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    | Letters from UsersJuly 22, 2009 David, Thanks for your prompt attention to my problem. The players here really enjoy watching their rating results; it adds significantly to their enjoyment of the game. We wouldn't like to be without Ratings Central, since it is invaluable setting up the draws and giving feedback to the players. Thanks again, December 4, 2008 David, Lower Austria is one of nine Austrian provinces and the home of Werner Schlager. The Lower Austrian Table Tennis Association (NÖTTV) has introduced the Ratings Central system as the official rating and ranking system starting with the 2008–2009 season. Since the data was available, we first submitted a lot of events from previous seasons, enabling us to start with a large number of already-rated players. We use the system for all purposes where a ranking list is necessary, and players love to inspect their results weekly. We also extract ranking lists of individual groups out of the system, e.g., different age groups (young players as well as veterans) or women. Games of all our events are submitted weekly including all playing strengths, genders, and age groups: from Austrian First League to the under-eleven junior leagues, all tournaments, and a Cup system. Due to your submitting results of events from the ITTF Pro Tour and European Champions League, our best players are also rated in the same system—something we never had before. Although most of the leagues are played in isolated local regions, Lower-Austrian-wide events calibrate the playing strengths of the different regions quite well so that we have for the first time an accepted ranking system for the whole of Lower Austria. Of course, in the beginning it took some time to persuade players of all the advantages of the system. Now, most of them (especially the interested ones) have learned how point changes occur and what the size of point changes depend on. Although the algorithm that produces this is not understandable in detail for most of us, we see that the system works very well. So, I can attest that it is much better to have a well-accepted ranking system using a sophisticated algorithm than to have a system where point changes are done by a few easily understood rules that result in an always-disputed rating list. For the first time that I can remember, there was no discussion about the draw at the 2008 NÖTTV championships! ;-) In addition to the quite perfect ranking, the history graphs are a great feature to track playing strengths. In particular, we can monitor the development of young players not only on the table, but also as hard facts. Therefore, when talking to our players, we get a lot of very-positive feedback that really should be passed to you and your team. Thanks a lot for your work. Dr. Dieter Baurecht December 4, 2008 Thanks so much for your help, David. I’ve managed to post (incorrectly because I inputted estimated ratings for new players) and re-post one of the divisions of the tournament. So easy—and it looks great! Thanks so much for this. I will work on inputting the rest of the events, slowly but surely. We ran a 3-person team event, so I’m trying to use a format that will allow me to post only the matches that were played—and delete the matches not played. We’ll see how that goes. Love the software. We tend to run some funky formats here (2-person team RR, etc.), so it may take a bit of tweaking. Much appreciated! Craig Tafel April 15, 2008 Hi David Thank you for your quick response, and for granting me access to the data files (which I have since downloaded). David, I have already begun experimenting with your software (and data), with a view to using it to ensure the smooth running of the 2008 WTTA “Wynnum Open” on the 26th and 27th of this month. It is only early days at this time, but from what I have seen thus far, the software looks to be very functional and a well thought out system (including your “user friendly” documentation). I too am a computer programmer (20 years experience), and can fully appreciate the tremendous amount of time you have so willing put into your application. The “Table Tennis Community” is just so fortunate to have great people like yourself, who have such a passion for the sport, that they are prepared to dedicate their personal time (purely out of goodwill) to assist others—Truly commendable—Well done!! Thanks again David for all your great work in this regard, and I will be in touch again in the near future—Thank you. Cheers October 17, 2007 David, Your reply triggered a thought for me. We have been having a series of Foothills Celebrity TT (2-star) tournaments at our scruffy little city here in Knoxville, TN. While we play in a YWCA gym that barely permits us to process 52 players, we have been fortunate to attract celebrities like Danny Seemiller, and we make up some of our facility shortcomings with a lot of care and friendship from our club members, so we have been getting very nice feedback from participants in our tournaments that mostly come