Ratings Based tournament

[Scott]

What is a "Ratings Based" tournament?

[Tim]

It's supposed to be where everyone plays in a particular division according to their rating. Thing is, the TD can't really force players to play in a specific division unless their rating is too high. Also, non-PDGA members kinda throw a wrench in the works too.

[Scott]

Originally Posted by Tim

It's supposed to be where everyone plays in a particular division according to their rating. Thing is, the TD can't really force players to play in a specific division unless their rating is too high. Also, non-PDGA members kinda throw a wrench in the works too.

That's kind of what I figured.

Why can't a TD force a player to play within their division? If a player signs up for a R.B. tournment, he should understand that he would have to play within his division. The TD makes the cards, and tells players where to start. If a player doesn't like it he doesn't have to play.

Isn't it that simple?

[Chuck Kennedy]

Most events are now ratings based if you don't offer any age based or womens divisions. In an RB event, players aren't forced to play in their rating division, they just can't play in the ones below it. If you offer only Open, Advanced, Int, Rec, Novice and Int Women, you essentially cover the ratings ranges. The only waiver you need from the PDGA office allows you to force Ams over 969 rating to play Open in your event.

I'm doing a version of this with several Super Class events this year. The only divisions I'm offering are Open (935+), Int (935>) and Novice (850>) plus Int Women if at least two show up. The Advanced players with ratings over 934 have to enter Open and receive merch if they cash so they retain their am status. Our winter leagues showed that Advanced players have no problem hanging with Open players and in some cases are better. Of course, with Super Class being so new, Open players haven't had much chance or incentive to develop their game to a higher level. But for now, the Open divisions will be bigger than normal due to combining them with Advanced and still having fair competition.

[TreeLove]

Why use such confusing division names? Why segregate women? How about just:

935+ division
850-934 division
<850 division

for example? (Though I would like to see more divisions, with narrower rating ranges. I don't think 850 players have much of a shot against 930 players.)

[Chuck Kennedy]

The division names are the official PDGA names for the divisions with those ratings breaks. That's how the scores will be reported for posting and display on the PDGA site and points awarded.

The women aren't segregated and have to play in one of the three named divisions if their rating is over 799. However, Int Women is 800> so it's the next logical rating break step below Novice. Unfortunately, it's not a unisex division.

As I've posted before, our event results so far with Super Class indicate a much narrower spread in scores compared with Hi-Tech discs. So, an 850 player can match a 934 player at least in one round and we'll find out if it works for two rounds. Players in the 930-950 regularly matched 980-1000 rated players in our league.

[SMOKIN JOE]

I think it is a good idea
it would elimenate sandbagging for non-pdga players and reward people for being a current pdga member with rated rounds
if you don't have a current ranking your not eligable

[ChUcK]

Originally Posted by SMOKIN JOE

I think it is a good idea
it would elimenate sandbagging for non-pdga players and reward people for being a current pdga member with rated rounds
if you don't have a current ranking your not eligable

I don't think that's the way it works, Joe. At least, not traditionally. Nothing will ever stop non-PDGA members who are competitive in Open from playing Am II and cleaning up.

The only tourneys I know of that require PDGA membership are NTs and such. Plus, how could you deny entrance to a player who is a new member but hasn't yet received a rating? That's not cool.

[Chuck Kennedy]

The TD can prevent non-members who are competitive in Open from entering Am II and do in many parts of the U.S. The only potential baggers are new members without a rating that might be able to fool the TD into putting them into a lower division than their skill level.