Post by sri on Aug 25, 2011 1:05:56 GMT -5
Team India Selection Process for the XVIth World Championships – Bolivia
The XVIth Racquetball World Championships will be held in Bolivia in August, 2012 and Team India is strongly pushing forward to send a 4 member strong team to represent India. Unlike the 15th World Championships in South Korea, where the Team lacked enough time to prepare and meet the other players, we have decided to start the selection process early so that the players get to know each other and also to enable us to pick the best possible team.
As of now, we have 15 players who are interested in being part of the team and we need to pick 4 out of them. This document provides the proposed team selection process and the preparation to enable us to send the best possible team. There are other tournaments as well other than the World Championships like the Asian games, national and international tournaments, where the other players may still be eligible to represent India as long as they meet certain eligibility criteria which will be decided later.
If you are intrested in trying out for the team go to the registration section and REGISTER Team India will contact you.
1 9th to 11th December, 2011 – Initial Meet and Greet
All the intrested players will meet up for a 2 day camp to know all the other players and also to establish the base rankings for all. There are 4 primary objectives for this part.
i. Get to know all the other prospective players.
ii. Establish a base ranking for all the prospective players.
iii. Evaluate all the other players for their strenghts and weaknesses. This has to be done by each player.
iv. Provide tips, suggestions, improvements and any other advice to the other players after the evaluation.
The following is the schedule for this round.
1.1 Friday, 9th December
Players reach the venue and familiarize themselves with all the other players present.
1.2 Saturday, December 10th Morning
All the players will proceed to the club to play some racquetball. This round will enable us to come up with the base rankings. The criteria for the rankings are as follows.
· Round Robin format where each player plays all the other players.
· Each match will be 3 games to 11 points each.
· All 3 games must be played.
· Each player earns 3 points for winning a game and 7 bonus points for winning the match.
1.3 Saturday, December 10th Evening:
After lunch and some rest, the players will then proceed to the club again to play some more racquetball. This time though, it will be a single elimination tournament bracket. The seeds for this will be determined based on the points earned in the Round Robin phase. Thus, at the end of this tournament, we would have decided our top 4 seeds. All the other players will be ranked based on the points earned in the Round Robin phase.
1.4 Saturday, December 10th Night
After the heavy racquetball throughout the day, players will meet at night, post dinner to discuss, analyze and provide inputs, feedbacks etc to both the Team and individual players. This will help the entire team and the individual players to plan and improve.
1.5 Sunday, December 11th Morning
After breakfast, players will again proceed to the club, this time to play some doubles. Players will mix and match and join for a doubles shoot out. If we meet in New Mexico, the shootout format will be New Mexico style, against local players. Doubles usually starts in the morning and will be finished by 2 PM. So, please book the your return flight accordingly.
Finally, after 2 days of busy Racquetball play, we would have established our base rankings. Neither does this guarantee a berth for the top 4 seeds automatically nor disqualifies the other prospective players. We still have about 8 more months to go after establishing the base rankings giving everyone time to work on their game and improve. This is where the tips and feedback provided helps everyone.
2 December 2011 to April 2012 – The Hunt
This would be the period where the lower ranked players get to challenge the higher ranked players to meet up and play a match. To move up in the ranking, a lower ranked player will have to beat the higher ranked player in best 2 out of 3 full racquetball matches. Each match will be played with the IRF rules, best of 3 games, first 2 games to 15 and the tie breaker to 11. If the lower ranked player wins, then he will take up the ranking of the higher ranked player and that player will move down by 1 slot in the rankings. E.g. Let us say, Player X, ranked 10 Challenges a Player Y, ranked 3 and beats him in 2 matches out of 3, then Player X’s new ranking will be 3 and Player Y’s new ranking will be 4.
3 May/June 2012 – Final Verdict
At this point, we already have gone through multiple challenges and have established the final rankings. The final team will be decided in May/June, when the Top 8 players will battle it out one last time, only if necessary. This final round will determine the top 4 seeds and ultimately the Team India that will be go to the World Championships.
This is a draft proposal for the selection criteria and will be implemented after taking inputs and suggestions from all the prospective players. We strongly think this format will provide enough opportunity for the players who don’t get ranked in the top 4 the first time and also provide enough time for all the players to work on their game and improve in time for the tournament. The best part about this format is also that after playing against each other several times we would have not only grown as an individual but also as a Team.
The top 2 seeds will get to choose if they want to play singles or doubles, keeping in mind that the best doubles team should be made from the 4.
If possible I would encourage the team members to play in the US National Doubles held in Arizona for practice.
Another important point to note is that the Indian government does not sponsor us, so the onus is on us to try to raise some funds to help us reduce the financial burden on the players so that we can focus on the game.
