RANKINGS

GENERAL RANKING INFORMATION

Eligibility for an Ontario Ranking

A player must be individually registered with Squash Ontario in order to be provincially ranked.

Ranking Appeals Process:

• Appeals of rankings will be addressed ONLY on January 1st and April 1st. 
• Any appeal must be in writing.

Questions on rankings should be directed, in writing, to:

• Senior Rankings and Junior Rankings - Geoffrey Johnson

Junior Ranking Information

Ranking Rules and Policies

Eligibility for an Ontario Ranking

A player must be individually registered with Squash Ontario in order to be provincially ranked.

Defaults

• If a default is due to injury (for which a doctor's note has been provided), the loss is not recorded. If the default was not due to an injury but simply a 'no show', the loss is recorded as a win for the opponent. The physician's note must be presented to Squash Ontario within 5 business days after the completion of the event.
• All defaults will result in a (+/-) 12 points for winner/loser respectively.  In the event of an unforseen situation, the defaulting player must put in writing to Squash Ontario the situation and only at the discretion of Squash Ontario can the defaulting player be re-awarded the -12 points; note the non-offending player will not lose the +12 points under any circumstances.

Junior Rankings Insufficient Data:

• A player must play in two (2) Squash Ontario junior sanctioned events or an Ontario Championship within a 6 month parameter from September 1st to April 30th to remain on the rankings
• May 1 to August 31 will be considered time out or dead period

Junior Eligibility for Ranking:

• Because our rankings are closed Ontario rankings, only people with a residence in Ontario will appear on the Ontario Junior Ranking list.  Players from Out-of-Province and Out-of-Country will still be initialized with a ranking to be able to follow their match results along with points won and lost.

Bronze Events:

• Bronze events are not posted live on our website and are not used for rankings calculations.

Head to Head Ranking System

With the launch of our new online system, we are now able to offer a ranking system which brings total transparency to the system.  The system has been tested for 15 months by running all of last years' events parallel to Sportsbeat.  All players were initialized in the system based on previous positions on the ranking list.  We will give you a brief overview of how the system works.

1. How players become ranked

• All new players are manually handled and Squash Ontario will classify each new player with a starting point total after their first event played.
• All new players will receive points given with a date after the date of the 1st event they play/date rankings are run.
• If a player does not meet criteria for whatever reason, Squash Ontario can classify the player manually by giving them a starting point total. In many cases out of Province players may be initialized manually, due to their minimal activity.

2. How points change

• The degree of points gained or lost between two ranked players is the difference in point totals at the time of the tournament and the Star Value of the tournament. Matches won and lost at tournaments with higher Star Values will have a greater impact on the rankings then matches played at lower starred tournaments. (See Point Table Below)
• Squash Ontario Junior Advisory Committee has elected to use the following star values for Provincials, Golds and Silvers:

3. Normal Ranking Procedure

• Both players must be ranked

• Find the point difference between the ranked players at the time of the match.
• Using the chart find the spread between the ranked players
• If the winners points are higher than the loser - use the point value marked higher
• If the winners points are lower than the loser - use the point value marked lower
• Add the point value to the winners ranking points and subtract the point value from the loser’s points.

Senior Ranking Information

Squash Ontario uses the SportsBeat player ranking software program.

Fundamental to all ranking evaluations and movement by SportsBeat is the following heirarchy:

• Who won and who lost
• How strong was the win in games/sets played
• How strong was the win in net difference in points scored by the players
• What were the ranking values (position) of the players before the match
• Where on the player population ranking curve are these players located

The ultimate aspect to remember is that consistent winners will advance up the ranking value positioning themselves above competitors, whether or not the wins were decisive or narrow margins. Players who lose occasionally will also find themselves rising above their opponents, but not quite as quickly as the consistent winner. It does not take long for players to recognize the equitable method employed here versus the alternate of 'step' functions or replacement' methods of most other ranking systems.

Senior Rankings Insufficient Data:

• A player must play in one Squash Ontario senior sanctioned event or an Ontario Championship within a 6 month parameter from September 1st to April 30th to remain on the rankings
• May 1 to August 31 will be considered time out or dead period

Defaults:

• If a default is due to injury (for which a doctor's note has been provided), the loss is not recorded.  If the default was not due to injury but simply a "no show", the loss is recorded as a win for the opponent.  The doctor's note must be presented to Squash Ontario within 5 business days after the completion of the event.