How much access do League Coordinators have to detailed USTA ratings?

[dizzlmcwizzl]

This past winter one of my good tennis buddies was bumped up to 5.0. He is a solid 4.5 and if he was not lugging around such a beer belly he would be a solid 5.0. Any who, one day he complains in a friendly about having to throw matches to get bumped back down and play with his friends. Within a few minutes one of the guys we were playing with sends him an e-mail with exact ratings of all of the players (including his and mine) in our section.

Apparently, there is a LC in middle states that has access to actual ratings. He forwards these ratings to a well known and distrusted captain in the region. That captain then forwards these ratings to help his players to manipulate their ratings and avoid being bumped up. My friend has received 2 more updated lists since then.

While I always suspected something like this ... and while this particular captain has long been suspected of having inside information ... I still was surprised to actually see the document.

Is anyone else out there aware of these lists? Can all league coordinators do this or is this unusual?

 

[schmke]

Given the USTA's concerns about access to ratings and manipulation of them, clearly an LC is not supposed to do this, but I do understand that at least some LC's have access to year-end ratings for players in the leagues they are the coordinator for.

 

[Minn Hobbs]

There are several non USTA affiliated websites that provide estimated USTA dynamic ratings that anyone can see and they are based off your match results. Are you sure that list is official USTA ratings or something off tennisrecord.com?

 

[kylebarendrick]

I have seen exact ratings and strike counts in the response to a self-rate grievance. Along the lines of "Player A has a rating of 3.142 and has received one strike". Clearly someone has access.

 

[schmke]

I have seen exact ratings and strike counts in the response to a self-rate grievance. Along the lines of "Player A has a rating of 3.142 and has received one strike". Clearly someone has access.

I believe the committee reviewing a grievance can get access to dynamic ratings to use in-part to evaluate if a player is actually playing above level. It sounds like this is what happened in the case you are citing, although I am surprised they'd offer those specifics rather than a more generic response.

 

[dizzlmcwizzl]

There are several non USTA affiliated websites that provide estimated USTA dynamic ratings that anyone can see and they are based off your match results. Are you sure that list is official USTA ratings or something off tennisrecord.com?

This was definately not from the websites as the names I checked did not match any of the websites

And the names on the email thread included connected individuals. ...

Pretty sure v this was legit

 

[MisterP]

Interesting. There are LC's in my area that are also captains. If they have easy access to insider info that would surely be an ethical problem.

 

[J_R_B]

This past winter one of my good tennis buddies was bumped up to 5.0. He is a solid 4.5 and if he was not lugging around such a beer belly he would be a solid 5.0. Any who, one day he complains in a friendly about having to throw matches to get bumped back down and play with his friends. Within a few minutes one of the guys we were playing with sends him an e-mail with exact ratings of all of the players (including his and mine) in our section.

Apparently, there is a LC in middle states that has access to actual ratings. He forwards these ratings to a well known and distrusted captain in the region. That captain then forwards these ratings to help his players to manipulate their ratings and avoid being bumped up. My friend has received 2 more updated lists since then.

While I always suspected something like this ... and while this particular captain has long been suspected of having inside information ... I still was surprised to actually see the document.

Is anyone else out there aware of these lists? Can all league coordinators do this or is this unusual?

Was one of the people "on the inside" someone who was just bumped to 4.5 this year? If so, I know exactly who you're talking about, and they're legit, not from a non-affiliated site. I know he had the ratings, but it's pretty shady to circulate them around to players.

I know that the sectional coordinators have access to this (and, really, they need to). I don't know if LLCs universally do or not. If people are doing stuff like this and LLCs can't be trusted with it, the USTA will certainly further restrict access, though.

 

[dizzlmcwizzl]

I think we are talking about the same guy ....

 

[dizzlmcwizzl]

And I am sure you know his buddy the distrusted captain

 

[J_R_B]

4.5 captain whose team won sectionals in a major upset then declined to go to nationals? No idea who you're talking about. LOL.

 

[dizzlmcwizzl]

4.5 captain whose team won sectionals in a major upset then declined to go to nationals? No idea who you're talking about. LOL.

