Matches and rules

If you’re looking for a team to play in or you can’t find a player to complete your team, you can post your request in the Facebook group “Cerco squadra e giocatore BeachVolleyMarathon” (“Looking for a team and athlete BeachVolleyMarathon”).

You can download the “BeachVolleyMarathon” app for free from the site: www.bvm-app.it, to check the schedule of the matches, the match scores, the general ranking, the court locations, the tournament rules, and to access a lot of other interesting content.

To participate in the tournament as an ‘Athlete’ you must have a fitness medical certificate for non competitive sports (certificate of good health issued by your GP/family doctor) or, alternatively, a fitness medical certificate for competitive sports – which must be valid at the time of the dates of the event.  At registration, all medical certificates of all team members must be uploaded online. An exception to the above will be made for all athletes, members of a recognized sports promotion body or of a national sports federation recognised by the CONI (the Italian Olympic Games Committee), who will have a fitness medical certificate for sports valid for the 2022-2023 season. These athletes, at registration, will state the body/federation they are members of and declare that their fitness medical certificate for sports is valid at the time of the event.

Note: during the event a doctor will be at the disposal of the participants who will want to be visited to get their health certificate for sports. It will be possible to get a payment doctor’s appointment (without booking) in the medical area near the central court on the days below:

• Thursday from 6.00 p.m. to 9.00 p.m.
• Friday from 7.45 a.m. to 9.00 p.m
• Saturday  from 7.45 a.m. to 12.00 p.m.

The team composition (roster) is decided by entering the names of the athletes at registration. Any changes to the team composition (e.g.: replacing/adding/removing new athletes, variation in the required data and uploading of medical certificates) can always be made following these steps:

• After registration by sending an email to the organizing office with your request (bvm@radunisportivi.it);
• Asking for the change at check-in.

An athlete can also be added during the qualifying matches with a formal request to the Director of the tournament who, after verifying the regularity of the request, will update the team composition, provided that the new athlete has not already played matches in the same game category. One athlete only can be added to the 2×2 F/M/Mixed categories and up to two athletes for the 3×3 F/M and 4×4 Mixed categories, without surpassing the limit of the possible reserves for the category. Important: if the players in the court are not the same of the team composition (roster), the team will be immediately expelled from the tournament. No repechage of other teams will take place. The expelled team will have no refund rights or any awarding of prize money.

The 2×2 M/2×2 F matches will take place on Friday and Saturday and will include a qualifying rounds (on Friday) and a final rounds (on Saturday) following a competition bracket with 32 teams with double elimination system: after the first game lost the team will move to the losing bracket and the team will be eliminated after the second match lost. The matches on Friday and Saturday are played in a single set to 21 points, with a 2 points lead with a 23; the finals matches only (1^st -2^nd and 3^rd -4^th places on Saturday) are played using the two out of three sets, to 21 points, with a 2 points lead with a 23 points limit and eventual 3^rd set is played to 15 points with a, 2 points lead without a score limit. In May, the best 64 teams of the qualifying round for both categories will access the final round of Saturday, divided in two separate brackets: Gold bracket (1^st-32^nd) and Silver bracket (33^rd-64^th). In September, the best 32 teams of the qualifying round for both categories will access the final round on Saturday (Gold bracket 1^st-32^nd). Note: Teams that not show up at the assigned court, or show up more than 5 minutes late of the scheduled time on the scoresheet, or be incomplete (without the minimum athletes’ number based on the category) will be declared defeated by forfait with a score of 0-21. As an exception to the above mentioned rule, teams with one or more athletes playing a match in a different category at the same time of the beginning of the match, will be granted a 40-minutes delay from the scheduled time on the scoresheet. Beyond that time -40 minutes- the team will be asked by the Director of the Tournament to choose which match they will play in and, therefore, which match they will lose by default. Giving up a match will not entail an obligation of refund to the team by the organization of event. Teams playing several final round matches in different categories are required to let the Director of the Tournament know of any concurrent matches.

