Blog · Scheduling

How to build a round-robin schedule for any number of teams (yes, even 7)

Every team plays every other team exactly once. It sounds simple, until you're on week 5 with a whiteboard full of arrows, two teams that have somehow played each other twice, and one team that hasn't played at all since the second week. Here's the method that fixes it, and what to do when your team count refuses to cooperate.

The circle method

The classic algorithm, and the one schedulers have used for over a century, is the circle method. For an even number of teams n, you get n − 1 rounds, each with n / 2 games:

  • Write the teams in two rows: 1–4 on top, 5–8 on the bottom (for 8 teams). Each column is a matchup: that's round one.
  • Freeze team 1 in place. Rotate every other team one position clockwise around the "circle."
  • Read the columns again: that's round two. Repeat until the rotation comes back around.

Because everyone except the anchor moves one seat per round, every pair meets exactly once. Eight teams gives you 7 rounds of 4 games: 28 games, no repeats, no gaps.

Odd team counts: the bye that isn't a problem

With 7 teams, add a phantom eighth team called BYE and run the same rotation. Whoever draws the phantom sits that round. Every team gets exactly one bye across 7 rounds, and the schedule stays perfectly balanced. The mistake organizers make is improvising byes ad hoc: that's how one team ends up sitting twice while another never rests.

Where it gets hard in real life

The math is the easy half. Real leagues add constraints the circle method knows nothing about: three courts but seven games, an 8:15 slot nobody wants twice in a row, a team that can't make week 3, referee duty that has to rotate fairly, and tiers that shouldn't mix. Each constraint is solvable by hand; the combination is why scheduling eats an evening every single week.

That's the part worth automating. The round-robin skeleton takes a napkin. Balancing courts, times, refs, and absences all season is a job for software.

Try it: our free Schedule Generator builds a full round-robin for any team count in your browser. And if you'd rather never think about week 5 again, Smart Scheduling does all of the above, every week, in one click.

Never hand-build a schedule again

See a full season generated in one click.

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Privacy Policy

Last updated: 26 July 2026

This policy explains how RecHero (“RecHero”, “we”, “us”) collects, uses, and shares personal information when you use our websites (rechero.app and its subdomains), applications, and services (the “Service”).

1. Two roles: our data vs. your league’s data

RecHero handles personal information in two distinct capacities:

  1. RecHero as the responsible organization (“controller”). For our marketing website, account registration, demo requests, league referrals, support, and the operation of the platform itself, we decide how and why personal information is used, and this policy applies fully.
  2. RecHero as a service provider (“processor”) for organizations. League data — rosters, player names and contact details, scores, photos, posts — is entered and controlled by the organization that runs your league. We process it on the organization’s behalf to provide the Service and per our contract with them. If you are a player with questions about how your league uses your information, or you want your information corrected or removed from a league, contact your league organizer first — we support them in honoring those requests, and you can always reach us too (Section 12).

2. Information we collect

You provide it:

Collected automatically:

From others: organizers may enter your information to add you to a roster or invite you; teammates may add you to a team; a player may refer their league organizer (Section 5).

3. How we use personal information

We do not sell personal information, and we do not “share” it for cross-context behavioral advertising (as those terms are defined under the CPRA). We do not use personal information for automated decisions with legal or similarly significant effects. (Elo judges your team’s skill, not your creditworthiness.)

4. Public content

League websites and community pages that an organizer publishes are public: standings, schedules, team names, rosters as configured by the organizer, posts, and photos on those pages can be viewed by anyone and indexed by search engines. Ask your organizer about your league’s visibility settings.

5. League referrals (information about someone else)

If you refer your league, you give us your organizer’s name and contact details. We use that information only to contact them about RecHero on your behalf — a single introduction that identifies you as the referrer — and to keep a record of the referral. We do not add referred organizers to marketing lists without their consent, and they can ask us to delete their details at any time. Only refer someone you know in the context of the league — that’s also what Canada’s anti-spam law (CASL) requires of referral messages.

