Doubles and triples drills are popular with many coaches because it gives their players a lot of touches and also forces them to develop all-around skills. But choosing teams can be challenging. As Emily Hiza points out in this video, if the players pick their own teams, cliques tend to be formed. On the other hand, if the coach chooses the teams, some players are bound to feel shortchanged by who they were grouped with.
So here’s the solution: Run a Bjerring tournament in practice. Great fun, very competitive, and nobody has anything to complain about. Watch the video to see what Hiza has to say about them and then check out the information sheet that we have included. It shows you exactly how to run Bjerring tournaments. As you’ll see, they aren’t hard to organize, they’ll put some energy into your practice, and you won't have to deal with selecting the teams.
How to run a Bjerring Tournament
You can play a doubles or triples format (or a combination of both) with your group. For example, if you have 12 players in your group, you could play any variety of combinations: 8-player doubles, 4-player doubles, 3 and 4 player doubles, 7-player triples and 5-player doubles. All you need to do is divide the group up appropriately.
Calculate how long you want to make each round. Generally, 3 to 5 minutes per round is about the right amount of time.
At the end of each round, record if it’s a win or a loss for each player and a point differential. If Team 1 defeated Team 2 by a score of 12-8, then each player on Team 1 gets a win along with a +4 point differential. All players on Team 2 record a loss and a -4 point differential. The point differential is a cumulative total, so if a player wins 1 game by 5 points and loses the second game by 3 points, their differential is +2.
The winner of each group is the person with the most wins. If two or more players are equal, then you use the point differential as the tiebreaker.
