Co-ed volleyball, Wh(4n)

[Jim(Guest)]

I want to schedule co-ed social volleyball tournaments in which each team consists of 2 men and 2 women. (There are the same number of men and women, but that number may vary from tournament to tournament.) Ideally no player should play WITH any of the same players more than once. And ideally no person should play AGAINST exactly the same team more than once.

The 2 men vs. 2 men is a whist tournament Wh(4n) as is the 2 women vs. 2 women, but I can't see how to combine them to achieve the desired results (or to come as close as possible).

Any ideas, Richard (or anyone else)?

Thursday, August 11 2005, 01:38 pm
Brunswick, ME

[Ian Wakeling]

Jim,

It is possible to combine whist tournament schedules for the men and the women, however I think that you need to double up the number of rounds before you can achieve a balanced scheme in this co-ed scenario. Unfortunately a scheme this large will of course far exceed your requirement that no player should play with any of the same players more than once.

This may be of interest to others, so here is a plan for a group of 4 men (M1-M4) and 4 women (F1-F4) who play together in 6 rounds:

(M1 M3 F1 F3)  v  (M2 M4 F2 F4)
(M1 M4 F3 F2)  v  (M3 M2 F1 F4)
(M1 M2 F4 F3)  v  (M4 M3 F1 F2)
(M1 M2 F1 F2)  v  (M4 M3 F4 F3)
(M1 M3 F2 F4)  v  (M2 M4 F1 F3)
(M1 M4 F1 F4)  v  (M3 M2 F3 F2)

If you followed the schedule above then each player would:
Play with the 3 players of the same sex exactly 2 times
Play with the 4 players of the opposite sex exactly 3 times
Play against the 3 players of the same sex exactly 4 times
Play against the 4 players of the opposite sex exactly 3 times

Regards,
Ian.

Sunday, September 4 2005, 12:39 pm


Thanks for the great answer Ian -- Richard