What are the SportMartialArts.com/Open World Tour ratings?
The SportMartialArts.com ratings are an opportunity to compare your skills against other competitors in sport karate. All Open World Tour events are included in our ratings. The way the ratings are calculated takes into account event size, number of competitors and competitive level of the event when awarding points in an attempt to provide ratings that are fair.
Which events are included?
Open World Tour (www.openworldtour.com) events are the only events included in the ratings.
Who is rated?
Currently the ratings only cover standard individual black belt divisions at events, men’s team sparring and team/demo team divisions. For instance, at a NASKA or NBL rated event, the recognized NASKA or NBL divisions would be included.
What divisions are rated and what are the rating divisions?
In order to accommodate so many different leagues and the variety in divisions between leagues, SportMartialArts.com created its own 37 Rating Divisions which incorporate the various divisions in all leagues. Because of age and weight differences in divisions, some circuit divisions included in SportMartialArts.com Rating Divisions overlap – especially in youth divisions. However, after analysis, the break down is the most accurate way of being all-inclusive of the different leagues.
How do the ratings work?
The ratings calculations seem more complicated than they really are – really! Here is a step-by-step break down of how ratings are calculated.
At each event, we grab all the results that the promoters are able to provide. Some events are awesome at getting us complete results quickly and without fuss. At other events, well, it’s a different story. Sometimes results sheets get lost. Sometimes scorekeepers only write first names on results sheets making it impossible for us to interpret the results. We do our best with whatever is provided to us.
Once we have the results, we enter the results into our database for the event. This is the hardest part of this process as it is tedious and takes a lot of time. Plus we have to decipher the scoresheets and handwriting.
After the results are entered (actually while they are being entered) our custom-made ratings module goes into effect and calculates.
1. Place. Competitors receive points (up to 100) for where he or she placed in a division. 4th-8th place = 25 points, 3rd place = 50 points, 2nd place = 75 points and 1st place = 100 points.
2. Number of People In Division. Next, the calculator checks out how many people were in the division. If there was only one person in the division, 50 points will be deducted from points. If there were only 2-3 people in the division, 10 points are deducted. Divisions with 4 competitors have no point deductions or rewards and divisions with 5 or more competitors enhance each competitor’s points by 10.
3. Defeating a Higher Rated Competitor. Placing higher than a competitor that ranks higher than you also allows for bonus points. The calculator looks at the ratings based on the most recent completed tournament. If, at the next tournament, a competitor places higher in the division than another competitor who is rated higher, the competitor will receive an additional 25 points for each higher rated competitor he or she defeats.
4. Grand Championships. Finally, competitors who win an overall grand championship will receive an additional 100 bonus points for the grand championship title. Only overall grand championships are included, not run-offs or grand championships to bring the number of competitors going to the stage down to a smaller number even if that division is titled a grand championship.
5. Placing in Multiple Divisions. Since the SportMartialArts.com Ratings Divisions have been tailored to only 37 divisions, this means that a competitor may place in a number of different divisions in a tournament that would all fall into the same SportMartialArts.com Ratings Division. For instance, a competitor who competes and places in an extreme forms divisions and a separate musical forms division would have points from both that would qualify for the creative/extreme/musical SportMartialArts.com Rating Division for the competitor’s gender and age. In this instance, the division where the competitor earned the most points would be included in the SportMartialArts.com Ratings for that tournament.
What are the overall ratings?
In order to keep things exciting and give people an easy graph to see who is currently doing well in competition, you will see our 11 overall ratings divisions on the first page of the Ratings area. This area shows the five people with the most points in each of the general overall categories. You can then click on links to see more details about the individual competitor or the SportMartialArts.com Rating Division that the competitor is rated in. On the site Home Page, you can see the top 10 people in each Overall Division.
What if I see a mistake?
Please contact us using our Contact Us page if you think there is a mistake with the Ratings or if you have information about missing Results. Most Ratings mistakes are due to Results being missing.