Win the Tournament

KALAMAZOO, Mich. - Champions. That's the goal for every team, every player. It's why you condition until your body aches, it's why you practice until you get it perfect, it's why you stuff yourself in a small car with four other people and travel hours to stay in a foreign hotel.

But how does the championship work? Who sets it up and how do they set it up? How do you make it to the championship tournament?

In this blog I'll explain how the UPA championship series works.

The UPA championship series is a separate set of tournaments that is organized by the UPA. There are three tournament levels of the series, sectionals, regionals and nationals, with each being more exclusive than the next.

The sectionals round is typically played over a three week period. This year all the weekends fall in April. They are April 10, 17 and 24. Each section is allotted a certain number of regional bids. The number of these bids is rather complicated and you can find the details here.

The bid winners from the sectionals round go on to compete at the regionals tournament. This year the regional weekends are May 1 and 8. Each region is allotted a certain number of national bids that are largely determined by region strength.You can find the details here.

And finally, the culmination of the year is the College Championships held in early summer. This year the championship will be held in Madison, Wisconsin starting on May 28. The details of this event are here.

The tournament structure is slightly different for each tournament, based on how many teams are attending, but the general format is the same. Typically you will find a number of equally sized pools who play a round robin style to determine seeds for the bracket play to follow. For an example you can check out the following 2010 sections bracket here.

The tournament path is long, and can be complex at times, but one team each year will successfully navigate it to become the champions. Will it be your team?

-MD

Win the Tournament