from this region, although we’ve had a few from New York and Florida. We typically have a coaching clinic (led by our celebrity) on a Friday and play our matches the next day from 9 a.m. to about 6 or 7 p.m. I know we are very happy with the use of Zermelo and from that standpoint you are a celebrity for us. I have no idea how many people are using Zermelo or if you have ever had some kind of regional or national gathering, or how you promote your program other than making its presence known over the Internet. One of the nice features of Zermelo is that is basically user friendly, but I know we would have several of our own club members participate in a seminar type session if you led it. … Just a thought, but would appreciate you letting me know if the idea interests you. If it does perhaps we could make it happen. Take Care, September 15, 2007 David, Thanks a lot. I am sure you heard this before, but your software [Zermelo] is exceptional. There is a bit of a learning curve, but it’s very powerful. Thanks again, March 9, 2007 David, I have been using Zermelo every week and I like it very much … Joseph Sabas December 11, 2006 David, Zermelo was great, and I got only good compliments from the tourney I just ran, and a lot of that credit has to go to the software you developed. … Shashin Shodhan September 27, 2006 Dear Mr. Marcus, Our company has just completed our table tennis tournament, and it was a great success. Your Zermelo software has made the organization of the tournament much simpler than it would have been. Thank you for a great piece of software. … Sincerely, May 30, 2006 David, Just to give you an update. I ran the Golden State Open 2006 with Zermelo version 15.4 this weekend. 2 days, 23 events, 24 tables, and 278 players—amazing—the biggest event we’ve ever done. Everything ran well. Just to let you know some of the highlights:
The only problem with calling matches in a big tournament like this is people not returning their playing slips. When I noticed a match slip out for over 45 minutes, I went looking for the players and found one of them sitting around chitchatting with her friends—match slip in hand. I don’t know what to do about this other than to send out a spotter to keep harassing players to turn in their match slips as soon as they finish. The gym is three basketball courts in size and the control desk is in the lobby—can’t see the players. So, maybe a reminder in Zermelo to prompt the control desk that a match slip has been out for over thirty minutes? … Again, thank you for a wonderful program. The Golden State Tournament committee is now totally sold on match calling and will continue to use it in the future. April 27, 2006 David, Our club used your program [Zermelo] for our recent tournament [Dogwood Arts Festival First Annual Table Tennis Open]. It worked like a charm and our tournament ran smoothly—almost like we knew what we were doing. If you are the guy who developed this program and supporting manual, all I can say is a helluva great job! Thanks!! … Dwain Kitchel October 6, 2005 … Btw, your new added feature for version 15 is exactly what I was going to suggest. Our tournament committee for the Golden State Open has decided to continue to use Zermelo in next year’s tournament because of that additional feature. They want to do timed events for the RR groups and match calling for the SE rounds. Thanks again for a wonderful program. September 27, 2005 … [Zermelo is] an exceptional program and I encourage all directors to use it. Thanks, June 16, 2005 There are three men from Taiwan on the Class 5 (wheelchair) IPTTC (International Paralympic Table Tennis Committee) Ratings Central rating/ranking list. Before the National Championships on May 29, 2005, they were ranked right next to each other in places 9–11:
Many players and coaches in Taiwan did not believe these ratings/rankings. They thought there must be some error because, in the past, Tsai almost always lost when he played Lin or Chang. Lin and Chang competed in the 2004 Paralympic Games in Athens and are not beatable in Taiwan. Tsai is a nobody and can only participate in open tournaments by paying his own way because he doesn’t have enough ranking points on the official IPTTC ranking list to qualify to be selected for major international events, such as the Paralympic Games. (While IPTTC is currently testing/evaluating Ratings Central, the official ranking list uses a system where players accumulate points based on international match wins. The more tournaments you play, the more points are available for you to accumulate.) Tsai has beaten some very good players recently in international tournaments, but hasn’t played as many such tournaments as others in his class. However, in the National Championships, Mr. Tsai beat both Mr. Lin and Mr. Chang and became the Men’s Class 5 Champion! As a result, Mr. Tsai is now on the National Team and will participate in the Tribute to Peace World Wheelchair and Amputee Games. The Ratings Central rating system has done a very good job of predicting true playing