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3. Draw and fill rosters

Who: coordinator · When: as soon as entries close (7–10 days before) · You need: the generated workbooks from step 2, and each category's list of pairs from the organizer

The workbook says how many brackets each category has and how many pairs go in each. This step draws the brackets, puts the names in the workbook, and checks that they show.

Run a draw people can trust

For a draw people are watching, use the Bracket Generator's Verifiable Draw:

  1. Put the pairs up on screen before anyone supplies a seed. Once the list is visible it can't be quietly changed, and the seed doesn't exist yet, so nothing can be tuned to suit it.
  2. Ask the room for the seed. Any word or number, ideally called out by a player rather than by you. Type it in and say it out loud.
  3. Draw. The seconds of shuffling on screen are a reveal; the seed already decided the answer.

The full ceremony, and how a player re-checks their own pair on any SHA-256 site, is Running a draw people can trust. If you must re-draw, say so out loud, fix the list and ask for a new seed. The exports carry a draw number, so a second attempt shows as Draw #2.

Steps (standard tournament and dual meet)

Draw one category at a time.

  1. On the category's tab in the workbook, choose SAGE → Open Bracket Generator. It opens the tool with the event name and that category already filled in.
  2. Paste that category's pairs, one per line. Set the bracket count to the one the workbook used. Add keep-apart groups if some pairs must not meet in the round robin.
  3. Run the draw.
  4. Save both exports: the image, which is what you post and print, and the text file, which is the one you work from next. The text file also carries the seed and every pair's fingerprint, so the draw can be re-checked months later. Put them in the event's BRACKETS folder (see step 2).
  5. Repeat for every category. Eight categories means eight images and eight text files.

Then put the names in the workbook, which depends on the format.

Standard tournament: import the text files

  1. In the workbook choose SAGE → Import bracket draws.
  2. Drop in every category's text file at once and import.

For each file it fills the category tab's STEP 1 · NAMES with the pairs in draw order and STEP 3 · RANDOMIZED CODES with its codes. It records the seed, the draw number and the filename beside the roster, so you can tell months later which draw a tab came from.

It matches each file to a tab by its category line, and asks you to pick a tab for any file it can't place. It checks every file before writing anything. A draw with the wrong number of pairs, the wrong number of brackets or the wrong bracket sizes is refused by name with both shapes reported, and nothing is written. A tab that already has names is refused unless you tick Replace existing names, which is also how a re-draw gets applied.

Do this in every venue's workbook for the categories that venue runs. The menu item stays after a successful import, so you can run it again.

Dual meet: paste the names, then shuffle

A dual meet's draw is a per-club roster blind, so there is nothing to import.

  1. Paste each club's players into its STEP 1 · NAMES column.
  2. On that tab choose SAGE → Shuffle roster codes. It draws each club's STEP 3 · RANDOMIZED CODES independently from the codes in STEP 2.

STEP 3 ships blank on purpose: filling it in order maps every pair to its own slot and undoes the blinding. The menu item refuses a tab with no roster, and asks before replacing codes that are already there, because reshuffling a live workbook re-points every pair.

Team: type the Teams tab

A team event has no bracket draw to import. The organizer decides the groups, and the coordinator types them in.

  1. Type or paste each team's name and its players (with level and gender) into Teams. Captains can change it through the day.
  2. Lineups go on MatchUps later: on the day, the operator on scores types each one in as the team's captain hands it over. See the team workbook.

Check it worked

  • On every category tab, column B shows names. A tab still showing codes instead of names means the roster and the codes haven't met.
  • No category tab shows an error.
  • Every category has a saved image and a saved text file (standard and dual meet).
  • A team workbook: STANDINGSCSV lists the right team names, and the Teams tab lists every player.

If it doesn't

  • Import refused a file. The message names the file and gives both shapes. Redraw with the right bracket count, or fix the pair count.
  • A file can't be placed. Pick its tab from the dropdown. A file left unassigned is skipped, not guessed.
  • Shuffle refused the tab. The tab has no roster. Paste the names first.
  • Names do not appear. Check that STEP 1 and STEP 3 are both filled and that the tab is the right category.

See 9. When something's wrong.

Where the formats differ

  • Standard: import the draw text files. The qualifier draw is separate, made after the round robin on the day (step 8).
  • Dual meet: paste, then shuffle in the sheet. No file to import.
  • Team: type Teams. Lineups come later.

Next: 4. Register and build the site.