Thursday, September 15, 2016

Did you know???

Did you know that you can look up the record and rating of any player who competes in tournaments? To illustrate, I'm going to look up all possible historical and current info on our best Fox Valley player, Derek Wrobewski.



The record.



Two sites that I know of keep a record of tournament performance. It would be nice if all the information was in one place, but there is no "official" record book, so private sites vie for that honor.

1. The oldest and largest of these sites is PickleballTournaments.com. In order to study a player's computer record, you must follow this link tree:

Click on "players"

Click on "player look-up" in the drop-down menu

In the space provided, type in at least the first three letters of the player's last name

From the choices, select the one you are looking for


When we follow this procedure for Derek, we find this record.



2. The up-and-comer in this field is TopDogPickleball.com. In order to study a player's computer record, you must follow this link tree:

Click on "Search for players, teams and clubs"

Type in the player's last name in the space provided

The computer will keep narrowing down the selection as you type.

When you see your selection appear, click on it


When we follow this procedure for Derek, we find this record.



The ratings.



If you followed the procedure so far, you have already found two sources of rating information:

PickleballTournaments.com lists Derek as a 4.0/4.0 (doubles/singles). These rankings are based on whatever Derek has entered into the computer, so they are completely unofficial.

TopDogPickleball.com lists Derek as a 4.144/4.0/4.0 (men's doubles, mixed doubles, singles). This rating is based on the matches listed in their own tournament record.


There is one more source of ratings information. The official ratings are kept by the USAPA, and are created by the ratings of objective observers like tournament directors, club chairmen, and pickleball coaches. In order to research a player:

Go to the top menu and move the cursor to Tournaments and Ratings

Move the cursor to IFP/USAPA Player Ratings in the drop-down menu.

Choose IFP/USAPA Player Ratings in the second drop-down menu.

Click on the first letter of the player's last name.

Scroll down until you find the right name in alphabetical order.