strength. Mr. Tsai’s results are only one of many examples of this. Dr. Chi-Shih Wu June 13, 2005 David, As I mentioned previously, this is the first time I’ve used Zermelo to run such a big tournament—2 days, 240 players, 21 singles and 3 doubles events—a total of 713 event entries. I was able to use Zermelo to streamline the check-in, especially with the new USATT rule of having each and every individual player sign a separate waiver. What I did was mail merge the names onto each waiver. On the top-right corner, I mail merged the player ID, and on the lower-right corner, I mail merged a “see cashier” on players who owed money. The check-in worker just had to give the player their pre-printed form. The player would then find a flat surface to sign it and put it in an in basket. If they didn’t return it, they were not checked in—the data processing person periodically picked up the forms and checked the player into Zermelo using the ID printed on the form. Voilŕ! No check-in line. Only players who owed money had to stand in line—only 23 out of 240 entries—their penalty for not doing the math correctly and paying the correct amount when they sent in the forms!! … All in all, the program worked great. … April 18, 2005 David, Used Zermelo for the first time on Saturday. I liked it a lot. We had 70 entries in 11 events on 12 tables. Began at 9:15 a.m. and finished at 5:40 p.m. with all events in four-man round robins! … Thanks, January 26, 2005 David, … I once again wanted to thank you for making such a great resource available to the table tennis community. It is through the efforts of people like you and Scott Gordon that keeps table tennis a community instead of just a bunch of players. Howard Blum January 24, 2005 David, … I continue to be amazed at the quality of Cantor. Since I input results into both the USATT League system and Cantor, I much prefer using Cantor. Thanks, December 23, 2004 David, I just want to thank you for your assistance and patience while helping me import the 116 historical AGTTA [Atlanta Georgia Table Tennis Association] league sessions into Ratings Central. Without it, AGTTA would not have this excellent resource for our members. … René Nielsen December 22, 2004 David, Thanks for all the work you have done on Ratings Central. It is now a great deal easier to use. I am going to try to get the other clubs in Oregon to use it. … Tim Titrud October 20, 2004 David, My club has been using Ratings Central for two years now, and we find it useful and exciting. It really is a neat program/service if you like to play for rating points and consider them a sign of progress (or lack of). And, it’s absolutely free to us!! The results are processed within minutes once we have entered them, so we get almost immediate feedback of results. And, the Ratings Central rating system eliminates wild swings in ratings— up or down. For me, it has been similar to playing in a tournament twice a week for two years! Some people may not like the pressure it can put on you, but I am sure that if a club tries it out, they will arrive at a suitable conclusion of if, and how often, to count matches for ratings. For me, it nearly fulfilled my need for the pressure, and made it more likely that I would pass on USATT tournaments since I got, in effect, the same intensity of play and pressure without having to travel. Rick Mundy October 11, 2004 David, Zermelo worked flawlessly. Please add the following new features:
Thanks, October 6, 2004 David, Thank you for Ratings Central’s support of the Rhode Island Table Tennis Tournament on Sunday, September 26. This was our first non-USATT-sanctioned tournament. The tournament was very successful: we had 60 participants, including the two highest rated players in Rhode Island and Connecticut, and 24 unrated players who had never played in a tournament before. In comparison, our August USATT-sanctioned tournament (which we also submitted to Ratings Central) had only 44 participants. Everyone was impressed with the speed and accuracy of Ratings Central’s posting of the match results. Not only were the results posted very quickly (the evening of the tournament day), but Ratings Central sent each participant an email containing a link to the player’s own match results. We especially appreciated the fact that there are no membership dues nor any fees associated with Ratings Central. Since the cost was very low, players were able to play more events. We look forward to running many future Rhode Island table tennis tournaments with Ratings Central’s support. Thank you! Chuck Cavicchio August 17, 2004 Hi David, Using your software was very easy, the tournament seemed very organized, and you were very helpful in every question we had. … Thanks, May 3, 2004 David, Thank you for Cantor! Submitted my first matches for a tournament in April for the Virginia Tech T.T. Club. My biggest surprise was how fast the ratings had been processed, immediately! And as for the program, my work as Ratings Director for the NCTTA has just become so much easier. I think I can convince now most of