Bracketing a Wrestling Tournament by Hand

From world-class level Olympic competition to high-school matches, wrestling tournaments occur at all skill levels. But for a tournament to generate as much excitement as possible, you have to create brackets designed to pit the top two wrestlers in the championship round. The most efficient way to create a wrestling tournament bracket is to hold a single-elimination event with an even number of competitors seeded from best to worst.

Instructions

    • 1

      Write down the seeds from first to last, based on the competitors won/loss records. Break ties by using statistics such as total winning percentage, record against common opponents and head-to-head record. For example, if your tournament has 16 competitors, seed the wrestlers from the no. 1 seed to the no. 16 seed.

    • 2

      Draw a straight line and then another straight line about an inch below, and connect the lines with a horizontal line on the right side which creates a rectangle with an open end on the left. Each open-ended rectangle will hold the name of two competitors in the first round of your competition.

    • 3

      Create the second round bracket by drawing a straight line from the middle of each rectangle. The names of the first round winners will be written on these lines.

    • 4

      Create as many brackets as required to set up a championship round. For example, a tournament with eight wrestlers would have a first, second, semifinal and final round. A tournament with 16 wrestlers would have a first, second, quarterfinal, semifinal and championship round.

    • 5

      Write the name of the no. 1 seed on the first line of the first bracket. Write the name of the lowest seed on the line below. This means the top seed plays the lowest seed and the winner advances to the next round. Repeat this step for each bracket. So, for example, the next bracket would have the names of two middle-seeded wrestlers. The lower portion of the bracket includes the no. 2 seed playing the second lowest seed. Your goal is to separate the two top seeds so that they only meet in the final round.