Regional Rankings Begin to Take Shape
Contributed by: Michael Fletcher
March 12, 2018 -
Regional Rankings Begin to Take Shape
We're all about goal-setting here at A5, Each of our teams should set goals for the season as well as for each individual tournament (e.g., win it; beat the seed; make the gold bracket, etc.). We also set goals as a club.
A5 veterans know of the existence of Southern Region rankings. Like the BCS, they don't mean much early in the season, but by the mid-way point they are a reasonable indicator of the relative strength of each of the teams in the region.
And as readers of this newsletter know, A5's goal is to dominate the club volleyball world. Specifically with regard to regional rankings, we want to:
- Occupy the top three slots in each age category
- Occupy five of the top ten slots
- Place all of our teams in the top third of the region
Here's how we're doing so far this season:
- U10 - A5 has two of just three teams shown in this division. A5 10 Jon would be ranked 5th in the U11 division.
- U11 - A5 11 Walter occupies the top spot. They would be the 11th-ranked U12 team. , Five A5 teams are ranked in the top 11 in this division. Good to see A5 Chattanooga 11 Antonela crack the top five.
- U12 - A5 12 Jing is ranked first, and three of the top 10 are from the A5 Family - to include A5 Chattanooga 12 Dan.
- U13 - A5 13 Earl has the top spot and A5 teams occupy just two of the top ten. Over 100 teams are registered in this division
- U14 - A5 14 Suzanne is perched on their normal top spot. The Family occupies four of the top ten slots - including A5 Chattanooga 14 Duane at #3. 187 teams from the region compete in this division
- U15 - This is clearly our deepest division. A5 15 Boba, A 15 JJ, and A5 South 15 Joe are ranked 1 - 2 - 3 in the region, and A5 15 LA is #5.
- U16 - Paced by A5 15 Gabe and A5 15 Scott at #'s 1 & 2, the Family occupies five of the top 11 spots in the region
- U17 - We occupy five of the top ten spots in the region, with A5 17 Jing, A5 17 Marc and A5 Chattanooga 17 Bryan going 1 - 2 - 3.
- U18 - This division is curious to me. A5 South 18 Jason occupies the top spot, with American-qualified GA5 18 April at #4, but Open-qualified (and ranked #49 in the Nation by AES) A5 18 John is shown as #44 in the region and A5 18 Bob (# 35 nationally by AES) is nowhere to be found. These anomalies are no doubt a function of the teams' limited play against other teams in the region, coupled with the fact that the Southern Region does not take AAU results into account, and the Southern Dream is an AAU event..
The takeaway? We're doing well, but still short of our goal of World Dominance. Moreover, we are much more focused on how our teams perform at the end-of-season tournaments than we are with mid-season rankings.
That said, check out this link if you want to study the rankings yourself. Next time we will discuss National Rankings.