the college clubs in the US to use the system also. Thanks, May 2, 2004 Hi David! Zermelo was flawless Saturday, that is, once I figured out that our U1400 RR was set in the program to start at 12 a.m. instead of 12 p.m. (Noon). I couldn’t figure out why it kept calling the U1400 matches! Hehehehehe. … Thanks for all of the hard work! Your blood, sweat, tears and frustration makes it soooo nice and simple for us. :-D Charleste King April 29, 2004 Hi David, First, I wanted to thank you for the great program you have created. Using Cantor and the new website is so easy and the players appreciate how in minutes they can view their new ratings. On behalf of them, thank you. … Thanks, April 25, 2004 David, We used the new Cantor program and new website for the first time on Sunday, April 25, 2004, for our weekly “Lakeland Sunday Round Robin Spectacular”. As I noted in an earlier email, we have not been keeping game scores, only match wins and losses with the previous system. I was pleasantly surprised at how well our players adapted to the new system. We produced simple match cards for the players to take with them to the tables and a tray to deposit the results at the control desk. The players were excited about the new process and there were no complaints from anyone. When I arrived home, with the match cards, I quickly processed the results with Cantor. I was very pleased with the minimum amount of time it took to enter the players and game scores. I then went online, set up the email and did a test. I then submitted the results, had a confirmation from Ratings Central about the test and the results that I had submitted. Our new ratings were processed rapidly, and I then emailed the results and the new ratings to all our players. We completed play at our club at 5:45 p.m. and our players had the results and their new ratings before 7:00 p.m. In conclusion, this is a superior system and I know all our players are excited. As for problems or bugs, there were none that we observed. The system worked flawlessly for us. Thanks for the great program!!!! Best wishes, March 31, 2004 Hi David, Thank you for showing me Zermelo when I was at the Boston club. The software is easy to use and the manual explains in detail how to use it. At the Rhode Island tournament, we had an awesome experience using Zermelo. All the staff liked the software and were happy that it reduced the amount of work we had to do this year to organize the event. Thanks, February 22, 2004 David, I was asked to run the ACUI Region 15’s Table Tennis tournament at UC Davis this last weekend. I used Zermelo. … Anyway, all went well—there were 5 women and 24 men. Since I was the tournament director and umpire/referee I was called to the floor a lot, so my 11 year old daughter was able to run the program to enter results and print the call sheets. With 6 tables, 4 groups of 6 RR, then advancing 2 from each group to SE, we finished the tournament in 4 hours. Wonderful program! … Again, thanks for a great program. Organizations from a few schools were interested in the program when they saw me using it. They are all using either a spreadsheet or not using a computer at all in their school TT club or intramural tournaments. December 6, 2003 David, [I used] Zermelo for the Univ. of California, Berkeley, Associated Student Union Center tournament. This was a really strange one, as was how I got involved. Evidently, the Student Union advertised this “ping pong” tournament with fliers in all the dorms, frat, and co-op houses around the campus, but I didn’t know about it. The 1st prize was $150, 2nd $75, and 3rd $50—a lot of money for students. I found out about it when I happened by the Rec. Center and they were getting ready to start and a huge “discussion” ensued. The organizer had no clue how to run a TT tournament, 90% of the players only knew the ping-pong version of the game. A few players insisted on playing with 40 mm balls and under proper TT rules; that was what the whole discussion was about. So, when I happened by, prompted by a few TT players there that I knew, I volunteered my service as a certified USATT Club Umpire and offered to explain the rules and help the organizer run the tournament—if they can start 15 minutes later so I can go to my office and get my laptop and printer. We got everyone to agree to play by USATT rules (except dress code), and I had enough 40 mm 3-star balls in the trunk of my car! So, I ran a totally impromptu tournament with Zermelo. It took no more than 10 minutes to enter all the names (30), set up the event, print the draw, and call players. We had 6 groups of 5, with 2 advancing to single elimination. I set it up to play 2 of 3 for the RR and 3 of 5 for the SE rounds. With 30 players, we finished in 4.5 hours. Thanks, If you would like to receive an email the minute that an event that you played in is processed, please give your event director your email address or your email address. Please include your Ratings Central ID number, if you know it. |
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