European Age Divisions- 2 year youth groups?

[JeffSurdej]

There has been talk about moving junior age divisions to 2 year increments like most sports, I found this on the European Rankings site and thought it was interesting to see they are doing this. Makes me wonder why we don't do the same. 11 age groups, 22 divisions, right now we have 32. The way they do it actually adds a group from 18-21 and then the first adult group is 22-34 which would be like us combining Mens 1 and 2. We could even add a 75 plus since I know M7.M8.M9 would not want to compete against 65 year olds. Just food for thought. I also like the nomenclature of under 12 and mens 45+, it is hard to explain to an outside what B2 or M4 even means. Plus less divisions equals more competition and more budget room to make bigger and better trophies. This would be a 35% reduction in the amount of trophies needed to buy at big events like state, reg, nationals.

 

https://www.iwwfed-ea.org/classic/rl2017/eame/index.php?page=news.html

 

 

[Chef23]

I think it makes sense all around. For boys the U12 could be 32 mph as well instead of 34 mph which I think is a better migration path.

[BlueSki]

@JeffSurdej, I like where you are going with this, especially the additional opportunity for measured speed increases for the kids. I have some additional food for thought. Given that the top speed remains constant (ignoring the opt-up of ZBS) across certain divisions, is age still the appropriate dividing line? I ask not knowing how the divisions were originally built.

 

Using M3-M6, unsurprisingly the population of skiers increases materially in M5, with M3 being the smallest. What is interesting is that the percentile scores increase as well, and some more than others. Some of the largest disparities are between M3 and M4 at the level 6 & 7 breaks. At level 7, the difference between M3 and M4 is almost a full pass (81.17 vs. 86.93). There are more substantial disparities among the women's divisions (happy wife = happy life).

 

Should we assess the extent to which the cohort of top-end skiers, the larger population of older skiers, and mean and median ability levels across divisions and within levels varies as any new divisions are established if this has not already been done?

 

I don't pretend to have the answer, but with a reduction in divisions, there may be a way to balance the population of skiers not only by division size but also across the percentile breaks.

 

Also, I don't about others, but I am not ready to be called a senior just yet, let's not copy the European labels.

 

Thanks for challenging the status quo.

 

[Than_Bogan]

Yeah, rename:

Senior Ladies --> Women

Senior Men --> Men

 

But otherwise copy the whole thing! Being in line with the rest of the world is perhaps a minor bonus, but the key is that this breakdown just makes sense.

[Luzz]

I guess because I grew up with that system, but it always made more sense to me. From a physical lifespan perspective, you would be better off subdividing further after 55+. So you could have 55+. 60+, 65+, 70+, etc

[Than_Bogan]

@Luzz In terms of fairness, YES. But then those divisions get so small. I am guessing I'd rather have more people to compete against when I am 64, even though those 55-year-old whipper snappers have an unfair advantage!! And then, the next year, *I* get to be the youngster!! Mwahahahaha!

[klindy]

I've suggested this for a few years. The "& under" and "& older" parts solves the problem of skiers who want to ski faster than the max in their (actual) division. If you're older than 55 and still want to go 34mph (or jump faster/higher), then slide down to the 45 &older group.

 

And that works the same in the younger groups as well. Bigger kid and can handle a faster speed or higher ramp, move up a division.

[DUSkier]

@Klindy that is the system we use in Australia, the only extra stipulation being that an O21 skier who has achieved their Open rating MUST ski in the Open division.

Divisions used are U10 U14 U17 U21 O21 O35 O45 O55 O65 O70 and of course Open.

[Bill22]

This just makes sense. +1 what @klindy said. Also, agree U10 U12 U14 is a great idea and U70 too.