2005 Nationals Reminder

[Ron Van Putte]

I got the following from John Fuqua, after I forwarded the 2005 Nats 
Reminder note from Eric Henderson.  John is not on the NSRCA Discussion 
List.  I don't know the answer to his question and, rather than query 
Eric directly, since I thought others might also be interested in the 
answer, I decided to send it back to the Discussion List.

Ron Van Putte


On Apr 15, 2005, at 2:15 PM, John Fuqua wrote:

> What about seeding?  In the previous years we seeded the top 8 pilots 
> into the 4 groups-2 per group.  With this system will the top 2 seeded 
> pilots stay in the same group every day or will they be scrambled with 
> everybody else?  
>   
> John
>
>
> From: Ron Van Putte [mailto:vanputte at cox.net]
>  Sent: Friday, April 15, 2005 10:16 AM
> To: Fuqua John D Contr AAC/YAP
> Subject: Fwd: 2005 Nationals Reminder
>
> John - FYI.
>
>  Ron
>
>
>
>  Begin forwarded message:
>
> From: "Grow Pattern" <pattern4u at comcast.net>
> Date: April 15, 2005 9:41:52 AM CDT
> To: <discussion at nsrca.org>
> Subject: 2005 Nationals Reminder
> Reply-To: discussion at nsrca.org
>
> It may seem early to be thinking about the Nat's but rooms go fast and 
> the sooner we know you are coming the better we can plan the contest 
> :-)
>
>  Here is my Na's update the next K-Factor as an FYI.
>
> Regards,
>
> Eric.
>
>  Nats News. I received more than one note asking me if there were 
> going to be fewer rounds at this year's nationals and if the matrix 
> system was going to be discontinued.
>
>  The challenge that we face this year is that there will be no 
> rain-day on the fifth day, usually the Friday of the week. This does 
> not change how many rounds we plan to run. Last year, Tony Stillman 
> contacted and advised Dave Guerin (our 2004 and soon to be our 2005 
> event director) to make sure that he planned for the loss of the 
> rain-day. Dave has taken this problem by both horns and made 
> contingency plans to manage all of the permutations of potential bad 
> weather situations.
>
>  What does that mean to you as a Nationals contestant? You will still 
> see the same basic contest six round formula as we have done in the 
> last few years. Where there are more than 25 or so pilots in a class 
> we will use the Matrix System. When there is less than that number in 
> a class we will run the more familiar and conventional best of "Four 
> out of six rounds" formula to select winners in 402 and 403 and 
> finalists in 404 and 406.
>
>  Nothing really new there! If we have weather problems that cause us 
> to lose rounds the usual "worst-round" discard formula will be used: 2 
> rounds out of two, two rounds out of three, three rounds out of four 
> and four rounds out of six. (Because the rounds are flown in parallel 
> pairs on each site you tend to not get a four rounds out of five 
> rounds flown scenario.)
>
>  The Matrix System will be used for large groups of pilots. Once again 
> nothing really new there. The Matrix System is used when you can't fly 
> all of the pilots in front of the same panels of judges in one flying 
> session. A session is usually in a morning or an afternoon.
>
>  With a Matrix System at the Nationals we usually use two sites and 
> have two flight lines with three judges on each line per site. The 
> pilots are divided between the two sites. One group will fly in front 
> of the judges on that site while the other group does the same on the 
> other site.
>
>  This way we get two rounds in for each site/group. This exposure is 
> the essence of a Matrix System. It is a compromise of the ideal 
> situation where all pilots fly in front of the same judges in one 
> session. This year the on the second day the pilots will be organized 
> into new groups and jugged again in the matrix format. After three 
> days of this exposure a group of finalists is then selected. This 
> finalist group is then given the full "treatment" and judged with full 
> exposure and comparison of pilot to pilot in front of the same judges.
>
>  A big grumble/complaint from the past was that if you got stuck in a 
> group with top seeded pilots you had to fly with them every round, 
> every day! This year the only definitive grouping that will be pilots 
> on the same frequency. [This is why it is important to have a second 
> or even third frequency with you. With 17 frequencies for the Masters 
> class most of pilots will be in frequency groups of 2.]
>
>  This is a difference from last year. When you group the pilots in 
> units of 2 or 3 you can make substantial changes to the mix of the 
> site groups per day. This year we will change around the players in 
> each group every day. [With the exception of those on the same 
> frequency] This should have the result of giving a more equitable 
> amount of exposure to the four judging panels each day. The pilots 
> will be "randomly" regrouped, not just rotated.
>
>  The thinking is that if you can't give completely equal exposure to 
> judges you can definitely give much fairer exposure of the pilots to 
> each other. This is what a Matrix System should do for you. The plan 
> is to have all of the groupings and site allocations, judging and work 
> assignments etc. ready and in your contestant packets when you arrive 
> at Muncie.
>
> Any questions please write to me on Pattern4u at comcast.net or call me 
> on (856) 988-9184.
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