• 2008 AWSA Nationals Qualifying
• 2008 AWSA Regionals Qualifying
• Explanation of Levels and Percentiles
• Understanding the Information Presented
• Selections & Filters -- What Do I Want to See
• How the Ranking Scores are Calculated
• What are those *'s and #'s all about?
• Memberships and Member Number Issues
• Other Miscellaneous Rankings Topics

Beginning with the 2008 ski season, Nationals qualifications will be based primarily on Ranking List Levels.  Skiers ranked Level 8 or better in any event or overall on the Thursday 3 weeks prior to Nationals (the official Cut Off Date) are automatically qualified.  At the Cut Off Date, the Rankings List Score from the lowest skier in Level 8 in each event and overall will be locked in for each division.  Those particular scores on that date become the Cut Off Averages (COA).

After the Cut Off Date, skiers not already qualified as of that date, may qualify for Nationals by any one of following three Last Chance Qualifying methods (LCQs):

1. Increase your ranking value to the COA or higher, at any time during the period beginning with the Cut Off Date through the close of Nationals registration for that event;  or
    
2. Record a score equal to or above the COA at Regionals, or any class E, L or R tournament;  or
    
3. Place in the top five (5) at Regionals, regardless of ranking.

Skiers placing in the top five (5) at Nationals automatically qualify for the next year's Nationals.  Any skier who is ranked on the Open rankings list, or has a valid Open rating as of the cutoff date, is automatically qualified.

More details on the subject of Nationals Qualifications can be found in section 4.02 of the AWSA Rulebook.  A link to that rulebook can be found in the Left Navigation section on the Water Skiing section on this USA Waterski Website.

Qualification for most of the Regional tournaments are also being done in terms of the Ranking List and Levels.  However, the specific levels and dates do vary from one Region to another.  Consequently, you should consult the applicable Region's website to get the pertinent rules for that particular Region.  You can find links to those Regional websites, under the Region Websites heading, which can be found in the Left Navigation area on the Water Skiing section on this USA Waterski Website.

Explanation of Levels and Percentiles

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Skiers in the rankings for any given Division and Event have been classified into Levels.  These levels are defined in terms of each skiers' Percentile within that division and event, working from the bottom upwards.  So the Skier with the highest ranking score within a Division and Event will be at the 100-th percentile.

The classification specifics -- the percentile break points that define the levels -- for each Division and Event are established annually by the AWSA Skier's Qualification Committee.  Those specifications can be found in a table that will be displayed at the bottom of any such rankings display.

The separations between levels in the rankings display are indicated by a color-coded heading line.  For each skier shown in the display, The 'RANK' column value on each skier row is color coded to indicate the corresponding level, according to the following key:

Foreign Skiers:  It is important to note that only the distribution of scores of USA skiers are used to determine where those level breaks will fall for each Division and Event.  The scores of Non-USA skiers are ignored in developing those level break points.  So if you choose an "All Federations" display, you will find that the Non-USA skiers in that display will not show either a percentile nor a level code -- but they will of course appear at their proper place in the overall list of scores for that Division and Event.

Each row in the rankings table presents a number of attributes for that named skier.  Column-by-column, here is a brief explanation on each of those elements:

• Rank::  Displays each skier's position in the list, with #1 at the top and working downwards.  If two or more skiers have identical ranking scores, they will be shown as tied, with the same Rank number and the letter T indicating that tie on both of their rankings.  The color background in this column indicates the Qualification Level for this skier.  Click Here to jump to more detailed information on the subject of Levels and Percentiles.
   
• Member Name:  Displays the member's name, exactly as it appears in the USA Waterski membership database.
   
• Score:  Displays the calculated Ranking Score value for the member in this Division and Event.  Details on how these are calculated is presented further down on this page.  Click Here to jump directly to that explanatory material.  If you hold your mouse pointer over the Score value for any particular skier, a box will pop up that details the specific performances which contribute to that skier's ranking score.  If you are interested in seeing more detail on all the scores for a specific skier, clicking on the skier's name will switch you to a score detail display for that particular skier, for the division and event currently selected and displayed.
   
• Home State:  Displays the State code for the member's address, as it appears in the USA Waterski membership database.
   
• Home Region:  This is derived from the above-mentioned State code, based on the mapping of the 50 states into the 5 AWSA Regions.
   