Well, to be fair ... the only reason he declined to go to nationals with that team was that one of the other teams he captains was in second and they got to go to nationals instead.

It seems like if you captain 27 teams a year, the middle states folks will give you anything that you want. As long as you bring in the money then cheat, cheat away.

 

[J_R_B]

Well, to be fair ... the only reason he declined to go to nationals with that team was that one of the other teams he captains was in second and they got to go to nationals instead.

Right, his B team upset his A team, so he forced them to decline the invitation so as to not upset his plans for world domination. There was nothing really fair about that. LOL.

 

[OnTheLine]

I find this all quite disturbing.
I have a few gripes about some minor cheating that happens here and there but actual collusion with an employee of the USTA is insane

 

[WhiteOut]

I find this all quite disturbing.
I have a few gripes about some minor cheating that happens here and there but actual collusion with an employee of the USTA is insane

seriously, that's bananas! i hear stuff like this and am just thankful the area i live in has a very solid, above-board LC. are there minor shenanigans at the captain level? yes, but only with a couple of them, and everyone knows who they are...

i cap three teams, and it takes all i have to just get a freaking full lineup each week. I cant imagine having the kind of time on my hands to do some of this stuff i see people talking about on this board...i mean, i'd rather spend that time on the court!!

 

[OnTheLine]

seriously, that's bananas! i hear stuff like this and am just thankful the area i live in has a very solid, above-board LC. are there minor shenanigans at the captain level? yes, but only with a couple of them, and everyone knows who they are...

i cap three teams, and it takes all i have to just get a freaking full lineup each week. I cant imagine having the kind of time on my hands to do some of this stuff i see people talking about on this board...i mean, i'd rather spend that time on the court!!

Yeah seriously, I captain 2 teams right now and I have a job, kid, husband and need to play 5 days a week ... no time for al this craziness ... wow.

 

[NTRPolice]

They not only have access to viewing the ratings, but they also can change a persons rating as they see fit. If enough people report or at least attempt to file a grievance against someone who is out of level, an LC can take it upon themselves to manually move a person up. I've seen people take 1.0 NTRP bumps between seasons; no strikes, no DQ's. On the flip side, there are players who are so annoying, to the extent where LC's obliges the repeated requests to lower their rating after they were just bumped, just so they quit emailing, calling, and showing up at the USTA office. The fortunate thing is that these are minor occurrences in a pretty big system.

I dont really care if people can see DNTRP. I care more about the fact that some people taking rating adjustments with pride, and others stoop to any level they must to get their rating where they want it to be.

 

[Moveforwardalways]

Of course they can see the ratings. It’s not like a state secret sequestered away at the USTA national headquarters. While not everyone can just google it, it’s available if you have sufficient access. They know. But honestly, we all know too. If a player is sandbagging or whatever, everyone knows. It’s no secret.

 

[MarinaHighTennis]

4.5 captain whose team won sectionals in a major upset then declined to go to nationals? No idea who you're talking about. LOL.

I've always wondered about declining nationals. If your team is too poor to travel to play nationals, is the USTA not gonna help out or anything? My team is all broke college students, but we're pretty good haha

 

[Moveforwardalways]

If your team is too poor to travel to play nationals, is the USTA not gonna help out or anything?

Leagues exist to make the USTA money, not the other way around.

 

[J_R_B]

I've always wondered about declining nationals. If your team is too poor to travel to play nationals, is the USTA not gonna help out or anything? My team is all broke college students, but we're pretty good haha

When my team went to nationals, Middle States gave me a stipend. I had to use like half of it to pay to the national organization to cover their team entry fee, but I did have some left over to cover some team expenses like a dinner we had on Thursday when everyone got there and practice court time and balls and a hotel room for a couple guys who were flying back Monday instead of Sunday. It was not nearly enough to cover anyone's airfare or hotel expenses, though. I suppose if I were a real dick, I could have just covered my own expenses with the sectional money and not paid for team stuff, but I'm not that way, LOL.