May the Games Begin!
The XVIth Racquetball World Championships will be held in Bolivia in August, 2012 and Team India is strongly pushing forward to send a 4 member strong team to represent India. Unlike the 15th World Championships in South Korea, where the Team lacked enough time to prepare and meet the other players, we have decided to start the selection process early so that the players get to know each other and also to enable us to pick the best possible team.
As of now, we have 15 players who are interested in being part of the team and we need to pick 4 out of them. This document provides the proposed team selection process and the preparation to enable us to send the best possible team. There are other tournaments as well other than the World Championships like the Asian games, national and international tournaments, where the other players may still be eligible to represent India as long as they meet certain eligibility criteria which will be decided later.
If you are intrested in trying out for the team go to the registration section and REGISTER Team India will contact you.
1 9th to 11th December, 2011 – Initial Meet and Greet
All the intrested players will meet up for a 2 day camp to know all the other players and also to establish the base rankings for all. There are 4 primary objectives for this part.
i. Get to know all the other prospective players.
ii. Establish a base ranking for all the prospective players.
iii. Evaluate all the other players for their strenghts and weaknesses. This has to be done by each player.
iv. Provide tips, suggestions, improvements and any other advice to the other players after the evaluation.
The following is the schedule for this round.
1.1 Friday, 9th December
Players reach the venue and familiarize themselves with all the other players present.
1.2 Saturday, December 10th Morning
All the players will proceed to the club to play some racquetball. This round will enable us to come up with the base rankings. The criteria for the rankings are as follows.
· Round Robin format where each player plays all the other players.
· Each match will be 3 games to 11 points each.
· All 3 games must be played.
· Each player earns 3 points for winning a game and 7 bonus points for winning the match.
1.3 Saturday, December 10th Evening:
After lunch and some rest, the players will then proceed to the club again to play some more racquetball. This time though, it will be a single elimination tournament bracket. The seeds for this will be determined based on the points earned in the Round Robin phase. Thus, at the end of this tournament, we would have decided our top 4 seeds. All the other players will be ranked based on the points earned in the Round Robin phase.
1.4 Saturday, December 10th Night
After the heavy racquetball throughout the day, players will meet at night, post dinner to discuss, analyze and provide inputs, feedbacks etc to both the Team and individual players. This will help the entire team and the individual players to plan and improve.
1.5 Sunday, December 11th Morning
After breakfast, players will again proceed to the club, this time to play some doubles. Players will mix and match and join for a doubles shoot out. If we meet in New Mexico, the shootout format will be New Mexico style, against local players. Doubles usually starts in the morning and will be finished by 2 PM. So, please book the your return flight accordingly.
Finally, after 2 days of busy Racquetball play, we would have established our base rankings. Neither does this guarantee a berth for the top 4 seeds automatically nor disqualifies the other prospective players. We still have about 8 more months to go after establishing the base rankings giving everyone time to work on their game and improve. This is where the tips and feedback provided helps everyone.
2 December 2011 to April 2012 – The Hunt
This would be the period where the lower ranked players get to challenge the higher ranked players to meet up and play a match. To move up in the ranking, a lower ranked player will have to beat the higher ranked player in best 2 out of 3 full racquetball matches. Each match will be played with the IRF rules, best of 3 games, first 2 games to 15 and the tie breaker to 11. If the lower ranked player wins, then he will take up the ranking of the higher ranked player and that player will move down by 1 slot in the rankings. E.g. Let us say, Player X, ranked 10 Challenges a Player Y, ranked 3 and beats him in 2 matches out of 3, then Player X’s new ranking will be 3 and Player Y’s new ranking will be 4.
3 May/June 2012 – Final Verdict
At this point, we already have gone through multiple challenges and have established the final rankings. The final team will be decided in May/June, when the Top 8 players will battle it out one last time, only if necessary. This final round will determine the top 4 seeds and ultimately the Team India that will be go to the World Championships.
This is a draft proposal for the selection criteria and will be implemented after taking inputs and suggestions from all the prospective players. We strongly think this format will provide enough opportunity for the players who don’t get ranked in the top 4 the first time and also provide enough time for all the players to work on their game and improve in time for the tournament. The best part about this format is also that after playing against each other several times we would have not only grown as an individual but also as a Team.
The top 2 seeds will get to choose if they want to play singles or doubles, keeping in mind that the best doubles team should be made from the 4.
If possible I would encourage the team members to play in the US National Doubles held in Arizona for practice.
Another important point to note is that the Indian government does not sponsor us, so the onus is on us to try to raise some funds to help us reduce the financial burden on the players so that we can focus on the game.
May the Games Begin!