You created a tournament. This page is the order to do things in.
Work through it top to bottom. Each step links to the detailed guide for that part. The order matters because each step depends on the one before it, but the timing is yours — plan six months out or nine days out, the sequence holds.
Before your first real event, ask for a practice one. Email support@snapdown.io and we will set up a test environment at no charge. Build some brackets, weigh a few wrestlers in, score a match. Then break something on purpose and fix it. An hour of that is worth more than reading this page twice.
Set up the event
1. Confirm the event basics
Set the date, location, and event format. Your format choice shapes everything Snapdown asks for later, so settle it before you build anything.
Still deciding? Choose the right Snapdown event setup walks through the options.
2. Set up divisions and weight classes
Most tournaments compete in divisions with fixed weight classes. Set these up before wrestlers arrive, so entries land in the right place whether they come from registration or an import.
Running automatic matchups instead? Then you can use one broad division and let the groups be built from whoever actually enters. See Choose a matchmaking format and generate matchups.
Bring wrestlers in
3. Choose an intake path
Two ways in. Pick one, and you can still add individuals by hand afterward.
Online registration lets entrants sign up and pay through your public event page. This is the one to use for an open tournament where you have no roster yet.
Roster import takes the wrestlers from a spreadsheet you already have. Snapdown recommends a template layout based on your event format, then walks you through column mapping and a preview before creating anything.
See Add wrestlers to a standalone event.
While registration is open, keep an eye on who has entered and who hasn’t. Chasing a few stragglers in advance beats sorting them out at the scale on event morning.
4. Set up payouts
Collecting registration payments? Connect your payout account early, while entries are still trickling in.
Build the competition
5. Add your staff
Add the administrators and table workers who will help run the day. Give each person the access their job needs and no more — a table worker with admin rights can change a bracket by accident at 9am.
6. Set up mats
Tell Snapdown how many mats you have. Mat count feeds scheduling, bout numbering, and the Mat Control Center, so it is worth getting right before the next step.
7. Build brackets or matchup groups
- Build individual weight-class brackets
- Choose a matchmaking format and generate matchups
- Build a single dual or dual tournament
- Create a custom tournament flow and finals schedule
The bracket type you pick decides how many matches each wrestler gets, which matters more to the families in the stands than anything else on this page. Bracket formats and wrestleback crossover rules covers the tradeoffs.
8. Schedule matches across mats
Distribute the competition across your mats, then preview the result before you publish it.
- Use automatic match scheduling across mats
- Schedule divisions in separate sessions or mat groups
9. Get your screens ready
Snapdown runs on screens. Before event day, work out what goes where: a device at each scoring table running Table Scoring, a display somewhere visible for the Bout Board, and your own device for the Mat Control Center.
We recommend a laptop or Chromebook at each table, with an external monitor or TV facing the mat. The scorer works on the laptop, and wrestlers, coaches, and the families in the stands read the score off the big screen. That second display is what makes a mat feel properly run.
A phone works too. If you don’t have a laptop for every table, Table Scoring has a purpose-built phone layout rather than a shrunken desktop one, and the event runs correctly either way. What you give up is the mat-side display, not any scoring ability.
Sideways, the phone shows the full board with each period’s scoring along the top.
So equipment does not have to hold up your event. Start with the phones your volunteers already have and add laptops and mat-side screens as you get them.
Get your staff signed in ahead of time so nobody is resetting a password at 7am, and check that the venue’s network really does reach the tables. Gyms are unpredictable.
You can print weigh-in sheets and bracket sheets if you want paper as a backup. Running the event does not require them.
Event day
10. Weigh in
Weigh-ins settle who is actually competing. Clear your no-shows before anything gets built for real, because an empty spot in a bracket causes more trouble than a wrestler who never entered at all.
11. Publish and run the mats
Publish your matches, load the mats, and keep them fed all day.
12. When something changes
Something always does. All four of these are routine:
- Add a late wrestler after publishing
- Fix a duplicate wrestler or wrong weight class
- Change brackets after publishing matches
- Add an exhibition match or dual
Try each one on a test event first. These are what directors ask about most on event morning, and doing them once in practice takes the fear out.
After the event
Once every match is scored, your results are complete. Standings, team scores, and exports live on the event dashboard.
Need to refund someone or cancel? Refunds and event cancellations.
Questions
Email support@snapdown.io.