NEWS

Dear Arena Members,

There has been some confusion with our deciding to wait until June to execute the 2017 arena handicap changes. There were two reasons for the decision to delay. The first was an effort to respect the higher goal handicaps already being marketed for the Townsend Cup that was being played in late January. In addition, we felt June would give everyone a chance to digest the changes of the "plus one" and allow some time to make necessary adjustments for team compositions.

I apologize for any confusion resulting from our decision to delay. I would be happy to make myself available to help answer any of your questions if you would like to contact me personally. I wish you all the best in your upcoming arena competitions.

I would like to thank all of the Sub-Arena Handicap Committee members and the High-Goal Arena Handicap Committee for their time over these past couple of months in working towards a proper review of the arena players. As most of you have heard, we introduced the "plus one" handicaps in the arena for all players from B to 3-goals. The idea was to simply encourage more participation in the USPA lower goal arena events by making the math easier in constructing teams. The plus one is directed at all active arena players with the understanding that there would be the appropriate exceptions. It was a little confusing in that if a player was already being considered for a raise, then they would jump two goals and if someone were being considered to be lowered, they would stay the same with the "plus one." We also ran into a bit of a challenge with respect to the fact that 3's are being raised to 4, yet 4's and up would remain the same. This will be a bit of a challenge for those 3's but we believe it will sort itself out over the next couple of handicap periods. The jury is out as to how productive the "plus one" will be, but it was simply meant to be a stimulus for low and medium goal arena tournaments and complement Arena Chairman Dan Coleman's efforts to grow participation in USPA arena tournaments. I would like to thank Steve Orthwein Jr. for his guidance, and I feel it is a real plus that we have created some excitement in the discussion of arena handicaps. I wish all of you a wonderful holiday season.

Respectfully,
Tom Goodspeed
Arena Handicap Chairman

2017 Arena Handicap Changes by Handicap

2017 Arena Handicap Changes by Last Name