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Just some remarks. Recently I went back to my hometown, Krasnoyarsk, for ~3 weeks to visit my family and play some table tennis. I was surprised that table tennis community is quite vibrant there. Each week there were three tournaments: on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The tournament on Saturday was for "pro" players, while Friday and Sunday were for amateurs; I played only on Friday and Sunday.
Interestingly, there were no multiple events with rating thresholds. Instead, all players (15-20 people) got seeded into large round robin groups (5 or 6 people). After the round robin, top half went into the first final round robin, while the other one got into the second one to play for actual places. Sometimes, there were even three final round robins. What is good about it:
1) Even if you are not at the top level, you play a lot of matches with people of all kind of levels. It is not like you lose once/twice and goodbye.
2) Importantly, you eventually end up with the group of people of your ability.
3) No obsession of ratings. The only concern is if you're not overqualified for the tournament. The Sunday one had a single threshold around U1900 USATT.
4) No sandbaggers and developing juniors masquerading as beginners. You eventually end up where you are supposed to be.
5) A fee for a single tournament is around $4
There are also some good coaches. "Thanks" for the dropped ruble-usd exchange rate, you can have an hour of individual practice with a professional coach (around 2500 USATT) for 10$. So if you want some good practice, but not willing to go to China, welcome to Siberia
Interestingly, there were no multiple events with rating thresholds. Instead, all players (15-20 people) got seeded into large round robin groups (5 or 6 people). After the round robin, top half went into the first final round robin, while the other one got into the second one to play for actual places. Sometimes, there were even three final round robins. What is good about it:
1) Even if you are not at the top level, you play a lot of matches with people of all kind of levels. It is not like you lose once/twice and goodbye.
2) Importantly, you eventually end up with the group of people of your ability.
3) No obsession of ratings. The only concern is if you're not overqualified for the tournament. The Sunday one had a single threshold around U1900 USATT.
4) No sandbaggers and developing juniors masquerading as beginners. You eventually end up where you are supposed to be.
5) A fee for a single tournament is around $4
There are also some good coaches. "Thanks" for the dropped ruble-usd exchange rate, you can have an hour of individual practice with a professional coach (around 2500 USATT) for 10$. So if you want some good practice, but not willing to go to China, welcome to Siberia
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