6. Cookies and analytics

No cookie banner. Because our marketing site stores nothing on your device and sets no cookies, there is nothing to consent to beyond what this policy describes.

Your control (opt out of analytics). If your browser or a browser extension sends a Global Privacy Control (GPC) signal, or a Do Not Track (DNT: 1) header, our analytics endpoint detects it and records nothing for that visit — no IP address, no user-agent, no page event. This works at our server on every request, with no account and nothing stored on your device. It is both the “means to deactivate” contemplated by Quebec’s Law 25 and the opt-out signal recognized under applicable US state privacy laws.

7. Email

8. How we share personal information

9. Where data is stored; cross-border transfers

Our infrastructure is hosted in the United States. If you are in Canada, your personal information is transferred to and processed in that region, where it is subject to local law and lawful access by local authorities. For Quebec residents (Law 25): personal information is communicated outside Quebec for hosting and the service providers above; we assess these transfers to ensure adequate protection, and contractually require it.

10. Retention

11. Security

We use industry-standard measures: encryption in transit (TLS), hashed passwords, tenant scoping in the application (each organization’s data is isolated by design), least-privilege access, and audit logging. No system is perfectly secure; we maintain an incident-response process and a privacy-incident register (as Law 25 requires), and we will notify you and regulators of breaches as applicable law requires (PIPEDA’s “real risk of significant harm” standard, Law 25, and US state breach-notification laws).

12. Your rights and choices

Everyone: access, correct, or delete your information; withdraw consent; close your account; unsubscribe from marketing. Contact us (Section 14) — we verify requests and respond within the time required by applicable law (30 days under PIPEDA/Law 25; 45 days under CPRA, extendable once).

Marketing-site analytics. These records are keyed to an IP address, not to an account. To avoid collection entirely, send a Global Privacy Control or Do Not Track signal (Section 6) and we record nothing. To remove records already collected, tell us the approximate date and IP address and we will locate and delete them; in practice they age out on their own within 90 days (Section 6).

Canada (PIPEDA / provincial laws): you may request access to and correction of your personal information and information about how it has been used and disclosed, and you may withdraw consent subject to legal or contractual restrictions. You may complain to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada or your provincial regulator (in Quebec, the CAI).

Quebec (Law 25) additionally: the right to data portability in a structured, commonly used technological format; the right to be informed of and object to fully automated decisions (we don’t make them — Section 3); privacy matters are handled by RecHero’s privacy contact, reachable at [email protected].

US state privacy laws (California CPRA and similar): the rights to know/access, correct, delete, and to portability; the right to opt out of sale/sharing and targeted advertising (we do not sell or share personal information, and we do not serve targeted ads); the right to limit use of sensitive personal information (we don’t use it beyond providing the Service); and the right not to be discriminated against for exercising rights. You may use an authorized agent; we verify agent requests. California residents: no “Notice of Financial Incentive” applies because we offer none.

League data: where your request concerns data controlled by your league’s organization (Section 1), we will refer the request to them and assist — this is the PIPEDA accountability and CPRA service-provider model working as intended.

13. Children

The Service is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect their personal information directly. Accounts require users to be 16 or older. Organizers who run youth leagues are responsible for parental consent before entering minors’ information (see Terms of Service, Section 3). If you believe a child’s information was provided to us improperly, contact us and we will delete it.

14. Contact us

Privacy questions, requests, and complaints:

RecHero [email protected]

We respond to privacy requests at this address. If you need a postal address for a regulatory filing, ask and we will provide one.

15. Changes to this policy

We’ll post updates here and change the “last updated” date; for material changes we’ll notify you (email or in-product) before they take effect. Prior versions are available on request.

Terms of Service

Effective: 26 July 2026

These Terms of Service (the “Terms”) are an agreement between RecHero (“RecHero”, “we”, “us”) and you. They govern your use of the RecHero websites (including rechero.app and its subdomains), applications, and services (together, the “Service”).

