Hi Dallas and Julie,
Since TRN does not include birth year or date of a player, what is your protocol to prevent manipulation of graduation year to gain edge on ranking and stars?
I looked up my daughter's tournament activity on TRN today and saw a girl she beat a few months ago now ranked 80's on TRN. At the time, she was around 203, high 3 stars. Curious how she improved quickly, searched her profile and saw it changed year of graduation, now a rising 6th grade.This player had a confirmed grad year and even player bio 3 months ago so it was intentionally "UPDATED". A ~5 ft 4 whose mother told me she was~ 12 now is a rising 6th grade, unrated (waiting to be rated high 4 or even 5 stars this September.....LOL!!).
That girl looked sharp to me and bless her heart.....she might be held back FOR REAL. Question is...without DOB or birth year (for coaches) to take in account...parents can report kids being held back. Once in high school......attracting several college coaches because of inflated ranks.......will you let the person change the grad year again? Do they have to submit any proof if keep changing grad yr?
I am sure some parents are pulling all the tricks they could. Since TRN ranking has quite an impact on college recruiting, please consider ways(birth year? or ???) to make your ranking system a bit more cheater-proof.
I know it was directed to TRN.
But, just some thoughts:
1) You can change your kids grade up until the minute they enter high school.
Once 9th grade starts, the clock is ticking.
2) I agree with you in that it would be nice if they posted birth dates because
some, well a lot, of training facilities/tennis clubs do give out scholarships and partial scholarships based on stars.
And, a lot, if not most of these places don't do a lot of hw.
So, your 6th grader who should be a 7th grader looks a lot better and gets the scholarship over your kid,
even though if they were the same grade,
your kid might be higher....
Get it.
3) I would like if TRN put in the birthdates too.
There is a simple computer program they could run to do birthdates by months without giving out the actual birthdates.
4) Many folks have complained, nice to hear another voice too.
What is strange for me is that TRN does seem to understand the unfairness of the new USTA reduced tournament system,
as they are advertising the opens now. ( one in GA same time as clay courts which is great for kids who didn't get into clays).
So, I am surprised they don't understand that folks want an honest, transparent system
where Johnny doesn't get a free ride based on an inflated star system because they played the system.
And while College coaches can look in the system and see the actual age come junior or senior year.....
By then, a lot of kids got screwed -
Kids do get affected even in High School when from the same grade -
the 5 star 9th grader gets the free scholarship for camp over the 4 star player 9th grader, but the 5 star is 20 months older.
The birth month 16 years and 4 months is not on the front page, so no one knows.......
And I am sure this will be labeled as "whining" etc by all the parents who have gamed the system and don't want their kid found out.
But, I am for honest, transparent systems.
Now, we could talk about self esteem issues when dad has to hold junior back to look good, but that should be another thread.
And remember the suggestion to TRN by our Florida Coach was to be voluntary and by month ( 16 years, and 1/4) so no actual birthdate is shown - good suggestions. That way, when free scholarships are handed out in middle school and high school, they actually go to the kid who has talent, not the parent who gamed the system.