NTRP tournaments now count toward NTRP ratings in the Pacific Northwest - Get a report including tournament matches

The USTA runs a number of different programs and formats for recreational players to play competitive tennis.  The one I write about most often is USTA League, where players form teams in one of several divisions and levels and play against other teams, and can advance on to playoffs and even Nationals in the main Adult and Mixed divisions.  This allows player who like the team atmosphere to play once a week or so in a 10-15 week season and potential advance further.

But USTA League is not the only game in town, there are sanctioned USTA tournaments as well, and these in two different formats.  Tournaments cater to the individual or doubles teams that are looking for several matches in a tournament format typically over a single weekend.

One tournament format is age group tournaments where there may be an Open draw for players of any age, but then several draws for players of at least a certain age, typically starting at 35 and over and going up in 5 year increments, although every tournament doesn't always offer every increment.  Players accrue points based on the category of tournament and how far they advance and get rankings based on those points.  These tournament matches have no bearing on a player's NTRP level.

The other tournament format is NTRP tournaments.  These are similar to USTA League in that players are in a draw with players of the same NTRP level (players can play up though), but it is done in a tournament rather than league format.

For the second format, since players play at a given NTRP level, one might wonder if these matches are used in calculating a player's year-end NTRP level.  The answer is "it depends".  Each section is given the option of including tournaments in year-end rating calculations and some do and some don't.

For as many years as I've been playing USTA League and tournaments, the Pacific Northwest section has not included NTRP tournaments.  For 2018, that is changing, matches played in sanctioned NTRP tournaments will count towards year-end ratings and levels.

I became aware of this being considered a number of months ago, and as I understand it it is due in large part to the new NTRP Nationals for this year.  This is basically a "Nationals" for NTRP tournament players similar to the Nationals that USTA League players can advance to.  By including NTRP tournament matches in year-end ratings, it will both increase the number of matches used in the calculations and better represent a player's rating that plays both league and tournaments.

What do you think?  Will NTRP Nationals and NTRP tournament matches counting for ratings cause you to be more interested in playing NTRP tournaments?

And for those that are interested, I can now include NTRP tournament matches in by Estimated Dynamic NTRP Rating Reports so do contact me if interested.