World Rankings!

[Edbrazil]

Just out. See: http://www.iwsf.com/wrl_1013/

 

And, now including the rather sparse 65+ Men and Women divisions.

Closing date for qualifying for the 35+ Worlds in the US is currently pegged at April 30, 2014.

[ral]

1. SMITH Nate 1990 USA 74.25 (2.25@9.75m) 14C028R 13S109R 745740740730730

 

Average of two tourneys over the past world record...

[ForrestGump]

The important thing is that I'm #117 in M35+. LOL

[MAD11]

@shaneh #117 in our playbooks, but much lower in our hearts. (or is that higher) I'm back Wed from an extended leave. Let's tilt a few to celebrate your new ranking when I get back to the US! And how about some BOS luv for @Tfin moving up to #6. Sick Man! So pumped for him. Well deserved. Super Chicken too. Travel gonna be expensive this year though.

[andjules]

hats off to Mike Morgan, who is #45 in Men's slalom and oldest by 12 years of anyone in the top 100 (born 1962)

[andjules]

and Ellie Horton, #23 overall!

[Horton]

@andjules heck yea. That girl is motivated and talented

[jcamp]

I know the Elite rankings are based on payout or some other criteria like that, but I find it really odd that the top tournament, points wise, for the ladies was the MasterCraft Shootout. Winning that tournament was worth 324 points while the other tournaments were 300 (Malibu), 288 (Moomba), 270 (Worlds) and 260 (Masters) points.

[ForrestGump]

Elite ranking points are calculated based on payout AND the number of entrants. So a high payout tournament with more entrants will be more points.

[Horton]

@scotchipman

I could not disagree more. It might be a good idea but at least last year the criteria resulted in a list that absolutely did not reflect the correct order of the best skiers in the world. Last years elite list was laughably wrong and largely based on one event held in the third world.

[ral]

@Horton, I respectfully disagree with the end of your last sentence. You might criticize based on specific conditions or organization, but not on the average income of the country where the tournament took place.

[Horton]

@ral oooo I need to check the facts on that. That detail is besides the point anyway. So let me retract the the phrase " third world"

[Horton]

wow I just checked the notes. Yep @ral is 100% correct

[Horton]

One more clarification.

I do not mean any disrespect for Asher or any other skiers on the list. Perhaps the Elite list rules made sense at a time when there was a different mix of events.

 

[MattP]

Elite is a hard judge now because many of the High paying Elite events are invitational only based usually on the Elite list. Which does not allow for someone who is on the edge to wild card them selves up the list because they can't get acces to the events that will give them more points. Kinda a catch 22 in my opinion. Whitney is #1 in woman's elite slalom. That makes no sence. Regina won every event she completed in but she did not ski the MC Shootout in Canada where Whitney won. Is Whitney the best skier in the world this year? no. The IWSF Ranking List shows that this is not true. She did not beat Regina once.

[Edbrazil]

The Elite Ranking List may also reflect the individual's ability to find time and maybe funding to travel to far parts of the globe. Although, I believe that a certain level, the travel may be compensated, or at least partly. Some of these far-flung events require that skiers essentially take several days of time off for them, as in a week or more. Interesting computational format, however, that may need refining. When I win the Lottery, how about I put on a 10 Million $ event, and totally imbalance the calculation?

[ForrestGump]

Having purse be a factor in points skews the results, though, IMO. I'd be fine if they wanted to specify the Elite events and base the points on how many participants there are. That is a very common method of awarding points in a LOT of sports.

[Horton]

@scotchipman I think you need to take a longer look at last year.

 

2012 Asher / First Twice, Second 5 times, and Fifth 3 Times.

http://www.iwsfranking.com/skierinfo/info/displayskierresults1yr.php?firstname=William&lastname=ASHER&year=2005

 

 

2012 Smith / First seven times, Second once, Sixth once and eighth once.

http://www.iwsfranking.com/skierinfo/info/displayskierresults1yr.php?firstname=Nate&lastname=SMITH&year=2005

 

 

Now tell me who Asher was # 1 last year. Please explain it to me.