By creating an account, submitting a form on our website, or using the Service, you agree to these Terms. If you are using the Service on behalf of an organization (for example, as a league organizer), you agree to these Terms on that organization’s behalf and represent that you have authority to do so.

1. What RecHero is

RecHero is a platform for recreational sports organizations to run leagues: scheduling, score capture, standings and ratings, league websites and community pages, player rosters and portals, and related tools.

Different people use RecHero in different roles:

2. Eligibility and accounts

  1. You must be at least 16 years old to create a RecHero account. The Service is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information directly from children under 13.
  2. Keep your account credentials confidential. You are responsible for activity under your account. Tell us promptly at [email protected] if you suspect unauthorized access.
  3. Provide accurate account information and keep it current.
  4. We may suspend or terminate accounts that violate these Terms (see Section 12).

3. Organizer responsibilities

If you administer an organization or league on RecHero, you additionally agree that:

  1. You have the right to enter other people’s information. Organizers routinely enter or upload player names, contact details, and roster information. You represent that you have the consent or another lawful basis to share that information with us so we can provide the Service, and that you will honor players’ requests to correct or remove their information.
  2. Youth participants. If your league includes minors, you are responsible for obtaining any parental or guardian consent required by applicable law before entering their information or inviting them to the Service.
  3. Your league’s rules and safety are yours. RecHero provides software. You are responsible for the conduct and safety of your league’s activities, venues, eligibility rules, and compliance with local requirements (insurance, waivers, facility agreements, and similar).
  4. League websites and community pages you publish are your content. You are the administrator of what appears on your league’s public pages and community spaces, including moderating member posts within your league.

4. Your content

  1. Ownership. You (or your organization or its members) retain ownership of the content you submit to the Service — league information, posts, comments, photos, documents, team names and icons, scores and stats (“User Content”).
  2. License to us. You grant RecHero a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free license to host, store, reproduce, adapt (for example, resizing images), publish, and display User Content as needed to operate and provide the Service — including displaying it on the public league pages the organizer chooses to publish. This license ends when the content is deleted from the Service, except for backup copies retained for a limited period and content already shared publicly by others.
  3. Public pages are public. Content published to a league website or community page is visible to anyone with the link and may be indexed by search engines. Organizers control what is published.
  4. Your responsibilities. You represent that your User Content does not violate anyone’s rights (including privacy, publicity, and intellectual property rights) or any law, and that you have permission from identifiable people appearing in photos you upload.

5. Acceptable use

You agree not to:

We may remove content or restrict accounts that violate this section.

6. Community features

League community pages are for league members. Be a good teammate: no harassment, hate speech, doxxing, or NSFW content. Organizers moderate their leagues; RecHero may also remove content or restrict users at our discretion where these Terms are violated. Report abusive content to [email protected].

If you believe content on the Service infringes your copyright, send a notice to [email protected] including: identification of the work, the URL of the allegedly infringing material, your contact information, a statement of good-faith belief, and a statement, under penalty of perjury, that you are authorized to act. We will process notices in accordance with applicable law (including the DMCA in the US and the notice-and-notice regime in Canada) and may remove content and terminate repeat infringers. Before we promote user-generated-content features (community pages, photo uploads) to US users, we will register a DMCA designated agent with the US Copyright Office and list the agent’s contact details here.

8. Fees and payments

  1. Fees for the Service, if any, are as agreed with your organization. Where no fee schedule has been agreed, the features made available to you are provided free of charge for now; we will give organizations reasonable advance notice before any feature they use becomes paid.
  2. Where the Service is used to collect payments (for example, registration dues or merch orders), payment processing is provided by third-party processors subject to their own terms. Organizers are responsible for the accuracy of amounts they charge and for their own refund policies toward their members, and must use collected funds lawfully.
  3. Taxes are the responsibility of the party required to pay them by law.

9. Intellectual property; feedback

The Service — including software, design, and branding — is owned by RecHero or its licensors and is protected by intellectual-property laws. We grant you a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable right to use the Service in accordance with these Terms. If you send us feedback or suggestions, we may use them without obligation to you.