The 2×2 Mixed matches will take place on Friday and on Sunday. The playing formula for qualifying will be Round Robin system (on Friday from 1:30 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.) with pools of four/five teams. A provisional ranking, based on the quotient of the scores of each team, will be established at the end of the qualifying round. In case of an equal score, the best places will be assigned according to the registration date and in the case of a further equal score lots will be drawn. The final round is played on Sunday with a bracket with 32 teams, following the double elimination system: after the first defeat the team will move to the losing bracket; after two defeats the team will be eliminated. In May, the best 64 teams of the qualifying round will access the final round of Saturday, divided in two separate brackets: Gold Bracket (1^st-32^nd) and Silver Bracket (33^rd-64^th). In September, the best 32 teams of the qualifying round will access the final round on Sunday (Gold bracket 1^st-32^nd). All matches are played in a single set to 21 points, with a 2 points lead with a 23 points limit; the finals matches (1^st and 2^nd places) are also played in a single set to 21 points but in this case with a 2 points lead without a score limit.

Note: Teams that not show up at the assigned court, or show up more than 5 minutes late of the scheduled time on the scoresheet, or be incomplete (without the minimum athletes’ number based on the category) will be declared defeated by forfait with a score of 0-21. As an exception to the above mentioned rule, teams with one or more athletes playing a match in a different category at the same time of the beginning of the match, will be granted a 40-minutes delay from the scheduled time on the scoresheet. Beyond that time -40 minutes- the team will be asked by the Director of the Tournament to choose which match they will play in and, therefore, which match they will lose by default. Giving up a match will not entail an obligation of refund to the team by the organization of event. Teams playing several final round matches in different categories are required to let the Director of the Tournament know of any concurrent matches.

The matches of the 3×3 F, 3×3 M and 4×4 Mixed categories will take place on Saturday and Sunday and it will include a qualifying round (on Saturday) with Round Robin system with pools of four/five teams. A provisional ranking, based on the quotient of the scores of each team, will be established at the end of the qualifying round for each category. In case of an equal score, the best positions will be assigned according to the registration date and in the case of a further equal score lots will be drawn. The final round (on Sunday), based on the ranking above, wil be played with single elimination system until the final matches in all the brackets. On Saturday and Sunday the matches are played in a single set to 21 points with a 2 points lead with a 23 points limit; the finals matches (1st-2nd place) are also played in a single set to 21 points with but in this case with a 2 points lead without a score limit. For the 3x3M /3x3F and 4×4 Mixed categories, the best ranked 768 teams in the qualifying round will access the final round, divided in four different brackets: Platinum Bracket (1^st -192^nd); Gold Bracket (193^rd -384^th); Silver Bracket (385^th -576^th); Bronze Bracket (577^th -768^th). In the event that the bracket of a final round has less than 32 teams, those teams will be included in the bracket that precedes it, for example: a Bronze Bracket with 30 registered teams will be included in the Silver Bracket. For the 3×3 M/F and the 4×4 Mixed categories the final match for the 3^rd and 4^th place will not be played: the two losing semi-finalist teams will both be placed 3^rd and will be awarded an equal prize money. Note: Teams that not show up at the assigned court, or show up more than 5 minutes late of the scheduled time on the scoresheet, or be incomplete (without the minimum athletes’ number based on the category) will be declared defeated by forfait with a score of 0-21. As an exception to the above mentioned rule, teams with one or more athletes playing a match in a different category at the same time of the beginning of the match, will be granted a 40-minutes delay from the scheduled time on the scoresheet. Beyond that time -40 minutes- the team will be asked by the Director of the Tournament to choose which match they will play in and, therefore, which match they will lose by default. Giving up a match will not entail an obligation of refund to the team by the organization of event. Teams playing several final round matches in different categories are required to let the Director of the Tournament know of any concurrent matches.

Participating athletes will act as referees according to the tournament schedule available in the dedicated section of the “BeachVolleyMarathon App”. The finals matches will be refereed by official referees. All matches must be played in accordance with fair play values, athletes must accept the referee’s decisions and be respectful of all the other participants and referees; otherwise, in the most serious cases, the Director of the Tournament can decide, at their own discretion, to exclude the participant from the tournament without any refund obligation.

The participants refereeing the matches will have to fill in scoresheets. The final score of the match must be clearly legible and must be signed by both teams in acceptance. In case of non-authentication, the final result of the match will still be considered valid and hence registered.

Note: those scoresheets that do not allow a clear assignation of the result due to incomplete, false or illegible data will not be taken into consideration.

