RANKING SYSTEM OVERVIEW
The SportsBeat Club Ranking System is aimed at reducing the administrative effort to operate member programmes and at improving the attitude of players who are interested in competitive play. First,
the time and effort needed to keep boxes, team leagues and even the club open ladder up to date and purged of ambivalent players can be put to better achievements around the club. For that reason, the advent of the personal computer and its
coming of user-friendliness, there is a new means of accomplishing the work. However, magic still does not happen! The administrator must still make some decisions on players not fulfilling their obligations, new members must be appropriately
ranked, and leagues/boxes must be defined and processed each cycle. Second, the attitude of many players is to approach a match against an opponent with a mindset of working only as hard as it takes to win because any extra effort
nets no gain. Well, that has changed with the Next, the system issues numerous reports to permit the administrator to perform
necessary reviews and to post appropriate listings for viewing by club members. Also, This is all based upon the Windows® platform where the members can easily keep their data up to date such that reports
printed by others will have the correct phone numbers. It allows the players to easily enter the results of matches and then see what affect that has on their respective ranks. It is a source of conversation on the position and performance of
players. We hope that everyone who uses it views it as such.
OPERATION PARAMETERS
The system is comprised of two programs; one for an administrator and the other for the members. The program is designed to operate on a kiosk setup and even is ready for touch screen operation.
The setting up of leagues, control of ranking calculations and the like, are tasks which must be done before the players start using
the Members Ranking module. The program is based upon a ranking scale upon which the members rise and fall due to the entry of their match results. This
movement is non linear
in that many factors are considered in the final calculation. The movement capability of the highest player is a factor of the program's ranking algorithm which is more likely to push a loser down from the top player than continually move the top player up thereby avoiding ranking valuation upward creep. The ranking algorithm forces a player to continually establish the ranking position by the strength of the win over opponents. A weak win will cause the winner to lose points or the loser to gain points. This is a
unique condition which SportsBeat has introduced into the racquet sports (and handball) at clubs. It is the only program which allows a higher ranked
player to advance when playing a lower ranked player.
All other systems are based upon a higher ranked player holding a position until disposed by a lower ranked challenger and so the only opponents available are those above yourself in the rankings — the others are a waste of your time as you stand to gain nothing!
A ranking sequence (1,2,3,...) is easily obtained by printing a report in Ranking Value order. The system is compatible with LAN (Local Area Network) operation for the multiple sports clubs wishing to place a kiosk
in close proximity to each sport's courts for each sport on the system.
LEAGUES AND TEAMS
Most clubs have leagues in which their members can participate. The SportsBeat
system treats both Box (Ladder) Leagues and Team Leagues similarly in the setup of the league and then differentiates the setup of the boxes and teams within them. The League must be designated as Box or Team wherein the Box type involves a group of players who must complete a round robin of play amongst themselves
before the end of the current cycle of the league, whereas the Team type involves a group of players who will complete a round robin of play against other groups
, each competition retaining the sequence of the group for pairing of the competitors. The time duration for a Box League is four to five weeks, whereas for a
Team League it will be several months. This is important in the definition of the league to indicate to the program how to recognize those matches entered as having validity in earning credit for play in the league. At the
expiration of the time, the league will be 'processed' to determine the standings. Processing the leagues, or rather, updating the standings means that, for a Box League, it is movement of players into different boxes occurring
upon the results of their wins/losses, whereas, for a Team League it will mean tallying the wins/losses of the teams to determine the point values of each team and thus a sequence of standings. Another characteristic of the
differences in these two types of leagues is that a Box League can go on indefinitely, with recurring processes, whereas a Team League tends to terminate at the end of its process.
SETTING UP LEAGUES
The Browse Leagues screen will show which leagues, Box Ladders and
Teams, are defined and the related teams and players within them The regular functions of Insert, Change and Delete permit the definition and maintenance of the leagues. The League editing form is quite straight
forward in the details to be entered in order to adequately describe it, differentiate it and to control the operations upon it by the program. Certain restrictions can be applied as to: Rank Value (minimum to maximum), Age, Gender and Status.
Once defined, it is only a matter of loading players into the league and letting the program put them onto the teams.
LOADING LEAGUES
The initial loading of players into the respective boxes/teams of the league is performed by selecting the players and then letting the program allocate them according to their rank value and any limiting criteria of the league. Players can be picked manually by the administrator, from the members' list or by doing a QBE search on a particular criteria, or automatically by having the members indicate by the Enrol button, on the toolbar of the members' Ranking module, that they wish to participate in the particular league. The Load League button performs the actual task of loading the players onto existing or newly created (automatically) teams.
BOXES PROCESSING
The SportsBeat system offers a 1 Up - 1 Down, a 2 Up - 2 Down and an Up 'n Up. The first two methods are quite well know in the Box Ladder format so do not need further explanation, whereas the Up 'n Up (and Down 'n Down) choice in the program will advance those players who have won all their matches by an extra box and, conversely, for players who have lost all their matches, they will drop an extra box. Depending on the number of players per box, some players may remain in the same box number. Another factor which can alter the number in which a player is newly located, is that of addition of new players and the deletion of withdrawing players. The program offers the administrator the penalizing of players who do not complete their round robin of play. The penalty can be slight, moving the player down an extra box; or severe, deleting the player from the league altogether.
TEAMS LEAGUE
In like manner, the Team can be named to whatever is desired as opposed to the generic name given by the program. Usually, the players
of the team submit such a change to the administrator. This naming of teams is common due to the length of time these players will be associated and a willingness to establish an identity as a Team.
This loading of players process also considers rank value for the actual placing of players onto teams. It is here that the team method deviates from the boxes method. The team allocation method places the players
across all teams, one per team, and then repeats this process until all players in the league are allocated. This attempts to balance the teams by rank value and will result in players being matched against players of
similar rank by their sequence on the team. TEAMS PROCESSING After each team has played each other, the summation of the teams' points as a result of the periodic matches of its team members against
other teams will determine the final order of position of each team. However, on a regular basis the teams can be processed to produce a standing as of the intermediate dates, and incomplete play, of the league.
PLAYERS
ADDING PLAYERS
The SportsBeat Members' Ranking module permits members to add themselves into the player database. They are guided through entering name and phone number particulars to the entering and verifying of a password. However, before the new members are able to enter match results, the sports professional must allocate them with a rank (usually based upon a court session to determine the playing skill level of the new member). The player is then seeded into the ranking scale.
UPDATING PLAYERS
The members have the responsibility to maintain their data currency. It is to their advantage to do so in order that any competitor reports printed by other players will have the correct contact information, else they will
miss out on calls for matches. This is easily done by the member pressing the Myself button on the toolbar of the Members' Ranking module. They can change their password as they wish. Every entry of a new
password requires a verification re-entry just so no keystroke error causes a member to be locked out by an incorrect password.
ENROLLING IN LEAGUES
The Enrol button will take a member through the necessary steps to 'sign up' as a participant in a league, either Box or Team. The browse
Leagues screen shows the leagues in different colors as to whether its a Box or Team type (most often the name indicates this without the color being necessary). At the next processing cycle for that league, the player
will become Active in the league by being 'seeded' into the appropriate position as a result of their ranking value at that time.
Marketing: rpeterman@sportsbeatsystems.com
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