But when a team has a big roster and is going to Nationals, does everyone go?
There are different strategies, and sometimes availability dictates the strategy, but some teams go planning to win and take just their best players planning to play them every match, or nearly every match. But others will take close to the full roster and plan to get everyone that goes at least one match.
I thought it would be interesting to see what teams were on track to do this year, and while I think the deadline to register players for the first week of Nationals has not passed yet, we are getting close and the registration numbers are probably pretty close to who will be going.
For each level and gender, I looked at the roster size of the team, and the number of players registered for Nationals at this point. I'm showing the smallest, largest, and average for both the full roster and Nationals registrations.
Rostered (min/max/avg): 7 / 20 / 11.7
Registered (min/max/avg): 5 / 10 / 7.5
The registered counts for Nationals are quite small, one team taking just the minimum, and on average a team only having 2.5 more than the minimum, but they are playing just three courts (5 players).
These teams are larger with 3.5 more than the minimum on average.
Similar to the women, one team taking the minimum, but one team taking a full 20.
Some larger rosters, the registered numbers only creep up a little.
Similar to the women.
These registered counts are slimmer even though they still play five courts.
Also a little smaller than the 3.5 men despite some large regular season rosters.
A surprisingly small number of registered players. These ladies are playing every match!
Only slightly larger than the women's registered counts.
So in general it appears teams do take a surprisingly small subset of of their rosters, sometimes the minimum, but generally only 2-4 more than the minimum. Whether this is due to availability, or teams are taking only those they think give them the best chance to win, the registered counts are not that large.
What do you think? Are the number of players registered for Nationals fewer than you'd think?
Note: Registered counts are as of when I wrote this 5-6 days before the cut-off to register, so registered counts could perhaps inch up.
I feel the number of registered players won't tell the complete story. Some of my teammates won't go due to availability issue, but they still registered for souvenirs.
ReplyDeleteGood point
DeleteA couple of our guys aren't going to Nationals because it's quite expensive. Flights alone are very pricey this year.
ReplyDeleteThat is true, particularly depending on your section and the location. Two years ago we _got_ to make the corner to corner flight from Seattle to Orlando. And Hawaii and Caribbean have long flights depending on the location.
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