary email listing all sessions
• When an organizer is added to a single tournament, they receive the standard notification email

Court Availability Conflicts

If there are court availability conflicts when creating a recurring tournament:

• The system will create all sessions where courts are available
• You will receive an email notification detailing which sessions couldn't be created and why
• The email will include specific dates and times affected
• You can then access the series and manually resolve the conflicts

Example situations that may cause conflicts:

• One or more courts are not available on specific dates
• The assigned organizer is not available at certain times
• Neither courts nor organizers are available

Viewing Recurring Tournaments in the Schedule

Recurring tournaments appear in your Playtomic Manager schedule:

• Each session is displayed as a block in the calendar
• From the schedule side panel, you can open the tournament detail or access the series that contains all tournaments
• You can navigate to both the individual tournament and the parent series for comprehensive management

Player Experience in the Playtomic App

Players can view and book recurring tournaments from the Playtomic App:

• List view by date: See tournaments organized by day (similar to the current experience)
• Individual booking: Players book single sessions, not the entire series
• Players are not required to commit to all sessions in a recurring tournament

Tips for Success

• Plan ahead: Consider your club's capacity and staff availability for the entire recurrence period
• Check court availability: Ensure courts are available for all planned dates before creating the series
• Use weekly recurrence: This is the most popular and straightforward option for most clubs
• Assign organizers early: Add organizers during creation to ensure they're notified in a single email
• Monitor your schedule: Regularly check for conflicts or double bookings

FAQ

• What happens to existing tournaments that aren't part of a series?
  Existing tournaments created before the recurrence feature can coexist with the new system. They will be shown in the list of upcoming sessions.
• Can I change the recurrence pattern after creating a series?
  You cannot change the recurrence pattern of already created sessions. However, you can add new sessions to an existing series or cancel sessions and create new ones.
• What's the maximum duration for a recurring tournament?
  All recurring tournaments are limited to 365 days from the creation date.
• Can I edit all sessions in a series at once?
  Bulk editing is not available in the current version. To make changes to multiple sessions, you'll need to cancel upcoming events and create them again with the new settings.
• What happens if courts aren't available for some dates?
  The system will create sessions for available dates and send you an email listing which sessions couldn't be created and why, allowing you to resolve conflicts manually.
• Do players need to book all sessions in a recurring tournament?
  No. Players can book individual sessions from a recurring tournament without committing to the entire series.