The New Ratings: Here is some information about the new ratings and the NEOTA position.

"The National Oversight Group (NOG) is charged with maintaining the integrity of the National Tennis Rating Program. The nationwide movement of a higher percentage of players upward this year reflects the concerns of NOG, the Observers and many others who are staff, volunteers, team captains and players that the system was in need of adjustment. Additionally, it was noted through player concerns raised in survey work. A growing disconnect was seen between the standards used in the Self Rating guidelines and the actual characteristics of players on court at various levels.Players will continue to have compatible and competitive matches although many will now be playing at a different level. Players will also find that there will be far less ability to appeal NTRP ratings successfully based on current appeal guidelines"

There is only one way to appeal your rating and that is on TennisLink. If a player's appeal does not qualify under the  guidelines, then they will not be granted an appeal. The USTA/Midwest Section/NEOTA USTA League program is governed by the decisions of the USTA League National Oversight Group (NOG) and we have no control over individual NTRP ratings. We have been request to state the following: Please do not call the NEOTA office staff, nor Midwest Section staff nor National Staff, as they do not have the ability to change these ratings.

Larry Jones, USTA NTRP Coordinator, has previously responded to other concerned seniors from NEOTA and other districts in our Midwest Section. Larry has been with the NTRP program since its conception (he was one of the original creators ). Larry’s response:

“Basically USTA NOG committee tries to address each year, systemic issues which are affecting all players and are not putting and keeping the correct players at the correct levels. And at the same time NOG has to address specific players and groups of players who are deliberately manipulating the system in order to advance to championships or satisfy their ego needs of having a high rating.

The move up of additional players this year is primarily addressing systemic issues which have caused players to slip down to lower levels through no fault of their own. NOG noticed the 3.0 and 3.5 levels getting larger in their percentage of players each year. NOG determined that it was not because the older or stronger players were leaving the system as much as that they were just slipping downwards within the system. We have made corrections and enhancements to our calculation algorithms which should prevent this in the future but we had to do a manual change at this time to get everyone back where they belong. ( we are getting feedback from the field that we were overaggressive at the bottom and actually did not do enough at the top levels ).

Please recognize that with our 300,000 players who get ratings each year, if we are correct 99.9% of the time then we still will be wrong for 300 players. We hope that we have chosen the amounts of increase or lack thereof at each level and gender carefully enough to be close to that 300 figure. Setting the values differently would have possibly allowed thousands of players to remain at what we consider to be levels which are too low

When I have asked Larry Jones, USTA NTRP Coordinator how the new rating adjustment effected the seniors, Larry stated that”

“The rating system does not directly take age into account at all. It just looks at each match individually and assigns ratings based on whether the player wins or loses and more importantly, how strong (the rating value) of the opponents and partners are and the closeness of the score of the match. Thus senior players will see their rating go down when not performing well against some opponents, as opposed to having some factor assigned and subtracted to their rating because of their age. We have continually seen that this approach works properly Age is factored into the system in the sense that as players age and have less and less success in their NTRP levels, their rating eventually drop down into the next lower level.”

 

A Positive Comment:

From: Larry W. Hollar 
Sent: Tuesday, February 23, 2010 2:18 PM
To: Schobel, David - This is the USTA National League Person.
Subject: Tennis Magazine - March issue - Article "Bumped"

Dave,

When I got bumped to 4.0 I was surprised, shocked and thrilled.

I have felt for a couple of years that I could play competitively with the "True" 4.0 players in the Dayton, Ohio area but who the heck would want a 3.5 on their 4.0 team? Especially, when the 4.0 captains are rated 4.0 but should be rated 4.5.

However, when you made the change to the ratings formula recently and bumped up a lot of players, that gave me and a few friends a chance to put together a team in the 4.0 division and play against some of the captains that last year wouldn't consider having us on their team.

Since our USTA season just started a about a month ago, we've only had 3 matches but I'm happy to say we're 2 & 1 thus far and feel we will be competitive and end up in about the middle of the league standings which is good and where we thought we should be.

After our last match, a 4.0 player who I have known for about 15 years (but not as a friend but only a distant tennis player) came up to me and express surprise at how consistent and competitive all the courts were and that they only beat us 3-2. His comments made me happy but yet they frustrated me also as he's one of those guys that if you were a 3.5, you don't know how to play tennis. J J

Anyway, thank you for making the change to the system and allowing us to play at a level we feel we can be competitive.

Sincerely,
Larry W. Hollar

NEOTA Position - - -especially for Seniors and Super Seniors:

"We at NEOTA League have heard the complaints of those affected most by the National Oversight Group's (NOG) adjustments to the year-end rating algorithm. We have passed our concerns on to the Midwest and National office with our strong recommendation of taking corrective action now concerning the seniors and super seniors that have become collateral damage in their plan. Please understand that locally we have done ALL that we can do short of quitting our positions in protest because this will not help anyone in NEOTA. We have always and continue to do what we can for the players in our district. If you feel that you have a better way, then please step forward and volunteer to help within the guidelines we are given. Thank you for your continued support!" from: NEOTA League Committee, M. Sandercock (chair), and D. Hartwig (DLC).

Carol Gander:

As a league player since 1984, a member of the league committee since 1988, and Executive Director of NEOTA since 1999, I have been monitoring and fielding e-mails from players and captains concerning many grievances etc. I really think it is time that all of you sit back and think about what part you can take to help the district.

We are charged to follow the rules of first USTA at the national level then Midwest at the sectional level.
Our entire committee spends a full day in January meeting over the rules trying to set them to the best interest of our district. However, we can not have any rules that over ride any rules from national or section.  If you have a solution; please volunteer for the league administration - we are always looking for more volunteers. (Contact the DLC - D. Hartwig).

At the Midwest Annual Meeting I heard the statement "a 3.5, is a 3.5 is a 3.5". When the national committee made their move they did not take into consideration the age of a player. Several of the district presidents and executive directors in attendance tried to
argue the point but to no avail.

PLEASE, we at the district level work very hard for you and even though many of you think we don't listen, we REALLY DO! This move by national affects the entire nation, not just Midwest and NEOTA.
Be assured that the NEOTA board and the league committee will be watching the season progress and look for ways we can correct this situation forced on us by national.

 

Welcome to the Northeastern Ohio Tennis Association League Website.

The New Ratings: Here is some information about the new ratings and the NEOTA position.