Circle Competition Rules

[abstract]

Where can I read the most up-to-date version of the Circle Competition Rules?

I found some older rules from early 2007, but I know they have been changed since that time.

Thanks. )

[Reid]

you should pm Ianek

[Jeremy]

Here is the latest unofficial version of the rules that the IFC will be voting on in a few months. Of course it may well change between now and then.

I don't know if these are the rules used at any particular event or not, nor am I aware of anybody approving these so if there is anything wrong or that you disagree with about these rules, don't be too concerned as they really are just a draft.

I've just copied and pasted, but there were a few diagrams and tables that might get deleted or messed up. I don't really have the time or patience to fix any formatting problems etc from this copy/paste.

Circle Contest


507. Circle Contest

507.1. General

Circle Contest is a freestyle footbag competition designed to directly reflect how the sport’s freestyle athletes train, innovate, and play the game. This event is designed to create the most conducive conditions possible -- a traditional "freestyle circle" -- and to reward players for execution of the greatest technical ability as defined by the current state of the art of freestyle footbag.

507.2. Rules of Play

As with all rules, the following are meant to be followed as closely as possible. Where complications arise, the most logical interpretation and/or the clear spirit of the rules is to be followed, even if the exact wording does not account for the specific instance. The referee and/or tournament director is the ultimate interpreter of these rules during competition.

507.2.1. Playing Area

The playing area for competition may be any flat surface, free of obstructions and holes, and should afford reasonable player safety. The official playing area is a circle measuring 20 feet (6 meters) in diameter. If possible, the playing area should be clearly delineated, with a mark in the center. If included, the center mark and the border of the circle may be of any material (e.g., chalk, tape, or paint).


Figure 1. Playing Area



507.2.2. Spectators, Judges, and Referee

Spectators may gather around the outer perimeter of the circle, but must stay clear of the judges' line of sight of the current player. No spectator shall step on or within the border of the circle. Officials should remain just beyond the perimeter of the circle as well, except when required in performing their duty (e.g., initial hand toss, pass-back, etc.) The area for the judges and referee should be restricted from direct intrusion from spectators or passers-by if at all possible (e.g., with tape or other markings indicating that the judges' table(s) are off-limits). Ideally, the judges should have individual tables or other judging stations at equal distances around the perimeter of the circle. However, if necessary, judges may all be at a single judges' table, or if there is no other alternative, judges may move around as needed to follow the action.

507.2.3. Equipment

Footbags used in circle competition must adhere to the limits set forth in Article I, section 107.01. Competitors in each circle must agree on the footbag to be used before the first phase begins. Once a footbag is chosen for a given circle, it may not be changed, unless that footbag is lost or damaged in a way that affects its utility. If players are unable to agree on a footbag, the tournament director or referee shall provide an official freestyle footbag, based on generally accepted standards, and at the tournament director's discretion.

507.2.4. Circles

In circle competition, players are organized into pools of three or four players, referred to as "circles". The exact number of players in a given circle is determined based on the total number of competitors, the number of rounds of competition, and the players' seeding for each round (see Figure 2). No circle may have fewer than three or more than four players.

507.2.5. Player Positions and Order of Play

Before the start of competition for each circle, the top-seeded player in that circle may choose their location (e.g., with preferred lighting characteristics, etc.). Then, competition begins with the lowest-seeded player going first, and the top-seeded player going last. Players should be positioned such that the footbag is passed clockwise between players' turns (see 507.2.7 Turns). At the end of a given round, either one or two players will advance to the next round, as defined by the tournament procedures (see 507.4 Tournament Procedures).

507.2.6. Phases

A circle may be required to compete in one, two, or three distinct phases within a single round. Each phase may have different judging criteria (see 507.3.2. Judging Criteria), and if there is more than one phase, competitors must rotate their positions between phases (e.g., by rotating the circle clockwise). As this is a judged competition, each phase ends only when the judges are finished recording their results for that phase. After the judges are ready, if there are remaining phases, the next phase can start. Players are allowed a minimum 60-second pause between phases, even if the judges are ready sooner, so they can rest. The pause between phases should be no more than three minutes; however, a 90-second pause is ideal, and thus recommended. Once the last phase is completed, the results may be calculated to determine the final rankings (see 507.3.4. Tabulating Scores).

507.2.7. Turns

Within a phase, competition is broken up into "turns", wherein each player has the opportunity to perform a series of freestyle moves before passing the footbag to the next player. Turns have the following characteristics:

A. Number of turns. Each player is given three turns within a phase, though at the tournament director's discretion, up to five turns may be permitted in a single phase. (For example, qualification rounds may only offer one phase, in which case a tournament director may desire to offer four or five turns in the single phase to better differentiate the players.) No fewer than three, and no more than five turns shall be allowed in a single phase, and the number of turns must be determined and announced before the start of the phase.

