What is a challenge ladder and how does it work?

How does the ranking on the ladder work?

How do I challenge someone?

How often should I be playing?

What do I do if someone below me challenges me after I've gained a higher spot but before the ladder updates are posted?

What do I do if I'm scheduled to play someone higher than me, but I lose to someone lower than me before our match takes place, and I am therefore out of range of my scheduled opponent?

How should matches be played?

How do I reserve a racquetball court?

What do I do if I challenged someone and they haven't responded to me within 48 hours, or scheduled a match within 1 week?

What do I do if I will be out of town or there are other special circumstances regarding why I haven't responded to a challenge or something else?

What do I do if I have a friend who would like to join the ladder?

What do I do if I don't want to participate anymore?

How often will the ladder be updated?

What do I do if I get too many challenges at the same time and don't have time to play them all?

A challenge ladder is a means of tournament-style play, which ranks players based on their wins in order to allow players of all different skill levels to participate without necessarily pitting a beginner against an advanced player. Players are assigned an initial ranking on the ladder, and then can challenge up to 3 people above them. For example, in Sample Ladder 1, player D may challenge either player C, B, or A. However, player E may only challenge players D, C, and B. So, if player D were to challenge player A and win, and then player E were to challenge player C and win, the resulting ladder would look like Sample Ladder 2.

Sample Ladder 1 Rank Player 1 A 2 B 3 C 4 D 5 E

Sample Ladder 2 Rank Player 1 D 2 A 3 B 4 E 5 C

Initial ranking is based on a combination of the order in which you contacted me to join, the general level of your skill, and some greater or lesser amount of randomness. If you are unhappy with where you have been placed on the ladder, don't complain, just work your way up the ladder by challenging.

Members from the previous season will, in general, be given priority of initial ranking over new members. All new members, added once the season has started, will be placed at the bottom of the ladder, and must work their way up.

When you beat someone, you, in effect, move above them and push everyone between your previous rank and your opponents rank down a step. Please note that your rank does not swap with your opponents.

To challenge someone, first make sure that they are within 3 spots above you on the challenge ladder. Then, contact them via email saying something along the lines of Hey, you're ranked 5 and I'm ranked 8 on the racquetball ladder, and I'd like to challenge you to a match.

The challenged player has 48 hours to respond to your challenge and 1 week to play the game. Any violations of these time restrictions not discussed and agreed upon by challenger and the challengee will result in a forfeit of match by the offender. In other words, if you don't respond to a challenge in 2 days, or you avoid playing it for over a week, the challenger will move above you (but you will not gain a loss).

The winner of every match is responsible to report the results to me via email. Dont worry about telling me the scores, but please tell me who wins every match, even if no rankings change, so that I may add to your wins and losses.

The more you play, the better. That being said, I understand that we all have very busy lives. It was suggested that there be a mandatory one game per week. However, I like the club to be very flexible, so I am not placing a minimum on game play. Nevertheless, please try to play on a weekly basis. If no one challenges you, challenge someone else. You're welcome to challenge downwards within 3 steps as well, just to get some play time in (but note that if you lose, your opponent will be moved above you).

If someone challenges you after you've won a match against someone higher than you, and the challenger is therefore no longer in your 3-step range, you should respond to them as soon as possible, within 48 hours, informing them of your new position, and that they must challenge someone lower. However, if you fail to contact them to let them know within 48 hours, you will forfeit the new match. Your previous win will be honored, but your new challenger will take a spot one rung higher than you.

What do I do if I'm scheduled to play someone higher than me, but I lose to someone lower than me before our match takes place, and I am therefore out of range of my scheduled opponent?

Fortunately for you, scheduled matches hold. Once a challenge is placed and accepted, it does not matter if you have moved down on the ladder, so long as you were within 3 steps of your opponent at the time of the challenge. If you win, you will move up regardless of your previous loss.

All matches should be played according to USRA rules, best-out-of-three, consisting of two games up to 15 points, and the possibility of a tie-breaker up to 11 points. In general, I've found that most people like to play win-by-two. However, if you would prefer to play win-by-one, as tournament rules specify, ask your opponent before the match begins.

To prevent confusion it is recommended that opponents meet at the racquetball courts, unless otherwise decided.

Call (585) 275-7643 option #2 (9:30 a.m. - 6:30 p.m.) one day in advance to reserve racquetball courts. Reservations are limited to one hour playing time per day for singles and/or doubles.

It is highly recommended that you reserve a court, as there are only 2 available, and they are often full, especially during peak hours.

If this happens, e-mail me at SHerman4@mail.rochester.edu as soon as possible with a forwarded copy of the email that you sent them, including the time of the challenge and a short description of what has happened. I will work out whether or not they are in violation of the rules, and if so, they will forfeit the challenge (you will move above them, but wins and losses will not be altered).

If you know that you will be unable to play for an extended length of time, let me know and I can remove you temporarily from the ladder. When you come back, you must challenge the person who has the spot that you had when you left. If you win, you will regain your spot. If you lose, you will be placed one spot down.

If you are unable to respond to a challenge because you are away for the weekend or something like that, and you have not yet forfeited by default on the ladder, you can ask your challenger if you can play the match afterward.

Basically, the system is fairly lenient. If you cant play, you don't have to. Just be aware that depending on the circumstances you may forfeit the match by default. But you can always re-challenge later. So don't worry.

If I have reason to believe that you are taking advantage of the temporary removal system, you will be placed at the bottom of the ladder.

Have them e-mail me (SHerman4@mail.rochester.edu) with their name, email address, and optionally a contact phone number. Shortly thereafter, they will be added to the bottom of the ladder to begin playing.

Please tell all your friends who play racquetball to join. The more players we have on the ladder, the better the play will be.

If you wish to drop out of the racquetball ladder at any point, please email me and let me know. You will be removed from the ladder shortly thereafter. If you choose to rejoin at any point, you will be added to the bottom of the ladder.

I will update the ladder on a rolling basis, not at any fixed interval. I will try to do so regularly as I get match reports, but please understand that I am very business.

If you already have a match scheduled and you get challenged again, or if you get challenged by multiple people at the same time, and you don't have enough time to play all of them, pick one or two of the challenges to play, and then tell the other challengers that you already have matches scheduled that week. Ask them to rechallenge you the following week, as you may move up based on your current scheduled matches. If you have more matches scheduled, passing up a match for a week will not be considered a forfeit by default. Just try not to pass up matches if you have no other matches to play. Basically, just be reasonable in your acceptance of challenges. You're not expected to go above and beyond, just to have fun!