“Ratings Central: Accurate, Automated, Bayesian Table Tennis Ratings for Clubs, Leagues, Tournaments, and Organizations” by David J. Marcus, NESSIS (New England Symposium on Statistics in Sports), September 24, 2011. Program, Abstract, Presentations, Photos, Videos.
“Ratings Central: Accurate, Automated, Bayesian Table Tennis Ratings for Clubs, Leagues, Tournaments, and Organizations” by David J. Marcus, Joint Statistical Meetings, July 30–August 4, 2011. Session, Abstract.
June 21, 2011
…
Thank you for the great rating Web application that we are using right now.
Resty Rojalez
Philippines
“Das Ranglistensystem von Ratings Central”, part 2, by Dieter Baurecht, ÖTTZ (Österreichische Tischtennis Zeitung), No. 100, May/June 2011, pages 8–9.
March 22, 2011
Hi David,
…
This system is very easy to use.
I know most of our players and the ratings are looking good at the moment. By the time I have entered 2010 results it should reflect abilities.
…
Regards,
Doug McLean
March 15, 2011
Hi David,
First of all I want to thank you for Zermelo and Ratings Central. It works great!
…
Adrián Boimvaser
“Das Ranglistensystem von Ratings Central”, part 1, by Dieter Baurecht, ÖTTZ (Österreichische Tischtennis Zeitung), No. 99, March/April 2011, pages 8–9.
February 24, 2011
David:
…
Thanks for the work you are doing on the ratings. The players do appreciate it.
My club is located in a sports bar with six tables and it is growing to the point that we are pretty much to the limit on the number of players we can handle. In a large way Ratings Central has helped the growth. We have a team league over four days with 96 players and will most likely go to 5 days with 120 players. I think beer and Ratings Central is the answer to all the problems.
Tim
January 19, 2011
Dear David,
Using the strong support of our friend Dieter Baurecht, the Austrian Table Tennis Association is from now on using Ratings Central as its official ranking system.
We have tried and used quite a number of different ranking software systems, but were not able to find one which could be adapted to our requirements.
However, our experts are convinced that with Ratings Central we have now found an excellent tool for arranging an accurate and fair ranking of players participating in Austrian table tennis.
So let me please express my sincere thanks for providing this system to us.
I hope you are planning to visit Austria in the near future. We would be happy to have you as our special guest at one of the forthcoming international table tennis events in our country.
Looking forward to keeping in touch with you,
Rudi Sporrer
General Secretary
Austrian Table Tennis Association
December 12, 2010
David,
Thank you very much for giving such amazing software [Zermelo] to TT community. ICC is using your software for the tournaments.
…
Thanks
Rajul Sheth
India Community Center Table Tennis
December 5, 2010
David,
The software [Zermelo] worked out great. We could not have done the tourney without it.
Thank you for your efforts.
Jeff Webster
Colorado Springs, CO
November 2, 2010
Hi, Sean and David.
As I’ve now submitted all of our tournaments to date I thought it a good time to review the results. I have to say I am very impressed as the ratings are pretty much in line with what I was expecting at the start.
…
David, may I also compliment you on the software [Cantor]—once I got used to it, it was very easy to use, even for a Luddite like me! Now that I have used it and seen the accuracy of the ratings, I would be very pleased to recommend it to anyone.
Thank you both very much.
Regards,
Chris Pickard
HEATT
September 4, 2010
Thanks! I’m still getting used to navigating through Ratings Central.
This is the best ratings system I have seen for table tennis and perhaps for any sport. I wish USATT would consider it. The USATT rating system is inflated and not as accurate as it should be.
Keith Pech
July 21, 2010
David,
…
Again thanks for your work. The players here in Portland really enjoy the rating system.
Tim Titrud
June 17, 2010
NÖTTV Interview with David Marcus
November 21, 2009
Hi, David.
Thanks for developing and hosting Ratings Central. It has been very useful in our local leagues in helping us know players’ current skill level.
Thanks again for providing the rating service. It’s really allowed us to create better league teams, seedings within our club, etc!
Brian Clark
Table Tennis Minneosota
October 24, 2009
Hi, David.
The club here at UC Berkeley has recently been using Ratings Central to facilitate our weekly round robins and it’s working out very well!
…
Mark Wei
President of Cal Table Tennis Club
September 13, 2009
…
Tomorrow the Maine Table Tennis League will start our new season of table tennis. We have 8 permanently set up tables and 70–80 members now.
The Ratings Central website has been invaluable in helping us rate the players.
Rick Shea
August 29, 2009
David,
… Cantor is such a great program and is so easy to use. Our players really enjoy seeing the results.
Thanks for all your work with Ratings Central.
Ray Spann
Lakeland Table Tennis Association
August 29, 2009
Hello.
… I like the fact it is free, easy to use, and allows for immediate posted results.
I also feel that overall, it is superior (more accurate) than the USATT rating system.
…
Thanks,
Russ Walker
August 9, 2009
Hi, David.
…
By the way, thank you so much for the assistance and the great online rating is so far the best and also for the great software Cantor :) very friendly and with the complete manual.
…
Ratings Central is very effective and useful. This could eliminate players who give matches to their friends. This means that every match has a bearing …
I love this! Thanks David.
Resty Rojales
August 7, 2009
Hello again David.