B. Start of turn. A competitor may not start their turn by self-serving, and must receive the footbag with a kick, delay, or other obvious freestyle move (see 507.2.9 Requirements). A competitor may only start their turn when passed the footbag from another player's or referee's hand-toss, or when the previous player passes the footbag from a kick or delay. However, in the latter case, if the pass is not "good" as determined by the player or by the referee, the receiving player is entitled to a second, hand-toss pass, from any other competitor in the circle, or from the referee. In this case, the hand-toss pass shall shall not be counted as a "pass-back" as described in 507.2.8, thus allowing the player to receive a subsequent pass-back if they qualify according to that rule.

C. Order of turns. All players must finish the current turn, in the order defined in 507.2.5, before the first player may start the next turn, if any.

D. End of turn. Players may begin their turn with simple control moves (e.g., basic kicks or basic delays). After the first non-basic kick or move, the player must continue linking non-basic kicks and moves (regardless of difficulty), or their turn will end. In other words, a player's turn ends with the first basic kick, basic delay, hand catch, drop, or pass to the next player. In all but the latter case, the player, another player, or the referee must toss the footbag to the next player as described in B above.

507.2.8. Pass-Backs

Players are allowed a second attempt at their turn if they do not execute at least two consecutive non-basic moves in their first attempt. If they qualify for a second attempt, they shall be given a "pass-back", as detailed below.

A. Qualification. Players are entitled to a pass-back only if they drop, perform a basic kick or a basic delay, or do a hand-catch before the completion of two consecutive non-basic move attempts.

B. Limit. Only one pass-back is allowed for a given player's turn, except in the case of a "bad" pass (as determined by the referee, based on the procedure for pass-backs outlined in C, below).

C. Procedure. A pass-back must be a courteous hand-toss, from either the referee or one of the other competitors in the circle, to the qualifying player. This means the person performing the pass-back must first make eye contact with the receiver, and must give a lofty hand-toss of the footbag to the player, after acquiring referee confirmation (as outlined in D, below).

D. Referee confirmation. To avoid confusion and to ensure players are prepared for their pass-back, no pass-back shall be performed until the referee declares it by clearly announcing, "pass-back". Any competitor in possession of the footbag must either give the footbag to the referee, or explicitly look at the referee and wait for this announcement before passing it to the player following the mechanism outlined in C, above.

E. Effect on judging. Because pass-backs are only allowed if a player's run ends before they have done at least two consecutive moves, the failed run is considered inconsequential. Thus, a pass-back voids the first attempt, and judges will judge only the second attempt of the player's turn. Judges should not take into account the first (voided) attempt in any way -- players should not be penalized for needing a pass-back, regardless of the reason, as long as the pass-back meets the requirements outlined above.

507.2.9. Requirements

For a fair and efficient circle contest, all competitors must adhere the the following requirements during competition:

A. Passes. Passes must be courteous and proper. For example, players should make eye contact before hand tosses, and give good, lofty passes that are easy to receive.

B. Hand catches. Players should never receive passes by catching the footbag with their hands. Instead, players should always kick, delay, or otherwise perform a freestyle move directly from a pass.

C. Self-service. Players should never serve the footbag to themselves; if a player must pick up a footbag (e.g., from their own drop or from a poor or unintentional pass), they should toss the footbag to the referee or to another player to pass the footbag back to start their turn.

D. Delay of game. Players should avoid obvious delays of game, including but not limited to freezing the footbag while regaining balance and/or resting. Obvious delays are equivalent to drops or hand catches, and should be considered the end of the player's turn.

E. "Bails." Once a player has obviously begun to perform moves, they should not revert back to basic kicks/delays. Obvious bails (using basic kicks/delays to regain control) are equivalent to drops or hand catches, and should be considered the end of a player's turn.

F. Distraction. Players should avoid any distracting behavior, whether intentional or unintentional, that might cause their competitors to lose focus during their turns.

G. Unsportsmanlike conduct. As with any competitive discipline, obvious acts of unsportsmanlike conduct will not be accepted. The referee has the discretion to disqualify any player from competition at any time (see .... in the general rules).

507.3. Judging System

507.3.1. Judges

The tournament director may choose to have between three and five judges for a given round (e.g., a tournament director may decide that preliminaries should have only three judges, whereas finals should have five.) Judges shall be accepted experts at the current state of the art of freestyle footbag, and shall be unbiased -- assigning scores based on relative performance of players against other players within their circle, and not basing their scores on any external or historical factors.

