New Strength of Field Rating Chart (effective 7/1/2007)

Updated: The Strength of Field Rating (SF) is determined by the adding the strength points of the top 36 ranked players from the United States and Canada on the USTHA/CTHA North American Ranking List attending that tournament. Players ranked 37 and above count as one point.

Example:

Current #1 ranked player worth 36 strength pts

Current #2 ranked player worth 35 strength pts

...down to the

Current #36 and above ranked players worth 1 strength pt

If a tournament reaches the minimum number of tournament points requirement but not the minimum number of entries, it may be rated at the next level down at the discretion of the USTHA/CTHA directors.

A player can be worth more than 36 points if that player is ranked higher on the Official World Ranking (WR) list than the #1 ranked North American entered. The USTHA/CTHA also may use the ITHF World Ranking to assign strength points to players where appropriate.

Note about the slight adjustmens to the ranking system: Given the trend of more tournaments and fewer players per tournament, the USTHA and CTHA directors approved a few slight changes to the tournament rating system. They are:

1. An across-the-board 10 percent cut in the Strength of Field Point Range and Actual Player Minimums for both the normal levels and two advancement options. That's reflected in the chart above. We will revisit this change at year's end.

2. Players ranked #37 and above in the USTHA/CTHA North American ranking chart will now count as one point when determining strength of field. This is to reward tournament organizers who get novice and intermediate players to return to their events. And it's also to recognize all players as valuable to the table hockey community.

3. For purposes of determining a player's rank, his or her best three tournament scores from two tour years will be used. This change was made to recognize that not everyone can travel to every event, or even travel elsewhere every year. It also will prevent players from slipping off the ranking system so quickly. This seems to work well for the ITHF. For practical purposes, we will simply keep the stats from all 2006-07 tour events starting with the U.S. Open and ending with Detroit June 2007 as we update the rankings with the start of the 2007-08 tour year.

Formerly used Strength of Field Rating Chart (in effect through 06-07 tour year)