Yet another tennis ladder and tournament management website

[tennis34]

Hi guys,

I'm working on a tennis ladder/league and a tournament management website. It's free for everyone to use, no gimmicks

The url is http://www.laddero.com if someone wants to take a look and help me beta-test it?

My goal is to replace outdated TennisEngine.com website (I'm sure all of us used it at some point!).

Some of the features:
- this website is absolutely free for both players and admins
- find a local league/ladder and opponents
- create and administer a new league/ladder
- create, manage or play a tennis tournament
- keep a personal journal of all ladder and non-ladder matches
- view all kind of statistics about your matches and your playing patterns.

Please let me know what you think. I just launched this very first version of it today. Thx!

[beernutz]

Originally Posted by tennis34

Hi guys,

I'm working on a tennis ladder/league and a tournament management website. It's free for everyone to use, no gimmicks

The url is http://www.laddero.com if someone wants to take a look and help me beta-test it?

My goal is to replace outdated TennisEngine.com website (I'm sure all of us used it at some point!).

Some of the features:
- this website is absolutely free for both players and admins
- find a local league/ladder and opponents
- create and administer a new league/ladder
- create, manage or play a tennis tournament
- keep a personal journal of all ladder and non-ladder matches
- view all kind of statistics about your matches and your playing patterns.

Please let me know what you think. I just launched this very first version of it today. Thx!

I'm not sure how to use this to manage a league team. That involves being able to enter a schedule of matches (dates, opponents, and locations) and assigning players to each match and line then being able to contact them through the system. I don't see how this would be possible with your system unless I'm missing something. The interface (AJAX?) is very slick though.

[tennis34]

Thanks or taking a look! The league management is not ready yet. Sorry, I should have pulled that out from the features list!

Which features are you exactly looking for when managing a league? I'm more than happy to add them

[beernutz]

Originally Posted by tennis34

Thanks or taking a look! The league management is not ready yet. Sorry, I should have pulled that out from the features list!

Which features are you exactly looking for when managing a league? I'm more than happy to add them

Well I was trying to think of what tennisone.com offers. They are apparently going to start charging for access to their formerly free system so some captains at our club are looking around for alternatives.

Like I wrote before, that involves being able to enter a schedule of matches (dates, opponents, and locations) and assigning players to each match and line then being able to contact them through the system but also a lot of other functions. I've copied their team member menu options and the captain menu options below where the text in bold is a section title to give you an idea of what tennisone does. You could always join and see for yourself.

Team Member

My Information
Update Personal Information
Match Schedule & Availability
Practice Schedule & Availability

My Match Information
Match Availability Summary
Match Schedule & Lineup
Confirm My Match Availability
Display Match Emails
Add Matches to Google Calendar

Teammate's Match Information
Update Teammate's Match Availability
Confirm Teammate's Availability

Practice Information
Practice Availability Summary
Practice Responses by Date/Time
Update Teammate's Practice Availability

Team Information
View Team Roster
Email Team
Player and Team Rankings
Match Results
Team Blog
Edit Team Blog
Upload Team Pictures
View Team Pictures

Club Information
Club Schedule of Matches
My Matches for All Teams
Email Players at my Club

Miscellaneous
Apparel and Equipment

Captain

Team and Club Information
Getting Started
Team Information
Club Information
Hide Pages from Players
Delete This Team
Opposing Team Information
Captain/Coach's Message

Team Members
Add Players from my Club
Add New Players to Roster
Remove Players from Roster
Edit Player Information

Scheduling - Matches
Match Schedule
Match Lineup
Email Opposing Teams
USTA NorCal Schedule Upload
Tennislink/Excel Schedule Upload

Scheduling - Practices
Practice Schedule
Practice Availability Details
Practice Lineup

Matches and Results
Print Lineup Card
Match Results

Help
Team members login problems

We actually use a different online system to schedule court time and make reservations for lessons with a club pro on our courts. I believe it is run by the USPTA and is found at courtsideusa.com. You might want to consider integrating its functions as well to generate more interest in your software.

[tennis34]

Wow, this is really great info! Thanks so much!
I will definitely be adding the league feature in near future.
Right now, the goal is to have all of TennisEngine.com functionality, and much more....

[gmatheis]

simple observation after a brief look at your login.jsp page.


The tabs to switch between login/new user/features /FAQ are only selectable at the very top of each tab ... should be clickable in that whole bar.

I clicked like 5 times with no result until i realized you can only click the very top (of course I played 3 times today and am a little tired)

[tennis34]

Hi gmatheis,
thanks for taking a look!
Which browser are you using? Tabs are clickable for me in Firefox, Chrome and IE 9.....