• Regional Place:  Displays the placement earned by this skier in their Regional Tournament for the selected time period.  If the Regionals in which the skier competed was somewhere other than the region to which their state belongs, then the code for the Regionals actually skied in will be shown adjacent to the placement value.
   
• National Place:  Displays the placement earned by this skier in the National Tournament for the selected time period.
   
• Federation:  Displays the Federation code entered by the skier into the Membership system.
   
• Percentile:  Displays the percentile level at which this particular skier falls within the overall distribution of USA skiers in the Division and Event.  Click Here to jump to more detailed information on the subject of Levels and Percentiles.
   

National / Junior / Collegiate / Grassroots::  This major choice is controlled by the radio buttons presented across the top of the controls box that sits above the rankings display area.

Range (time period):  is specified by the first drop-down at the top of the controls box.  Please note that the Range chosen is a global choice, and so a change here will also affect which scores are displayed in any Score detail displays you may subsequently choose.  The choices offered will vary depending on the chosen Sports Division.  For the National and Junior choices, there are two major types of timeframes that you may choose:

• Qualifications Ranking List -- Rolling 12 Months::  This is the default choice, and the resultant ranking lists are the ones used in determining qualification for AWSA Regional and National tournaments.  This timeframe represents exactly 12 months on any given day, counted backwards from the current date.  Scores older than 12 months ago are NOT included in the Last 12 Months ranking calculations.
   
• Ski Year Ranking Lists:  Rankings lists for the Range of any Ski Year may be accessed by changing the Range option from Last 12 Months to a particular fixed Ski Year.  Note the Ski Year period begins on the day after the conclusion of an AWSA Nationals and extends through the closing date of the next Nationals.  The Nationals is the last tournament of each ski year, and the scores therefrom are credited to that ski year.

Division & Event:  These two elements are the primary selections, and are controlled by the drop-down boxes near the top of the controls box.  The specific choices available in those drop-downs, will be a function of the Sports Division chosen.

Geographic Filters:  The defaults for Region and State selection are both "All", and so the initial display you see will be for the entire country.  You may change the Region and/or State selections to display rankings for geographic subsets.  Such Region and State selections are based on the State code stored in the USA Waterski Membership database.  Updating that code (including the National Federation code) can only be done by USA Waterski Membership services staff.  Consequently an address change may also change the region in which a member appears in filtered rankings, and whether a member is considered a USA or Non-USA skier.

Official Ranking Formula:  AWSA Rule 1.13, newly revised in 2008, specifies the official Rankings formula that is used for the AWSA National and Junior Ranking Lists:

"Skiers will be ranked based on the average of their top three tournament scores in slalom, tricks, jumping and overall.  For tournaments having multiple rounds only the best single round score will be taken for that tournament.  A skier having fewer than three tournament scores will have a penalty applied to the average of the scores they do have, in the respective classes reported, based on the table below:

In addition to the above provisions in Rule 1.13, a new provision has been added to Rule 3.06 which also affects the ranking list score calculations:

"Scores below Class C may be included in the Ranking calculations, but may not exceed the applicable previous ski year’s Level 5 Cut Off Average."

Ranking Calculation Examples:

1. You slalomed in 2 Class C tournaments with scores of 50 & 46 buoys.  Your average of those two would be 50 + 46 = 96 / 2 = 48.  Less 5% penalty (2.4) yields an official ranking score of 45.6 buoys.
    
2. You jumped in 2 Class C tournaments with scores of 60 & 50 feet.  Your average of those two would be 60 + 50 = 110 / 2 = 55.  Less 5% penalty (2.75) yields a ranking score of 52.25 feet. However, applying a 10% penalty to the highest single score of 60 feet would yield a result of 54 feet, and since that is higher than 52.25, then the 54 becomes the official ranking score value.

Equivalent Scores:  Each skier will appear in the particular ranking list that corresponds to their official age division, for the selected timeframe.  The AWSA optional Divisions -- Open Men and Women and Masters 55k -- represent additional separate ranking lists.  A skier in the age range of 18-24 with scores recorded in M1 will appear in the M1 ranking list.  If such a skier has scores reported in OM, then they will appear in the OM ranking list.  If they have scores in both M1 and in OM, then they will appear in both lists.

Ranking Score values for any particular Division and Event are calculated following an Equivalent Scores methodology.  This combines scores across divisions that a member has reported performances in, provided the performance conditions of Boat Speed (S/J) and Ramp Height (J) are comparable.  Tricks is always equivalent.

