[tennisbiz] Re: Challenge Ladder Rules

Ron Woods writes "Any time rules are made, someone seems to find a way
to get around them and the ladder becomes stagnant."

True, that's why, almost 10 years ago, I designed a computer program,
ACTIVE-LADDER, where challenges were replaced by schedules of matches
which had to be played by a specified deadline date.

When the program was new, I volunteered to run the men's singles ladder
at our club. We started in April with a little over 30 players, and when
we finished the season in the end of November, we had 99 players on the
ladder.

We ran on two-week cycles, publishing the scheduled matches on a Tuesday
morning, giving the players until the second Sunday to play their
matches, which gave them almost two weeks, including two weekends.
The program has several options for scheduling the matches, but each
player has only one match to play by the deadline date. The reluctance
to challenge or being challenged is changed into "you and I must play by
next Sunday - when can you make it".

You can add new players when the ladder is in full swing, and in our
case, it was very successful. Anyone interested can read more details at
my web site www.kjell2.com , and I will be happy to answer questions
e-mailed to me at kjell_at_ec.rr.com

Kjell Petterson (Triangle Software)


 
Received on Mon Jun 11 2001 - 08:52:38 CDT