Naming of Grades

Discussion in 'General Forum' started by Magwitch, Jun 8, 2020.

  1. Magwitch

    Magwitch Regular Member

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    Not sure how similar it is in other places, but in Australian tournaments the system is Open grade, then A-D. I don't know what others feel about this grading system, but I have issues with it, starting with the naming of the grades.

    There are two issues I have with the system in place here. Firstly, there's no clear differentiation between the standard in each grade. The D grade players are really good, and I was told a lot of the best players in my club have come down to Sydney thinking they'd do well in D grade singles, only to lose first round. Which leads me to my next issue. If you asked a student their grades and they said they were a D grade student you'd think they were pretty bad. So if you get smashed in D grade it wouldn't make you sound very good if you reported it to a non-player. Wouldn't it be better for some people's self-esteem to dispose of a letter grading system, and use euphemisms instead?

    Use of euphemisms has been attempted in table tennis here. The local club has usually had four grades, and the bottom grade has usually been called B or B2, but never D grade. Tournaments here for a while had a similar system to badminton with Open and A-E grades, however there was a clear distinction between grades. A rating system was established, and only players of certain ratings and lower can play some grades. However recently they obviously thought using euphemisms was the thing to do, as they have eliminated letter grades. Now on an entry form it will for example say <= 1900 singles. If a badminton association doesn't have a rating system, wouldn't it be better to call the grades say Open, then Division 1-4? If you say you are a Division 4 player people often wouldn't even know you are in the bottom grade.
     
  2. Joran

    Joran Regular Member

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    So you mean to say that the tournaments in australia are rated A-D, A being top class and D being recreational players?
    Or is it the opposite way, A being recreational and D being top class?

    In the netherlands we have a 1-9 rating with tournaments. You receive points for winning tournaments and competitions.
    For example a lvl 4 player can have a maximum of 1700ish points, if you find yourself above this number you have to play a higher category.

    Calling yourself a D player does sound kind of bad.
     
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  3. Magwitch

    Magwitch Regular Member

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    Open is the top grade, then A-D. D is lowest.
     
  4. SSSSNT

    SSSSNT Regular Member

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    You said there's no clear standard between A-D but only provided evidence of your club players lose when playing against D players. Is there any other evidence that there's no clear standard?
     
  5. Magwitch

    Magwitch Regular Member

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    Well, just as I and others have observed, there is not a clear distinction in standard between the grades as there was when table tennis was using the letter grades. That said, one of the clubs I belong to has a club champs with the same grading system, but the standard is more clear between grades. In that event, C grade is like D grade in the other events. I won D grade singles last year.
     

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