507.3.2. Scores

Judges shall assign subjective scores for each player at the end of each phase, based on the aggregate performance of each player across all three of their turns within that phase. Scores must be whole numbers between 0 and 10 (i.e., with no fractions allowed), where the judge's choice for the winner of a phase is always given a score of 10, and the other players' scores are given relative to that score. Scores are meant to give a clear ranking, so ties are not allowed (see 507.3.3. Tie-Breaking). Note: While scores are purely subjective, judges should not apply penalties, per se. In other words, judges should not penalize players because they require pass-backs, end their runs with a drop instead of a pass, or perform one or more low add-value moves in their runs.

507.3.3. Judging Criteria

The following are basic criteria on which judges can base their subjective scores. Note that tournament directors may choose to have one phase for each criterion (e.g., "variety phase", "difficulty phase", and "density phase") in which case judges are requested to focus on the criterion in question for that phase (see 507.4. Tournament Procedures).

A. Variety. As defined in 504.05, run variety is a measure of the breadth of moves (types of moves and sidedness) employed by a player during a run -- or in this case, during a given phase. Players whose runs are composed of a wide variety of components, and who use a lot of different moves instead of simply repeating moves throughout their runs, will surely score higher on variety than players who repeat the same moves over and over in their runs, and/or who uses fewer components in their runs. The use of both sides is essential, because a move performed on one side (e.g., "left clipper") is considered distinct from the same move performed on the other side (e.g., "right clipper"). Examples of components are up-time sets and spins, down-time dexterities, ducks and dives, symposiums, flyers, rakes, etc.

B. Difficulty. As defined in 504.04, run difficulty is a measure of the raw technical ability exhibited by the player during a run -- or in this case, during a given phase. A player who does many extremely difficult moves (even if he repeats them many times) should have a better difficulty score than a player who only does a few very difficult moves, and fills his runs with easier moves by comparison. As with the other aspects, difficulty is measured relative to the other players in the pool -- so, no absolute metric of difficulty is required. Included in the definition of difficulty for this event is the concept of "form" -- i.e., how well a player executes the moves in his runs, not just the moves themselves.

C. Density. As defined in 504.06, run density is another measure of difficulty that considers not just the moves executed in a run (or phase), but also the way moves are linked together (see 504.02 Linking). In other words, density is a measure of how many difficult tricks a player can execute in a row, as compared to other players, during a run or phase. In measuring desnity, the difficulty of moves is important (as described in B above), but it is equally important how the moves are linked together. This can often be described in terms of "add-to-contact ratio" for a given string within a run, as described in 504.04-C. Players who link difficult many difficult moves together -- and who sustain that linkage throughout their runs without having to resort to "easy" moves in between -- will score better in Density than players who do runs with difficult moves linked together with less difficult moves in the same string.

507.3.4. Tabulating Scores

Scores are tabulated by simply adding all the judges' scores for each player, for each phase. The player with the highest score wins; the player with the second-highest score gets second place, etc.

507.3.5. Tie Breaking

If two players in a circle have the same score at the end of the round, the following methods of tie-breaking should be taken in order, until the tie is resolved.

A. Rank Counts. The player with the greater number of higher places wins a tie. To settle a tie between two players using ranks, simply count the number of first-place rankings all judges gave in their final rankings for each of the two players in question. The player with the larger number of first-place rankings receives the better rank. If the result is still a tie, use method B (Execution) below.

B. Execution. Only if the ranks are still tied as described in A (Ranks) above, execution shall be used as the final tie-breaker. In other words,

507.3.6. Judging Cards

Judging cards are available online at: http://....

507.4. Tournament Procedures

507.4.1. Format

Circle contest is similar to other pool-based competitions, wherein competition is divided into rounds (e.g., qualifications, quarterfinals, semifinals, and finals).

A. Number of rounds and "cuts". The number of rounds depends on the number of registered players, with the top players from each round continuing on to the subsequent round, until the final round. The exact number of rounds, and the number of players taken from each round to the next, may be determined by the tournament director. However, for most purposes, Figure 2 (Road Map) lists the number of rounds and the "cuts" for each round, based on the number of players.

B. Parallel circles. If there are more competitors than time, multiple circles may be run in parallel during the qualification and/or quarterfinal rounds -- however, note that this requires multiple sets of judges and referees, which may be equally difficult.

C. Number of phases. It is recommended that each round be composed of three distinct phases: variety phase first, followed by difficulty and/or density phases as appropriate. At tournament director's discretion, the number of phases may vary as described in 507.2.6. For example, when there are more players than time or resources allow, the tournament director may choose only one phase instead of three (i.e., combining all the criteria into a single phase) for preliminary and/or quarterfinal rounds. It is strongly encouraged to have threeWhen 2 phases are chosen, difficulty and density should be merged together, so you end up with Variety and Difficulty phases.-Wiktor Dębski 4/8/09 12:27 AM distinct phases for the semi-finals and finals rounds.

