Quote

osted by
hound 109
....I do like adding age into the "formulas" for coming up with rankings. No reason why it couldn't be part of the formula since i assume that TRN obtains the ages (or age up dates) from the USTA electronically (along with the match results).
posted by JustinMadison
You don’t seem to understand what college coaches are trying to do. They are trying to find the best kids in a class. Age is not a factor. The only thing that matters is how they compare in skill to other kids in there class. How is this difficult to understand? You cannot add age to the formula when age does not matter.
JM, i understand exactly what coaches are doing & are trying to do. What coaches are doing NOW is just not as much on my radar since my kid is 6 years from HS graduation (or 7 years if i decide to stop whining & start joining the academy kids & Euro's by holding my kid back).
Thus the point of my Original Post several pages back.
(But fwiw, i have posted my opinion of a 20 y/o college freshman...& 20 y/o college "Euro" freshmen in another thread.)
As others have said.....TRN began as a college scholarship site. It now posts info on 8th graders, & 7th graders, & 6th graders, & 5 graders..... & even 4th graders & (i think) 3 rd graders. They also post the kid's footwear, his ACADEMY, his town & how he measures up with kids in his STATE, region & country. They have a place to put if he's left handed or right handed & his weight....but not his age?
As you know, for many, TRN is a "go to" site, if you want to get a feel for the competition in National Tournaments & also in deciding what tournaments will have better fields (yes, some of us look for "better competition"). It's NOT used as a recruitment site for the 5th grade through 9th grade crowd.....it's used as an informational site. It's NOT used as a "college recruitment" site for most academies.....it's used as a MARKETING tool......to make money.
A person is merely requesting a piece of info or some data (which can be voluntary or involuntary, i don't care)... & this data would give MORE information to the reader. That this person (who requests info) would be called a "whiner" (by some here) is goofy logic.
Those making such a claim either don't understand TRN..... or are clueless, or are members of
those type of academies who possibly encourage holding kids back..... or are parents of little boys & girls who already HAVE been held back. (i personally think that there are alot of "those" types of Academy folks posting here).
(note - in our section, some (most) academies are great, but there are a few that aren't....i suspect this is true in most sections.)
The whiner comment is a smokescreen & red herring. IMO,
the fact is....that having more information is almost always better than having less information....unless one is making money on only a few people having information.
Parents Star Jealousy, or PSJ syndrome

. That's what this is about.
It's more amusement than jealousy.
At the higher levels of a section, the tennis crowd is a pretty small one. Everyone knows everyone else.
In a ranking tournament two weeks ago, lots of laughs were had at the expense of the 5' 11", 14 y/o
6th grader (who always was a problem child), who was playing (and losing to) a 5'9 14 y/o
8th grader. Note - the height is irrelevent.... (except for amusement purposes that he's 8-14 inches taller than most, if not ALL 6th graders).
What's laughable is that the TRN algorythims & imputs looks at this match as a heroic effort by a 5 star 6th grader "playing up" against an 8th grader.....when it was actually just a run of the mill match against two 3 star quality 8th graders (or 14 y/o kids)....or whatever.
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