Notes on social tennis, ladders and the admin spiral.
Field notes from clubs running Rallio, plus the thinking behind how we build it.
·4 min readSingles vs Doubles Ladders: Which Should Your Club Run?
The differences between singles and doubles challenge ladders, what goes wrong with each, and how to set up a doubles ladder so pairs keep playing when one partner is away.
·4 min readHow to Seed a Club Tournament (and Where the Byes Go)
How to seed a knockout draw for your club championships: how many seeds to use, where to place them, how byes work when you don't have 8, 16 or 32 entries, and how to seed doubles pairs.
·6 min readHow to Run a Squash Box League (Boxes, Points and Promotion)
A step-by-step guide to running a squash box league: how big to make the boxes, how long each league should run, how to score points, and how to handle promotion, relegation and the rules people argue about.
·4 min readHandicap Tournaments in Tennis and Squash: How They Work
How handicap competitions work in tennis (scratch, −15, −30, −40) and squash (points starts), how to set fair handicaps from players' levels, and how to run a handicap club competition without the arguments.
·6 min readThe Coach's Hack: Turn Your Players Into a Community (Social → Ladder → Competition)
How tennis, padel, squash and pickleball coaches can turn a list of individual pupils into a committed playing group: start with a social, move them into a ladder, then run a competition. Your players learn to play each other, and they stay with you.
·4 min readBox League Points Systems Explained (and Which One to Use)
How box league points work, the 3-2-1-0 system most squash and tennis clubs use, the alternatives, how to break ties and how to score walkovers, so your table is fair and your players keep turning up.
·3 min readYour club system manages the business. Who's managing the playing?
Most club software is built to run the club, not to get people playing. Powered by Rallio is a white label option that sits alongside your existing systems and takes care of the playing side, branded as your club.
·7 min readStop saying sorry: it was no one's fault
Most bad nights on court aren't anyone's fault. They're a mismatch. Why racket sports need ability levels, and how Rallio Levels makes them work however your club already thinks about it.
·3 min readWhat to Look for in a Racket Sports Session Management App
What a racket sports session management app should actually do, and how Rallio handles signups, pairings, reserves and results in one place.
·3 min readHow to Run a Social Tennis Mixer: A Step-by-Step Guide
A practical guide to running a social tennis mixer, from numbers and court balancing to rotations, reserves and results, plus how to take the admin off your plate.
·5 min readHow to Manage Tennis Ladder Rankings (Without the Spreadsheet)
How to manage tennis ladder rankings, from choosing a format and setting the rules to keeping it active, plus how Rallio reorders the ladder automatically.
·5 min readI Built an App to Fix Our Club's Social Tennis. Then It Became Something Else.
It started with a WhatsApp message. A messy Excel spreadsheet. A combinatorial problem nobody had solved. Here's how a weekend hack became Rallio.
·4 min readKeeping the rally going: why social racket sports stop working past 12 people
Every group hits a wall. Past a certain size the WhatsApp chat stops being a tool and starts being the thing you dread checking. Here's what breaks, and how to fix it.
·3 min readFinding a partner shouldn't be this hard
The 'I want a game on Saturday' problem is small for two people and impossible for forty. The answer isn't more apps — it's fewer decisions.
·3 min readOrganiser fog and the forgotten middle
There's a quiet majority of racket-sports players that no app is built for: the intermediate social player. Not a beginner, not in a team, not on a coaching pathway. They're who Rallio is for.