I spent a lot of time to study the software and Cantor Users’s Manual.
First of all I would like to thank you for creating this program and for sharing it with all table tennis fans around the world.
I think it is a great and easy to use software.
…
Best Regards,
Atanas Gadje
Administrator
Table Tennis Fans
July 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,
Joseph Sabas
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
Board Member
Lower Austrian Table Tennis Association
Photo of Dieter, Werner Schlager, players from Dieter’s club
European Champions League match
December 11, 2009
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
Shanghai
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
Grant Beale
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,
Dwain Kitchel
Knoxville Table Tennis Club
“The Story of the Rating” by Jota Ito, World Table Tennis, December 2007, volume 127, page 147.
Click the link above to see the original Japanese. Following is a computer translation. Feel free to a better translation.
The Story of the Rating
What will you do to introduce “the rating” expressing absolute ability with numerical value of the table tennis into the Japanese table tennis world? At first it is object to do with any kind of player. I want to introduce it into the match of a middle high school student full of vigor, but unfortunately, as for it, it is impossible in fact. Because it is a rating to certainly detect ability from relative ability called Match Results, it does not function even if all the members use it every match in the group improving ability. Therefore, the introduction object should assume more than stable university student of the ability Maine (ironically). It is anyone should do next. It is a line that Japan Table Tennis Association leads if I think commonly, but this will be impossible. There is not a rating, and there is not a troubled person under the present conditions and will not be able to merely put the interesting system which money and the trouble suffer from for the reason only as for saying when they go.
Then what do you do? I use the Internet. The person who is well acquainted with the Internet makes a system with a free person reading here and gathers the input of registration and the Match Results of the player from all over Japan and can already hit a rating to a table tennis player of the whole Japan without permission. Of course such a rating has neither no authority nor the effect. But only the person who is interested criticizes it this and that, but does seem to take your ease with that alone? When it is precise unexpectedly, existence becomes big, and authority gradually occurs gradually, and it is not a dream that it is in a virtual importance standard. I may say that Japan Table Tennis Association “wants to use” it after becoming so it, but should offer it comfortably then.
When I blew up, such a delusion and could refer to the website of USA Table Tennis (following USATT) which used a rating for the theory, the story showed unexpected development from here. It was a man called the David Marcus to have given an answer. This man says that “a rating of present USATT does not have theories” slowly. I decide a calculation method from experience properly, and it is that the theory has nothing. If it thinks that the roughness of this snort is not an ordinary case, it is the terrible guy who took the doctorate of the probability theory in that Massachusetts Institute of Technology sending this man, a Nobel prize winner every year what. It is said that the perfect rating system which the he developed for table tennis is different. It expresses the ability of each player in probability distribution, and it is the logicality which is unbearable for the human being of the physical science by a method to loss probability function of the ability by Bayesian estimate with “defeat probability function” and Match Results and a system with the close nature. If there is such a splendid system, why will not USATT employ him? It is the reason that “the executive officers of President Sheri and the followers dislike me”. I think that it is almost comprehension what kind of person this person who writes such a thing to I have not met either me suddenly is. Such a person loves me.
I looked at the site of Ratings Central which he introduced next, and I flew up. In this site, I collect the Match Results such as the world championship or the professional tour without a connection what from all over the world and I calculate a rating by the system which he developed without permission and announce it (of course such a thing knows neither player nor ITTF). Kan Yo is the top with 3163±38 (average standard deviation), the Japanese in Wang Hao, and, according to it, the top is 2958±49. Surprisingly anyone does player registration free and gets possible to input Match Results into here. Here was already the thing which I bought so. I am splendid!
That’s why I access that you whom I read towards the top, and showed a motivation suddenly, this site and will input Match Results steadily (the exchanges in some English are necessary). If at first I input the Match Results that these players are included in into Japan league or an all-Japan championship and spread it to the gradually general player because the Japanese player is already registered with 200 people, I should be able to develop it nationwide with a standard having been kept. The total registration player is about 17,000 to assume U.S.A. the beginning for the moment; but of the data capacity we seem to do not have to worry. Expression functions such as the distribution are not good enough, but it is unchanged to be the table tennis world’s first world unification rating. All table tennis is brother through incomprehensible countries and players and ratings in the world from tomorrow! It is the play that it is very magnificent, and is pleasant only by the information-technology age.
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,
Ivan Popov
Farmington Hills Table Tennis Center
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,
Gideon Fung
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
Knoxville Table Tennis Club
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,
Greg Thompson
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:
| Rank | Rating | Name |
|---|---|---|
| 9 | 1886±58 | Ching Chin Tsai |
| 10 | 1880±73 | Yen Hung Lin |
| 11 | 1877±76 | Chih Jung Chang |
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
Former Director for Rankings
International Paralympic Table Tennis Committee
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,
Ed Hogshead
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,
Raymond D. Spann
Lakeland Table Tennis Association
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
President
Tidewater Table Tennis Club
October 11, 2004
David,
Zermelo worked flawlessly.
Please add the following new features:
Thanks,
Larry Rose
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
President
Rhode Island Table Tennis Association
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,
Mohamad Al-Sabek
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,
Seemant Teotia
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,
Oleg Zalesskiy
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,
Raymond D. Spann
Lakeland Table Tennis Association
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,
Mohamad Al-Sabek
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,
Yau-Man Chan