[mikeler]

Originally Posted by tennis34

Hi gmatheis,
thanks for taking a look!
Which browser are you using? Tabs are clickable for me in Firefox, Chrome and IE 9.....

Test it in Safari too. Ah, the joy of web programming. Four major browsers with umpteen versions of each.

[tennis34]

I tested it on Safari on iPad and iPhone....I don't have a Mac to confirm it works on that version of Safari too....

Yeah, I do web development for a living, and I'm always anxious when a new version of a browser, Adobe Acrobat, or (insert any other software here) is released....you know something will break with one of those updates!

[tennis34]

I'm getting some really great suggestions from a lot of people, thanks everyone!
I just added a feature to configure a ladder as a private or public.
And I added an explanation how the system calculates rankings and Average Opponent Strength.

[mikeler]

Originally Posted by tennis34

I tested it on Safari on iPad and iPhone....I don't have a Mac to confirm it works on that version of Safari too....

Yeah, I do web development for a living, and I'm always anxious when a new version of a browser, Adobe Acrobat, or (insert any other software here) is released....you know something will break with one of those updates!

I'll try and remember to test your website out one of these nights when I'm at home on a Mac. There were some minor differences the between the iOS and Lion versions of Safari on the last website I worked on.

[tennis34]

I'm thinking of adding more ranking systems as a way to calculate rankings. What do people prefer: based on ranking points, leap frog...etc?

Right now, my ranking system is based on number of matches won and I calculate quality of opponents (average opponent strength). Any opinions if I should combine those two somehow? (for example, total ranking points would be: # of matches won + 0.5*avg_opponent_strength) ? Or maybe I will just make it so that the administrator can configure the weight of the avg_opponent_strength?

[tennis34]

This is implemented now

Originally Posted by tennis34

I'm thinking of adding more ranking systems as a way to calculate rankings. What do people prefer: based on ranking points, leap frog...etc?

Right now, my ranking system is based on number of matches won and I calculate quality of opponents (average opponent strength). Any opinions if I should combine those two somehow? (for example, total ranking points would be: # of matches won + 0.5*avg_opponent_strength) ? Or maybe I will just make it so that the administrator can configure the weight of the avg_opponent_strength?

[tennis34]

Another change that I just made:
You can configure number of points given for each match won/lost.

[tennis34]

Also, here are the standing in the ATP fantasy ladder for Top 20 players that I'm keeping track of:
http://www.laddero.com/viewPublicLadder.jsp?ladderId=15

I entered all results for Top 20 players since beginning of 2013. It will be interesting to see how will this list match the ATP rankings as the year go by.

Matches counted for this fantasy ladder are only when a Top 20 player plays another Top 20 player. (Top 20 is taken from the beginning of 2013).

Novak is first with 4 Top 20 wins. Followed by Ferrer with 3 wins.

[tennis34]

I just implemented a way to seamlessly embed laddero.com functionality into your own personal/club website.

That way, if your members are already signing into your website, they don't have to sign in into laddero.com (and they don't know that ladder data is hosted somewhere else).

[AR15]

Originally Posted by tennis34

I just implemented a way to seamlessly embed laddero.com functionality into your own personal/club website.

That way, if your members are already signing into your website, they don't have to sign in into laddero.com (and they don't know that ladder data is hosted somewhere else).

How does this functionality work. I couldn't find the link, in your site, to contact you. Is there a charge?

[tennis34]

Originally Posted by AR15

How does this functionality work. I couldn't find the link, in your site, to contact you. Is there a charge?

Hey there!
I might charge for this functionality in future (since I won't be displaying ads within your website), but let's say that first 10 people using it get it for free as a thanks for helping me beta-test it (there's still couple free slots left).

The way the set up works is:
1) Create a laddero.com account and create your ladder. Do NOT add players yet (so they wouldn't get an email from laddero.com), but email me at info@laddero.com with your ladder details.

2) I will enable your account for this feature, and at that point, you can start adding your players. They will NOT get an email from laddero.com, since it will be transparent to them that their ladder is hosted somewhere else.

3) Also, I will send you a link that you will use to embed your ladder in your website.

Let me know if this makes sense?

[tennis34]

Just thought that I should revive this thread since I made a bunch of changes to the interface and added more features....Also, the spring is here and I know that many Admins are looking for a better alternative to TennisEngine
Please take a look at laddero.com and let me know of any questions/suggestions?
Thanks!

[tennis34]

I'll try to keep thread going to notify everyone of updates...

Per popular request, I implemented a 20-point Leap Frog ranking system