507.4.2. Seeding

All players must be seeded before each round. The tournament director is responsible for ensuring that the initial seeding is done correctly, based on previous competitions and other relevant information. Once players are seeded, some players may be given a "bye" depending on the number of players, pools, and rounds (see Figure 2. Road Map). After each round is completed, the tournament director must re-seed all the players based on the results of the previous roundNo. You don`t re-seed players according to results. You follow the original seeding. We don`t to change this sentence. Let`s delete it. -Wiktor Dębski 4/11/09 9:00 PM No, Wiktor, I strongly disagree here. It should be like any other competition if it's going to be IFC-approved in the rule book. We can't change the basics of what it is to run a tournament, how we seed players, or how we do pool advancement. All that should be written outside this section, and this should just refer to that. Ianek cannot just say he doesn't like the system without getting IFC to change it for all competitions. -Steve 4/11/09 1:15 PM . OK, let`s do it in the same way as it is in routines. It works the same way. -Wiktor Dębski 4/29/09 12:46 AM Correct seeding is vital not just for the first round, but for every subsequent round. The tournament director should ensure each round of seeding is done properly.

507.4.3. Referee Responsibilities

In general, the referee ensures that the rules are followed, and remedies any errors or problems that may occur during the competition. The following are specific roles the referee must play to ensure a good competition:

A. Player position and order. At the beginning of the first phase for a given circle, the referee shall make sure all the players are present, and that they are in the right order (from lowest to highest seed in a clockwise fashion around the circle), honoring the starting position preference of the highest-seeded player for the first phase.

B. Playing area monitor. The referee shall ensure the playing area is clear of obstacles and that there are no distractions before the start of each phase.

C. Footbag selection. Before the start of the first phase, the referee shall ask all of the players in the circle if they agree on the footbag to be used. If players do not agree on a footbag, the referee must notify the tournament director and/or provide the official footbag to be used for the competition.

D. Starting hand toss. At the start of each phase, the referee shall ensure that all players are ready, and then shall toss the footbag to the lowest-seeded player to start that phase.

E. Passing conflicts. The referee shall monitor the play to ensure that each player gets their turn in the proper sequence. A passing conflict may occur if a player either passes the footbag poorly or incorrectly. In such cases, the referee should either gain control of the footbag and deliver it to the correct player using a hand toss, or instruct one of the other players to do the same.

F. Pass-backs. The referee must determine whether or not a player should be given a pass-back (e.g., making the call as to whether the first non-basic move was completed successfully) and must announce "pass-back", if so. In cases of errors or poor etiquettedisrepect of requirements-Wiktor Dębski 4/11/09 8:53 PM , the referee may penalize players by warning them or by forcing them to give up their turn and to pass the footbag to the next player immediately.

G. Turn tracking. The referee (or their assistant) should keep the track of the number of turns left in the current phase (counting down from 3 at the start, to 0 in the last phase). A flip-board or similar mechanism should be used so that the players can always see the number of turns remaining. Where possible, the referee should announce the last turn so that all players are aware this is their final turn of the current phase.

[abstract]

thanks!

nom nom nom.

[abstract]

D. End of turn. Players may begin their turn with simple control moves (e.g., basic kicks or basic delays). After the first non-basic kick or move, the player must continue linking non-basic kicks and moves (regardless of difficulty), or their turn will end. In other words, a player's turn ends with the first basic kick, basic delay, hand catch, drop, or pass to the next player. In all but the latter case, the player, another player, or the referee must toss the footbag to the next player as described in B above.

Many players seem to not understand what causes their turn to end. 2 adds are legit.

eg. In Vasek's semis circle this year, every player in the circle except Vasek did a handcatch pass on a 2 add instead of continuing their string, while Vasek used the eclipse > clipper to stabilize many times throughout the comp.

[Kyle Hewitt]

D. End of turn. Players may begin their turn with simple control moves (e.g., basic kicks or basic delays). After the first non-basic kick or move, the player must continue linking non-basic kicks and moves (regardless of difficulty), or their turn will end. In other words, a player's turn ends with the first basic kick, basic delay, hand catch, drop, or pass to the next player. In all but the latter case, the player, another player, or the referee must toss the footbag to the next player as described in B above.

Many players seem to not understand what causes their turn to end. 2 adds are legit.

eg. In Vasek's semis circle this year, every player in the circle except Vasek did a handcatch pass on a 2 add instead of continuing their string, while Vasek used the eclipse > clipper to stabilize many times throughout the comp.

i would rather pass then disrupt the flow of my string with a stabilize my string

[ianek]

people are brainwashed about the add system. for most players, it's a very strong reflex to stop playing after doing a 2 add move. it's sad. if you do a lot of 2 adds, you will most likely not end with a good variety and you will for sure have a bad density. but doing 2 adds is better than dropping. the real goal is shredding, so doing strings.

[crazylegs32]

I had to LMAO out loud at the thought that a 2 add move disrupts flow.