About

A Rating Built for Beach Volleyball

The TruVolley Rating, or TVR, is an individual rating designed to support fair rankings and tournament seeding. It is based on eligible head-to-head results rather than tournament finish, prize money, or field size. Because beach players frequently change partners, each player carries their own TVR across matches.

Results in Context

A result means more when it exceeds expectations. The system considers the strength and confidence of each player, the strength of each opponent, and how decisive the score was. Upsets generally create larger changes, while an expected win may create a small change or no change. A valid scored win will not lower a player's TVR.

Transparent, Not Gameable

We explain the factors that affect TVR so players can understand their rating. Exact weights, thresholds, and calibration remain private to protect the system from manipulation and preserve the integrity of competition.

FAQ

What is TruVolley?

TruVolley is a proprietary rating system built on Glicko principles and adapted for beach volleyball. TVR measures individual players using eligible head-to-head results, opponent strength, confidence, and score decisiveness. It is designed for a sport where partners change often and players compete across many levels of play.

Where is the data from?

TruVolley combines eligible results from supported professional, international, college, and amateur sources, including VolleyballLife events. Coverage varies by organization and event, and continues to expand. Data is refreshed and ratings are recalculated nightly, so corrected scores or player mappings can affect current and historical TVRs.

How is the system evaluated?

The system is evaluated by how well ratings predict future head-to-head results across different levels and forms of play. Prediction quality is monitored as data and the player population change. Unlike standings or tour points, TVR is intended to estimate individual playing strength rather than reward tournament finish.

Why individual ratings?

Beach volleyball players frequently switch partners. An individual TVR follows the player and reflects their full match history instead of assigning one rating to a temporary team. The system also accounts for substantial differences in partner strength and confidence when evaluating a result.

Why do partners have different ratings?

Each player's TVR reflects matches played with all of their partners and opponents. Regular partners may become more closely rated as they build shared history, but differences can remain because their earlier results, other partners, and confidence levels are different.

What do I do if I have two ratings?

Your profiles may not be mapped together yet. Please reach out with links to both profiles and we will review the identity mapping. Once corrected, the nightly recalculation can apply the change throughout your rating history.

How TVR Works

TVR & Confidence

TruVolley uses a modified Glicko approach. The public rating is TVR, which accounts for both the system's estimate of a player's strength and how confident it is in that estimate.

TruVolley Rating (TVR): The number shown publicly and used to order rankings. A higher TVR represents stronger demonstrated results with sufficient confidence.
Confidence: Indicates how established the system's estimate is. New and returning players generally have lower confidence, so their TVR can change more quickly. High confidence means the estimate is more established, not that it can never change.

How Matches Affect Ratings

Expected Result: Each player is evaluated against the opposing players using their current strength and confidence. This better reflects teams with unequal partners than relying only on a simple team average.
Score Decisiveness: Usable set scores help distinguish a close match from a decisive one. Forfeits and results without enough usable score information do not change TVR.
Match Value: The difference between the expected and actual result determines the size of the change. Upsets are more informative than expected wins. A scored win does not lower TVR, while a heavily expected win may add little or nothing.

Starting, Returning, and Developing Players

Initial TVR: A new player receives a provisional starting estimate based on the competitive context in which they enter, such as division or tour level. Their results then personalize that estimate.
Inactivity: Time away initially reduces confidence rather than directly lowering the underlying estimate of playing strength. That lowers TVR and allows future results to move it more quickly. After a long absence, a player may return with a new provisional estimate.
Developing Juniors: For eligible junior players, confidence may be reduced when they enter a new age season. This lets recent results more quickly reflect development during years when ability can change rapidly.
Competitive Activity: Long periods without appropriately competitive opposition may also reduce confidence, even when a player remains active against substantially different levels of competition.

Separate Rating Pools

Players build separate TVRs for different forms of play, including same-gender beach, coed beach, grass, and outdoor multiple-player formats. Results in one pool do not automatically transfer to another.