Topic: USTSA Points

[DRadack]

Who's we? And was it a conscious decision to stop using mixed or an over sight?

[EDGEER]

They are specialty events. To many of the teams are made up of players that have no history together, its kinda like a bring/draw event.  We are considering creating a separate division for mixed, pro-am and 3500 events in the future. Until then we have decided to leave them out of our ratings.

[DRadack]

Again who is we?

many of the teams are made up of players that have no history together

You mean like most of the events for most of the players?

The difference between mixed and limited is limited has restrictions on who can play, so it is almost impossible to plan this out before hand.

[EDGEER]

The we would be Dave C., Gregg and Brian Elliot, Lynk, myself and whom ever else Dave consults with on these matters. However, Dave has the ultimate authority which events and what individuals rank are in the USTSA points book.

[BartOFoos]

EDGEER wrote:
As we proceed the USTSA wants to look into different ways to market tournament play to these players. However, packaged deals makes this process difficult.  So for now and until a solution is determined as to how to best serve these players, you will see a few players that have singles points that do not match their division.

I don't know why most promoters keep ignoring this, GET RID OF THE PACKAGE DEALS, I firmly believe that package deals started the downfall of foosballs comeback in the late 80's. I know for a fact that one of the biggest reasons that the Bart O' foosball tournaments has had the biggest turnouts for tourneys its size ($7,500 to $15,000) over the last 10 years is due to no packages. With lower individual entry fees and no package deals you will have a larger turnout, fewer conflicts and a much smoother ran tourney that more people will want to come back to.

EDGEER wrote:
Starting this year if a player has not renewed their USTSA membership since 2004 they have been removed from the active list and placed on an non-published inactive list.   Also, we are going to start deducting points from players that do not play in a USTSA event each year or renew their USTSA membership annually.

This will screw up the points system and allow for more sandbagging than ever before. They're hundreds if not thousands of players across North America that play in one or more sanctioned tournaments every year that don't go to or play at Worlds where they have to pay to have their USTSA membership renewed. I can think of about 2 dozen or more players just in Austin alone. We have a amateur team here in Austin that has 3 Amateur titles at the Bart O' (Mark Ross & Steve MacGregor), I don't know the last time that they renewed their membership, but now they're not even listed in the points update and I'm assuming that they're not going to gain any points for the 2009 Bart O' Rookie Doubles title, their 2nd Rookie Doubles title together and they also have a Semi-pro/Rookie Doubles title from the Bart O'.

quote:
Because it always was until im not sure when. Certainly when elo started for the first 2 years. The Women have traditional points which should accurately represent there skill level, so its like playing any other event which is more data. Which is what Elo needs to function. Its not like before when women had 3000 points when they played at an 1800 level.

I know that mixed Doubles at the 2008 Bart O' counted towards your points.

[KCTrayn]

Ed, check your PM

[EDGEER]

Any player that is inactive in a rating system is most likely not correctly rated.  We removed these inactive players because if they have not played in a rated event in a number of years, any rank assigned them cannot be accurate.  However, with cooperation between promoters and the USTSA/TFL, a promoter can have their regional and State tournaments included in the USTSA/TFL points book. 

The programmers have written an interface with Mark Winker's Netfoos that allows us to import results into the ratings database.  So if you are interested in having your Tournament rated and your players added to the active points book, send me a email/pm and I will give you all the details.

Also, anyone who would like to be added to the active points book can call league headquarters at 800.544.1346 and ask about renewing or becoming a member.

[PatRyan]

I'll bite...What do I get for renewing my "membership", other than having my name listed in the points list?  Oh, and 1 or maybe 2 Table Talks (which is essentially a recap of the last Major Tornado Tournament, with a list of winners).

Poke....poke.....

[Daniel]

The programmers have written an interface with Mark Winker's Netfoos that allows us to import results into the ratings database.

Is this for any size event?

[EDGEER]

I'll bite...What do I get for renewing my "membership", other than having my name listed in the points list?  Oh, and 1 or maybe 2 Table Talks (which is essentially a recap of the last Major Tornado Tournament, with a list of winners).

Poke....poke.....

I responded to a PM with this.

Not much, but I am not the one that should answer that question. If I do not get the support of promoters like yourself then any hopes for a ratings system is futile. But like you pointed out, if you want to promote tournaments with divisions you are going to need to be part of a larger group such as the USTSA or IFP or something. Otherwise, your old pros that are not rated any longer will club all the baby seals in your event.

The best way is to call the USTSA/TFL league headquarters at 800.544.1346 and ask about renewing or becoming a member. If you make your event USTSA sanctioned and require all the players to be active members, I will provide you with the current ratings of your inactive players and help you set your tournament up in netfoos.

[ComebackKid]

I'll bite...What do I get for renewing my "membership", other than having my name listed in the points list?  Oh, and 1 or maybe 2 Table Talks (which is essentially a recap of the last Major Tornado Tournament, with a list of winners).

Poke....poke.....

I took a long layoff from foos from 1991 to 2001. I didn't play again until 2008 in any tour events. Last year I played in Texas State and Worlds. Renewed my "membership" at Worlds, but still haven't sniffed the cover of Table Talk. To enter an event at Worlds I had to pay the dues and renew the membership, this is required. It seems to me that if you are going to require this then you should make sure you uphold you part. I know I'm using "you" but I don't mean you Ed, but the organization. I didn't do very well at Worlds in Semis, but I got 3rd in SP doubles at Texas State and my points dropped a bunch, from 1600 to 1463, this I do not understand. From what I understand about the ELO system there should not be major swings in points unless there is consistant losses or wins to lesser or better oponents. Again not harping on you, just trying to get an understanding of how things are done.

[BriL]

Looks like the weighting of the ELO has been changed? Previously at a major you could maybe get just over 30 points maxiumum for winning and losing a match ( AM beating a promaster) . Now this is 50+ points? An AM beating an AM is probably at 30 points now, twice what it used to be.

[ComebackKid]

Bump

[EDGEER]

Table Talk is now an online magazine.  Go to www.vifa.com Depending on who you play your points can change up to 50+ points per match.

[TSR_Brad]

Question: Do non-Pro Master players really care about how many points they have other than for determining their rank?