For the 2×2 Mixed, 3×3 F/3×3 M and 4×4 Mixed categories, teams must check and verify the accuracy of the final results of their matches displayed in the dedicated section of the “BeachVolleyMarathon” App. The results of the morning matches (8:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.) have to be checked before 2:00 p.m.; the results of the afternoon matches (1:30 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.) have to be checked before 7:00 p.m.– After those times no correction request of the results will be accepted.

In the qualifying rounds of the 2×2 Mixed, 3×3 F/3×3 M and 4×4 Mixed categories, the results of the matches ended by forfait will be assigned to the losing team with a score of 0 points won and 21 points suffered, this scoring will determine the quotient for the provisional ranking. However no points will be counted and assigned to teams winning the match by forfait.

At the end of the qualifying rounds, the ranks for the 2×2 Mixed, 3×3 F/3×3 M and 4×4 Mixed categories will be available from 9:00 p.m. of the qualifying day, in the dedicated section of the BeachVolleyMarathonApp, where it will also be possible to verify the schedule of the matches and the refereeing assigned for the final round of all categories.

Teams that not show up at the assigned court, or show up more than 5 minutes late of the scheduled time on the scoresheet, or be incomplete (without the minimum athletes’ number based on the category) will be declared defeated by forfait with a score of 0-21. As an exception to the above mentioned rule, teams with one or more athletes playing a match in a different category at the same time of the beginning of the match, will be granted a 40-minutes delay from the scheduled time on the scoresheet. Beyond that time -40 minutes- the team will be asked by the Director of the Tournament to choose which match they will play in and, therefore, which match they will lose by default. Giving up a match will not entail an obligation of refund to the team by the organization of event.

Note: teams playing several final round matches in different categories are required to let the Director of the Tournament know of any concurrent matches.

For the finals and for all the other matches played at the central court, athletes must wear the official event tank top (handed at check-in). Note: should any team not comply, they will not be awarded any prize money.

The event will take place in any weather condition. In case of rain and other particularly adverse weather conditions or circumstance (other external events) the Director of the Tournament can decide to suspend the matches once, or more than once, and to resume them when the external conditions will allow it. The match will resume with the same score it had at the time of the suspension.

For the 2×2 F/M categories:

• In the case of a permanent suspension of the qualifying round matches, the placements of the teams still in the game, that have not been assigned yet, will be decided according to the registration date or, in case of a tie, by drawing lots. In the case of not being able to play any qualifying round matches, the ranking will be decided according to the registration date or, in case of a tie, by drawing lots.
• In the case of a permanent suspension of the finals round matches, for each related bracket, the prize money, except for the part that may have already been awarded, will be equally divided among the remaining teams, still in the game at the time of the suspension, except when the amount of the award to be assigned to each team will be less than 50.00 euros per team.

For the 2×2 Mixed categories:

• In the case of a permanent suspension of the qualifying round matches, the provisional rank will be established according to the results of each team at the time of the suspension; a default score, based on the average score (quotient points) of all the matches so far played, will be assigned to those teams that will not have played any games. In case of an equal score, places will be assigned according to the registration date and in the case of a further equal score lots will be drawn.  In the case of not being able to play any qualifying round matches, the ranking will be decided according to the registration date or, in case of a tie, by drawing lots.
• In the case of a permanent suspension of the finals round matches, for each related bracket, the prize money, except for the part that may have already been awarded, will be equally divided among the remaining teams, still in the game at the time of the suspension, except when the amount of the award to be assigned to each team will be less than 50.00 euros per team.

For the 3×3 and the 4×4 categories:

• In the case of a permanent suspension of the qualifying round matches, the provisional ranks will be established according to the results of each team at the time of the suspension; a default score, based on the average score (quotient points) of all the matches so far played in their category, will be assigned to those teams that will not have played any games. In case of an equal score, places will be assigned according to the registration date and in the case of a further equal score lots will be drawn. In the case of a permanent suspension of the qualifying round matches, the prize money for each category will be equally divided among the brackets, according to the percentages applied to the different positions in the ranks.
• In the case of a permanent suspension of the finals round matches, for each related scoreboard, the prize money, except for the part that may have already been awarded, will be equally divided among the remaining teams, still in the game at the time of the suspension, except when the amount of the award to be assigned to each team will be less than 50.00 euros per team.