Cal Racquetball Ladder Play

    1. Anyone is welcome to join our ladder.  To join, email Aaron 
    Parsons (aparsons(at)ssl.berkeley.edu, replacing (at) with the usual 
    'at' symbol), or talk to him sometime at practice. He's the short kid.
    
    2. USRA rules apply.

    3. A game counts towards the ladder if all players involved agree
    to it, and if the game takes place during practice times (T,Th 7-10).
    You can log as many games as you want during that time.

    4. Ladder play, along with tryouts, is taken under consideration in
    determining the top 6 players for intercollegiate play.
    
    5. The scoring system is complicated, but you'll get the hang of it:

        a) Each game you play is worth 20 points.  These 20 points come 
           from small deductions from all the players (including the 
           ones playing).  It's like everyone antes into a pot for each 
           game.

        b) The winner(s) and loser(s) of a game then divide the points 
           according to who wins and what their relative ranks were.  
           This will sound familiar to anyone who has seen the scoring 
           system for ranked chess.  The upshot of it is that you get
           almost all 20 points if you beat someone much higher ranked 
           than you, around 15 points for beating someone with the same 
           rank, and only about 10 points for beating someone with a 
           much lower rank than you.  The loser, of course, gets the 
           rest of the points.

        c) In this system it is good to play (you always get points).

        d) You'll probably get the most points from playing people with 
           the same rank as you (because of the points you get compared 
           to the probability you will beat them).

        e) Your score will erode away if you do not play for a while 
           (because all points come from other players).

        f) If you play a coach (Del or Jim), you always 
           get all the points for the game.  Coaches don't earn points.
           This is supposed to encourage you to play the coaches, who
           make you pay for your shortcomings as a racquetball player 
           (ostensibly making you better).

        g) Doubles games are worth 20 points (same as singles).  But 
           there are more people to divide the points over.  As a
           result, you are probably going to earn fewer points playing
           doubles.  The rank of a doubles team is the sum of the
           ranks of its members.