Board Votes To Submit New Rating System For Membership Approval

December 27, 2001

he SCDL Board of Directors, during their meeting on Wednesday (12/26), approved a proposal to go before the membership on January 4 that would be the largest change to the Rating System since the A2 Division was created in 1998. The most obvious change is that for the first time, 4-player team games would count for qualifying and in rating averages.

While the actual chart portion of the Rating System (see Current Rating System), that defines what rating is assigned to what average does not change at all, nearly all of the other wording in the rule is revised in the proposal. The key change is to the section that currently says, "50% of your average is based on your Singles record, and 50% is based on your Doubles Record".

League Secretary Scott Martin said, "The current system means that a Singles game in C or B Divisions does not count the same as it does in the A Division because they play 3 doubles games there. When we decided to rate the doubles league on Monday night it got even worse because they play two sets of Singles and four Doubles, one of which is worth two points!"

The proposed Rating System changes the basis of figuring averages to "player-points" which are "the match points awarded for winning a game divided by the number of players on each side" - including team games. This would mean that a Team Spanish game would be worth 1/4 point toward a player's average, while Team 1001 would contribute 1/2 point to averages because Team 1001 is worth 2 match points.

Member-at-Large Dave Maxwell did a spot-check on Fall Season records to see what effect the changes would have made to player averages. "The biggest change I found was by .080 in one case," he said, "but I don't think most people would see a large difference in their averages. It will be a big change to qualifications, though, and team captains would have to consider the new rule when setting up their lineups over the course of a season."

Qualifications for ratings, playoffs and MVP's would also change if the proposal is passed by the members. Qualifying would be based on the same "player-points" as the averages instead of simply "games" as they are now. While team games would count for qualifying, they would not count as much as Singles, for instance. "But a player could qualify for playoffs and a rating by playing only team games," said Scott, "It would take 9 weeks or so, playing every team game, but it could be done."

Eric Arroyo, the other Member-at-Large, said, "It is more complicated but it's also fair and more consistent from division to division and I think it's the way to go. You could still sit down with a calculator and figure out your own average if you wanted to double check it."

Other changes to the wording were put into the proposal to make it more general, taking the rated doubles league into account as well as the traditional team leagues. "We're trying to allow for future developments here too," said Scott, "This proposal would apply just as well to a Mixed-triples or even a Singles league if we decided to do anything like that down the road."

The proposal is due to be presented at the Winter Banquet on January 4 where the membership will vote on making it official. If it passes, it would go into effect immediately for the upcoming Winter 2002 Season. Vice President and League Scorekeeper Dave Race said, "I've got my work cut out for me to get the stats program updated if this passes. I can't make the changes ahead of time since it's not the official Rating System until after the vote. Then, I'll have less than a week to get it changed and tested out, but I think it will be worth it."

The full text of the proposal should be posted on this website within the next few days.