A ladder competition keeps your club active all season long. Everyone appears on a ranking, teams challenge each other to a match, and after every result the DSS rating updates automatically. In this article we set up your first ladder and explain how the standings and the rating work.
What a ladder is in Slams
A ladder has no fixed schedule. Participants play whenever it suits them, and the ranking grows with every result you enter. When you create the ladder you choose whether people take part as a fixed pair or individually. A ladder runs for as long as you want, from a few weeks to a full season. Not sure yet whether this is the right format? Compare your options first in choosing a format, or take a look at the ladder format.
The ranking and the rating
The ranking is built from the matches that have been played: every win is worth 3 points and a draw is worth 1 point. If two teams are level on points, the rating decides the order. Alongside the standings, Slams keeps a personal rating for each player based on the DSS system. On the KNLTB scale, lower is better, so winning lowers your rating and losing raises it. You can read more about this in how standings work and the DSS rating explained.
Want a ladder purely for fun, without it affecting the rating? Set the competition to unrated. The matches still count towards the standings, but the rating stays untouched.
Challenges
In the Challenges tab you create a challenge between two teams, optionally with a suggested date and a short message. The challenged team accepts or declines. This sets who plays who; the players arrange the date, time and court themselves. In the Settings tab you decide how many positions above itself a team is allowed to challenge.
Getting participants
Add teams manually through the Teams tab (players must already exist in your club first, see adding players and creating teams). You can also let participants register themselves through a registration link. Use the visibility settings to decide who can see the ladder.
