What are your thoughts on playing two skill divisions at a tournament? For example someone signing up for A and B, or Open and A. Personally I don't think anybody should be able to play down a division. If you play somewhat regularly in your state/area tournaments, the tournament directors know what skill level you should be playing and should make sure you play accordingly, i.e. if you're an Open level player you can't play A. However if you're an A player and want to try to play Open in a tournament to gauge where you are and if you're improving, I think you should be allowed to.

Yes you can always play against better players in your club and try to gauge where you are, if you're getting better, etc. But anyone who plays tournaments knows that tournament play is different than regular club play. It's more competetive and people play harder when there's something on the line. I don't see a problem with testing yourself in a true tournament setting.

Thoughts?

Agree. Allow to play up, but never down.

One problem is some new players who are pretty good start off in the D's with the excuse oh this is my first tournament instead of starting where they should be. Where they should be varies between club to club and event to event IMHO.

I run some small Leagues, so I can solve the problem by having everyone play each other and then I can seed a draw based on W/L record and group players a little better.

Maybe they should start way up and work their way down. ;-)

Have a good weekend,
--Joe.

dbarry14

What are your thoughts on playing two skill divisions at a tournament? For example someone signing up for A and B, or Open and A. Personally I don't think anybody should be able to play down a division. If you play somewhat regularly in your state/area tournaments, the tournament directors know what skill level you should be playing and should make sure you play accordingly, i.e. if you're an Open level player you can't play A. However if you're an A player and want to try to play Open in a tournament to gauge where you are and if you're improving, I think you should be allowed to.

Yes you can always play against better players in your club and try to gauge where you are, if you're getting better, etc. But anyone who plays tournaments knows that tournament play is different than regular club play. It's more competetive and people play harder when there's something on the line. I don't see a problem with testing yourself in a true tournament setting.

Thoughts?

It is the way you see it most of the time, playing a higher division instead of a lower one. There are still certain cases where an analysis is necessary. Examples: Playing at a tougher State or at a National level (e.g. a low or even a mid Open player in New Mexico is no match for Open players in California or Texas (there is just a handful of them and not high level Open players) so Elite might be the best option)

Also when players leave the sport for a long time and are just coming back to it or have had injuries and are trying to make it back, the tournament directors let them sign up for a lower division (I'm not particularly advocating for this though)

[quote=jujolosa
Also when players leave the sport for a long time and are just coming back to it or have had injuries and are trying to make it back, the tournament directors let them sign up for a lower division (I'm not particularly advocating for this though)
[/quote]

I've faced my share of those and safe to say they may not be moving all that swift or their shots all too graceful, but they still retain all their experience. I don't like it either.

Later,
--Joe.

Any true Open player with an ounce of pride won't sandbag, so to me, it's a non-issue. You see sandbagging all the time in Bs and Cs but someone will call these guys out. I think guys coming back from injury or a layoff should be given the benefit of the doubt.

With the current ranking system there is no way of preventing this. Now if we were actually rated as in tennis or squash, they could prevent some of this from happening.

joedel

[quote=jujolosa
Also when players leave the sport for a long time and are just coming back to it or have had injuries and are trying to make it back, the tournament directors let them sign up for a lower division (I'm not particularly advocating for this though)

I've faced my share of those and safe to say they may not be moving all that swift or their shots all too graceful, but they still retain all their experience. I don't like it either.

Later,
--Joe.[/quote]

yeap! and it also depends when you play them because there is a huge difference between playing them the first day they are trying it again or already a couple of months after their 'comeback'

If you want to play A/B or Open/A in a tournament, be prepared for four tough matches in one day. If you make it to Sunday, be prepared for two more. That's a lot of racquetball in a 36-hour period. If you have that kind of endurance and the free time on the weekend to play those matches, then Godspeed.

I tried two divisions this past year, and was just absolutely wiped by the time my third match ended. I will most likely try one division only this year unless I think I could benefit from the other matches.

There appears to be the most sandbagging in the B division. Directors have (or at elast should have) the ability to view recent records to determine an appropriate level.

Jason Mannino said it best: Play the division in which you play in your league.

One way to deal with different skill levels is to have a skill level handicap. In our league, all players are rated using WallySpot. Then, reporting exists to scale the win percentages based on a skill level handicap.

So if an open player decides to play in a A tournament, that open player's win percentage may be docked by 15% to figure out the standings and final placement for money prizes. The 15% amount is settable by the tournament organizer.

All the math and reporting is handled for us by the WallySpot website.

Scott