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<DIV><STRONG><FONT face=Arial size=2>Ron,</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT face=Arial size=2>
The answer was already in the reply below. I brought it up to the
top of the document for you so that is easier to find. Please refer John to
me will do my best to answer any of his questions.</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><STRONG></STRONG></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><STRONG>Regards,</STRONG></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><BR><FONT face=Arial size=2><STRONG>Eric.</STRONG></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><EM></EM> </DIV>
<DIV><EM>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.]<BR><BR>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. <STRONG>The pilots will be "randomly" regrouped, not
just rotated.<BR></STRONG></DIV></EM>
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<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=vanputte@cox.net href="mailto:vanputte@cox.net">Ron Van Putte</A>
</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=discussion@nsrca.org
href="mailto:discussion@nsrca.org">discussion@nsrca.org</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Friday, April 15, 2005 3:33
PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: 2005 Nationals
Reminder</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>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.<BR><BR>Ron Van
Putte<BR><BR><BR>On Apr 15, 2005, at 2:15 PM, John Fuqua wrote:<BR><BR>
<BLOCKQUOTE><?fontfamily><?param Arial><?color><?param 0000,0000,FFFF><?smaller>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? <?/smaller><?/color><?/fontfamily><BR><?fontfamily><?param Arial><?color><?param 0000,0000,FFFF><?smaller><?/smaller><?/color><?/fontfamily> <BR><?fontfamily><?param Arial><?color><?param 0000,0000,FFFF><?smaller>John<?/smaller><?/color><?/fontfamily><BR><BR><BR><B><?smaller>From:<?/smaller></B><?smaller>
Ron Van Putte [mailto:vanputte@cox.net]<?/smaller><BR><?smaller><B>Sent:</B>
Friday, April 15, 2005 10:16
AM<?/smaller><BR><B><?smaller>To:<?/smaller></B><?smaller> Fuqua John D
Contr AAC/YAP<?/smaller><BR><B><?smaller>Subject:<?/smaller></B><?smaller>
Fwd: 2005 Nationals Reminder<?/smaller><BR><BR>John -
FYI.<BR><BR>Ron<BR><BR><BR><BR>Begin forwarded message:<BR><BR><B>From:</B>
"Grow Pattern" <pattern4u@comcast.net><BR><B>Date:</B> April 15, 2005
9:41:52 AM CDT<BR><B>To:</B> <discussion@nsrca.org><BR><B>Subject:
2005 Nationals Reminder</B><BR><B>Reply-To:</B>
discussion@nsrca.org<BR><BR>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 :-)<BR><BR>Here is my Na's update the next K-Factor as an
FYI.<BR><BR>Regards,<BR><BR>Eric.<BR><BR>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.<BR><BR>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.<BR><BR>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.<BR><BR>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.)<BR><BR>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.<BR><BR>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.<BR><BR>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.<BR><BR>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.]<BR><BR>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.<BR><BR>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.<BR><BR>Any questions
please write to me on Pattern4u@comcast.net or call me on (856)
988-9184.<BR></BLOCKQUOTE></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>