10. Third-party services

The Service may link to or interoperate with third-party services (for example, maps, payment processors, or video embeds). Those services have their own terms and privacy policies; RecHero is not responsible for them.

11. Privacy

Our Privacy Policy explains what personal information we collect and how we use it, including our roles with respect to league data entered by organizers. It forms part of these Terms.

12. Suspension and termination

  1. By you. You may stop using the Service and delete your account at any time. Organizations may export their data (see Section 13) before closing an account.
  2. By us. We may suspend or terminate access (with notice where practicable) if you materially violate these Terms, create risk or legal exposure for us or other users, or if we discontinue the Service.
  3. Sections that by their nature should survive termination (including Sections 4.2 in respect of prior public sharing, 9, 14, 15, and 16) survive.

13. Your data; portability

Organizations can export their league data (teams, schedules, results, standings) in a portable format. After account closure we delete or de-identify personal information in accordance with the Privacy Policy’s retention terms, except where retention is required by law.

14. Disclaimers

THE SERVICE IS PROVIDED “AS IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE”. TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, RECHERO DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES AND CONDITIONS, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT. WE DO NOT WARRANT THAT THE SERVICE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, ERROR-FREE, OR THAT RATINGS, STANDINGS, OR SCHEDULES WILL BE ACCURATE OR SUITABLE FOR ANY PARTICULAR COMPETITIVE PURPOSE.

RECHERO DOES NOT ORGANIZE, SUPERVISE, OR OPERATE SPORTS ACTIVITIES. PARTICIPATION IN RECREATIONAL SPORTS CARRIES INHERENT RISKS; RECHERO HAS NO RESPONSIBILITY FOR INJURIES, PROPERTY DAMAGE, OR DISPUTES ARISING FROM LEAGUE ACTIVITIES.

Some jurisdictions do not allow certain disclaimers; where that is the case, they apply to the maximum extent permitted. Nothing in these Terms limits non-waivable consumer rights, including under Canadian provincial consumer-protection legislation.

15. Limitation of liability

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW: (a) RECHERO WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, OR FOR LOST PROFITS, REVENUES, DATA, OR GOODWILL; AND (b) RECHERO’S AGGREGATE LIABILITY FOR ALL CLAIMS RELATING TO THE SERVICE IN ANY 12-MONTH PERIOD IS LIMITED TO THE GREATER OF (i) THE AMOUNTS YOU PAID US FOR THE SERVICE IN THAT PERIOD AND (ii) CAD $100. THESE LIMITS DO NOT APPLY TO LIABILITY THAT CANNOT BE LIMITED BY LAW (INCLUDING FOR FRAUD, GROSS NEGLIGENCE, OR WILFUL MISCONDUCT).

16. Indemnity (organizations)

If you use the Service on behalf of an organization, the organization will defend and indemnify RecHero against third-party claims arising from (a) the organization’s User Content, (b) its violation of Section 3 (including entering participants’ information without a lawful basis), or (c) its leagues’ activities — except to the extent caused by RecHero’s own breach of these Terms.

17. Changes to the Service or Terms

We may modify the Service, and we may update these Terms. For material changes we will give reasonable advance notice (email or in-product). The “last updated” date shows the current version; continued use after the effective date constitutes acceptance. If you don’t agree to a change, stop using the Service before it takes effect.

18. Governing law and disputes

These Terms are governed by the laws of the Province of Ontario and the federal laws of Canada applicable there, without regard to conflict-of-law rules. Courts located in Toronto, Ontario have exclusive jurisdiction, and the parties attorn to them — except that either party may seek injunctive relief in any competent court, and consumers retain any right to bring claims in their local courts where the law provides it.

19. General

Entire agreement (together with the Privacy Policy and any order form); severability (invalid provisions are narrowed, remainder stands); no waiver by inaction; you may not assign these Terms without our consent, we may assign to an affiliate or in connection with a merger or asset sale; no agency or partnership is created; notices to us go to [email protected], notices to you go to your account email.

20. Contact

RecHero [email protected]