Graduating Skiers:  For the Rolling 12 Month timeframe, those skiers who have changed Age Divisions during that period will be shown in their new Age Division.  In most instances, performances recorded in the previous age division will be equivalent and will contribute to the skier's rankings in their new age division.  Where the maximum slalom boat speed in the new Age Division is lower than the old one, those scores will be adjusted in accordance with AWSA rule 10.06(c) to be compatible with the new Age Division.

Posting and Updating Scores:  Scores are uploaded to the Rankings website, immediately upon receipt from the tournament scorer.  Any newly reported or updated scores will show up immediately in Score Detail displays.  However, the Ranking Scores are recalculated only once each day, during the overnight hours.  As a result, any changes or additions to the score database on any given day, will not be reflected in the rankings until the following morning.

Ranking scores that are accompanied with special symbols, signify rankings that are based on fewer than three tournaments:

• a * next to a ranking score, signifies that skier has less than the requisite three tournaments, and that they have been assessed a penalty on the average of what they do have, according to the Rule 1.13 table (which appears in the Ranking Calculations section above).
   
• a # next to a ranking score, on the other hand, means the calculation has chosen to use fewer scores than the skier does have, because bringing in the next lower score would actually serve to reduce their ranking score, compared to using fewer scores with the applicable penalty.  This is commonly referred to as the "Do No Harm" provision, spelled out in Rule 1.13 -- explained in more detail in the preceding section.

Birthdate / Gender information:  It is important to recognize that the classification of scores and the calculation of rankings are dependent on a number of factors that come from the USA Water Ski Membership database.  And these factors are connected to the Scores database, using Membership Numbers as the primary key.

Therefore, if the Birthdate or Gender information in the USA Water Ski membership database is not correct for any particular member, then their derived rankings may not be correct either.  If you find your scores or rankings showing up where you believe is the wrong place, then please start by contacting the Membership department at USA Water Ski and validate the birthdate they have on file for you.  Any corrections they make in the Membership Database will be reflected in the rankings the next day.

Renewing Memberships versus Enrolling again:  We have recently found that some members appear to be Enrolling anew, instead of renewing their existing membership.  And this results in their being issued a new membership number.  As a consequence, then any subsequent scores reported under that new membership number will create a new ranking list entry.  As a result, a member may show up twice in the rankings.  Please recognize that such seeming duplications in the Rankings are really the result of such schitzoid memberships, rather than scorekeeping errors.  If you see something like this for yourself, then please contact the USA Water Ski Membership department with the particulars, including both the new and the old member numbers, and they should be able to consolidate your memberships and member history.  And when they do so, then the two sets of scores will also be brought together under the surviving member number, in the next daily Rankings update.

Zero-Based Scoring in Slalom:  All divisions in Slalom are now ranked based on Zero-Based Scoring (ZBS).  Slalom scoring now begins at 25 kph and the 23 meter line length, for all divisions.  All reported scores and rankings values from previous periods have been adjusted to the new ZBS system.

All Division Handicapping:  The ZBS system scores slalom on a continuous scale from 0 buoys to the best scores recorded, so special handicapping strategies across divisions in slalom are no longer needed.  Even when divisions have different maximum boat speeds, the difficulty levels for a particular total score recorded in different divisions will be very similar.

Ability Based Groupings:  Grouping events based on ability is encouraged.  And of course the underlying division for your skier's age and gender is carried forwards, and so those scores will contribute to rankings exactly like those from other competitions that may be divisionally-oriented.  Lots of folks are finding that creating competitions featuring ability-based groups makes for great fun!

Registration Downloads:  Downloadable Excel Registration Templates include the current Ranking Scores and Ranking Levels for all skiers included.  Such a template can be downloaded by a sponsor or scorer and then used as the framework for Registration for a tournament.  The requestor can specify criteria to define the scope of the skiers to be included in their template.  USA Waterski's new online Registration system will also deliver an Excel template for the pre-registered skiers, and can also include other members according to user-specified criteria.  These templates make it easy for sponsors to group skiers, or to seed their events, based on this data.

Reporting Errors or Questions:  If anything you see in these Rankings displays strikes you as being incorrect, or if you have questions that aren't answered by the information on this page, then please drop a note to USA Waterski Competition Department