Chapter 7: League Events
Lesson 1: What a League Is and What It Requires
Learning Objectives
- Identify the requirements a league must meet.
- Identify how a league and its sessions appear in the event listing.
- Identify what happens at a Ranking Session, including what must be offered to every team.
- Identify how teams are ranked across Ranking Sessions and how they reach Finals or Elimination Matches.
- Identify how judging works in a league.
This lesson covers what a league requires, what happens at a Ranking Session, how teams are ranked across sessions, how the last session and judging work, and what goes into posting a league.
What a League Requires
A league has two kinds of sessions: Ranking Sessions and the Championship/Finals Session.
Your league must have:
- At least three Ranking Sessions, followed by the Championship/Finals Session
- At least one week between sessions
- Results uploaded within 48 hours of each session
A league can also cross a game manual update. Each session uses the version in effect on the day that session begins. Event Qualifying Criteria lists every requirement a league must meet.
The example below is a VEX IQ league with 24 registered teams at a venue that holds 16. Each team sits out one Ranking Session.
Teams can sit out a session because league rankings are based on the percentage of matches a team plays. A team that plays at least 60% of the matches the league offers ranks in the top group, so missing one session does not hurt its standing.
| Session | Timing | Teams |
|---|---|---|
| Ranking Session 1 | Week 1 | 16 |
| Ranking Session 2 | Week 3 | 16 |
| Ranking Session 3 | Week 5 | 16 |
| Finals Session | Week 7 | All league teams |
A Ranking Session
A Ranking Session is short. A 16-team session with three or four matches per team can finish on one field in about two hours.
- Check-in — Teams attending that session check in, and the match schedule includes only those teams.
- Inspection — Inspect every robot at the first session. Many Event Partners do a quick visual and size check at later sessions. A robot with significant changes is inspected again.
- Qualification Matches — Each team at the session must play at least two, and four are recommended.
- Robot Skills — Every team at the session is offered up to three Driving Skills Matches and three Autonomous Coding Skills Matches. A team's Robot Skills score for the league combines the team's Driving and Autonomous Coding Skills scores from the same session. Tournament Manager calculates this for you.
- Results — Save the results and upload them to events.vex.com. Lesson 2 covers how to do this in Tournament Manager.
There is no judging at a Ranking Session, so you can skip pit assignments.
How Teams Are Ranked
Tournament Manager calculates league rankings for you. Rankings use each team's results from the matches it played, so a team that attends two of three Ranking Sessions can still rank first heading into the Championship/Finals Session. Teams that play at least 60% of the matches the league offers rank above teams that play fewer.
The VEX IQ Robotics Competition game manual and the VEX V5 Robotics Competition game manual have the full ranking rules.
The Championship/Finals Session
The last session brings the whole league together. Robot Skills Matches are offered here as at every session. Teams then move on to Finals Matches, or to Alliance Selection and Elimination Matches, based on the rankings from all Ranking Sessions.
- VEX IQ — Teams pair by rank for Finals Matches as they would at a one-day event. You choose how many Finals Matches to run; include as many teams as you can.
- VEX V5 — Alliance Selection happens at the Championship Session, followed by Elimination Matches.
Judging in a League
Judging is optional in a league, as at any qualifying event. If you offer judged awards, judging happens only at the Championship/Finals Session. The same judging requirements apply as at any qualifying event, including interviews for every team.
Judges need time to review Engineering Notebooks before that session, so they can spend the Championship/Finals Session interviewing students and deliberating on awards. Engineering Notebooks reach judges in one of two ways:
- Paper notebooks — Collect them at the last Ranking Session and return them at the Championship/Finals Session.
- Digital notebooks — Coaches submit them through events.vex.com, using the Digital Engineering Notebook link, at least three weeks before the last session. You send that link to your Judge Advisor, who sends it to the judges reviewing notebooks.
Running a League and Remote Judging for Leagues have more on planning each session and on judging.
Posting Your League
Decide these before you post on events.vex.com:
- Open or Invitational — An Open league accepts any team that registers before the deadline. An Invitational league is for a specific group of teams. Talk with your Program Support Team about which fits your community.
- Every session's date and venue — Confirm all of them, including the Championship/Finals Session.
- How many teams each session holds — Teams do not need to attend every session. A team can sit out a session and still rank at the top, so your league can register more teams than your smallest venue holds.
- Whether you offer judging — If you do, it happens only at the Championship/Finals Session.
- Cost — Set the registration fee to reflect the number of sessions and matches the league includes.
Your listing must include:
- Every session as its own date. A single date range from the first session to the last is not accepted, and every session must be listed before the league is submitted for approval.
- An agenda for each session, including the Championship/Finals Session.
Timing: Registration opens at least eight weeks before the first Ranking Session, and the league is posted at least one week before registration opens.
Posting a League has the full posting steps for when you are ready.