 

(again no disrespect to Asher)

[Drago]

Years back I recall certain less skilled skiers with nothing but time and money ranking way up on the elite list, and very skilled skiers with less time or money barely showing on the elite list. However, the other list had the best private, remote, perfect conditions skiers ranked way up. Some of them never even left their home lake. So, they both have flaws. Let's just say, anyone on the top 10 of either list is damn good and probably deserves to make some money waterskiing

[GAJ0004]

On the USA Water Ski rankings list what is the SM-Master's Men Pool used for?

[Horton]

I would NEVER disparage the leaders of the Elite list or question their skills but in writing the BallOfSpray skier of the year article (to be published this week) I totally disregarded the elite list.

 

The idea of an Elite list is a good one but I do not agree with the way the events are weighted. I hate the fact that skiers are ranked in such a flawed fashion.

[klindy]

@GAJ0004 what are you looking at? I don't see the SM Pool list in the database.

[Horton]

what is the SM Pool list?

 

To clarify what I said above I am talking about the IWSF Elite list. I have not issue with the AWSA ranking system. I think it makes pretty good sense.

[RichardDoane]

@horton IMO the ranking list needs a little tweaking in the way it treats skiers with very few scores and skiers with a lot of scores in a 12 month period

[MattP]

@richarddonane which list

[Horton]

@richarddonane

ok I am listening

[RichardDoane]

For skiers that only ski a few tournaments, their ranking list score may be higher than their real average, and the same goes for those of us that ski a lot of tournaments. My thought is more of a penalty for too few tournaments, and using more than just your 3 best scores to produce your ranking list placement.

 

[MattP]

@richarddoane but skiers at that level know that entering ELR. Tournaments are in their best interest over C tournaments.

[klindy]

@richardoane @Horton is talking about the IWSF Elite list. I believe that list uses a mix of scores and prize money.

 

The AWSA list uses as many as 3 scores but can only be one score depending on penalties etc.

[RichardDoane]

@klindy - I know he was talking about the elite list, but I thought I'd derail this thread into something about my pet peeve with the USA Waterski Ranking list's design flaws IMO

[GAJ0004]

@klindy I was looking at the rankings list. I was looking at my Men 4 rankings, and it looks like they put everyone on those lists. If you go to find my rankings on the USA Water ski website it is under one of the drop down list boxes on the rankings list.

[klindy]

@GAJ0004. What's in the drop down list box?

[RichardDoane]

the "find my rankings" just means it puts a red box next to your name to make it easier to find

[GAJ0004]

@klindy.. If you go to the rankings list and enter your name to find your rankings it will show your age division ranking, and it will show two other lists that start with EM and then the event such as EM slalom and SM slalom. I was wondering if anyone knew what those lists were used for.

[MattP]

@GAJ0004 hm that is the first time I have ever seen it and I look at rankings a lot. It seems to be putting all the men in one list regardless of age. EM="Open Men Pool" this would be regardless of age and SM="Master Men Pool" would be the divisions above M2. These would be the pools of skiers that could at some point obtain an Open rating. What are they used for? Nothing I would assume. It seems to be more like the IWSF lists All men then split by "age"

[klindy]

@GAJ0004 yeah I see what you're talking about now. If you simply filter the ranking list to, say, "M4" and scroll to find your name these consolidated pools of skiers (SM, EM, EW) are not on the drop down list.

 

The EM, EW, and SM lists are lists of all skiers who are eligible for Open or Masters Men. They are a list created in the database to establish the NOPS points for skiers in these 'mixed' divisions. In essence they are used to establish the cut-off threshold for L9.

 

I knew what you were talking about (EM, EW & SM) but I was not able to see them on the drop down list until you suggested to use "find my rankings".