<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
<META content="MSHTML 6.00.6001.18226" name=GENERATOR>
<STYLE></STYLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY bgColor=#ffffff>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>In the discussion regarding the Masters sequence / length
a few competitors mentioned that increasing the difficulty would cause them to
stop competing. Folks, this needs to be addressed! We can't tolerate a system
where folks are forced to a level where they can't enjoy pattern and/or chose to
quit. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>There are generally two views of the current system. One
is that it is cast in stone and needed to force the "trophy hound" to move
to the proper class. The other is that peer pressure alone will result in proper
classification. I think that there's a third possibility, some folks prematurely
move to a higher class for the "prestige" of that class. There's likely
reality / unreality to each view which supports that some process is
needed. While there have been some changes to smooth the advancement
process, nothing has changed for a person who finds themselves in a class
that exceeds their skills. I know - there's a process to petition for dropping
to a lower class, but it's intended for hardship cases rather than being
uncompetitive.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>OK - going back to the first paragraph - how might we fix
this? My suggestion is to change the rules so that folks who gather points in
the lower percentile of a class for X number of events (or rounds, or time
span?) have the option to stay where they are, or move back a class. The current
advancement rules would be applied to folks in the upper percentile. It seems
that this would provide an option for the casual competitor to seek a comfort
level and retain a reasonable advancement process for the serious competitor. Of
course there are administrative issues, probably best to simply use data within
each district, as most already track points for district championships. A
district based data set would also best weight performance within one's local
peer group.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Just my thoughts - how about the group discussing this
some.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Earl</FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>