ASP Board of Directors Approves Clearer Pathway to ASP Top 34 Qualification
Conner Coffin (USA), 18, is one of several ASP World Junior competitors who will potentially benefit from the clearer pathway to ASP Top 34 qualification.
COOLANGATTA, Queensland/AUS (Tuesday, January 24, 2012) – The ASP Board of Directors has voted to ratify several refinements to the ASP World Tour and ASP World Rankings for the 2012 season. These changes will expand upon the December 2011 decision to suspend the midyear rotation for 2012, due to schedule constraints, and continue to provide a clear pathway towards ASP Top 34 Qualification.
“Our commitment is to make the most exciting, successful and relevant tour and we feel that these changes showcase the world’s best talent and continue to provide opportunities for young talent on the rise,” Pat O’Connell, Hurley VP of Sports Marketing and ASP Board Member, said.
Both the ASP World Title Rankings and ASP World Rankings have been reset for 2012 with all surfers starting with zero results. With the deactivation of the midyear rotation, a 52-week rolling ranking was no longer practical and each surfer will build their respective ranking from January to December.
“These changes are a step in the right direction considering the removal of the midyear rotation for 2012, and are in keeping with the World Tour’s evolution over the past few years,” Kieren Perrow, ASP Top 34 competitor and surfers’ representative, said. “They will provide a clearer and more achievable path for the surfers trying to qualify into the Top 34, and continue our goal of improving the sport for the world’s best surfers. It will be exciting to see how this year unfolds, as the level of talent has never been higher.”
The qualifiers for 2013 ASP Top 34 will consist of:
- Top 22 from 2012 ASP World Title Rankings
- Top 10 from 2012 ASP World Rankings (those who haven’t already qualified in the above)
- Two ASP wildcards
“The qualification process for the 2013 ASP World Title Series will be similar to how it operated during the 2010 transitional season,” Renato Hickel, ASP World Tour Manager, said. “In addition to the above alterations, we have also made several changes to the ASP Prime format and points’ allocation as well as a caveat for the World Rankings of ASP Top 34 surfers. We believe these changes will further close the points’ gap between those on tour and those attempting to qualify for the tour making for a much more dynamic process.”
ASP Top 34 surfers will only be allowed to count their best 3 results in ASP World Title events on their respective ASP World Rankings.
In the new ASP Prime format, there has been an increase in Equal 9th from four per event to eight per event at 2,400 pts. This increase in opportunity will allow for more surfers to record consequential results at ASP Prime events.
The points for Equal 17th place at ASP Prime events have been increased from 1,034 to 1,300 – and for Equal 5th from 3,120 to 3,320. In the specific case of 5th place finishers, it will increase its value since there are double the amount of chances to get a 9th with the new ASP Prime Format. This will further assist in closing the current points’ gap.
The first stop of the 2012 ASP World Title Series will be the Quiksilver and Roxy Pro Gold Coast from February 25 to March 7, 2012.
For more information, log onto www.aspworldtour.com
Category: All ASP News, ASP Editorial News, ASP World Tour News
Don’t know, i think this system is a half-baked compromise
1.) I’m okay with axing the midyear cut. If i want to see the upcoming guys i can watch the Primes and Star events
2.) I like that the points start at 0 at the start of the year, much easier to follow whos really on top than last year
(Hey he is number 3 in the Rankings but oops he will loose around 2000 points next week and maybe another 4000 points next month so maybe he is only number 4, or 5 or 6, or … i don’t know because its too hard to calculate with all the other guys who might or might not loose point in the next weeks)
3.) I don’t get the point that they are going back to the old qualification scheme of 22 re-qualifiers and 10 qs-warriors. So for the Top15 there is no need to do a single Prime or Star Event because the Points have no value for them, they are qualified anyways. So we might get back to the situation where only the quys who struggle on the CT will do the QS-Events.
4.) I also don’t get the point of allowing only 3 events to count in the world ranking. Either allow all of them to count or none of them. a guy who is not in the top22 will not have more than 3 good world tour results anyways…It does not make much sense to me and is kind of half baked stuff, and again makes it harder to follow (will the next event count against his world ranking or not, how to find out if he already got 3 counted ??)
Basically i think the points structure of the one world ranking did work pretty well last year, so what i would have done is the following:
1.) Start the One World Ranking at 0 Points at the start of the year. Base the seeding on the One World Ranking results of last year
2.) Allow all events to count for the One World Ranking like last year
3.) At the end of the year you have 12 month of Prime,Star and World Tour Points
4.) Take the top 32 from the One World Ranking + 2 Wildcards to qualify for the next year and start again with 1)
This system would be easy to follow, attracts top-tier surfers to surf prime and star events and you still have a one world ranking at the end of the year
I think we might see a system change in 2013 again…
I don’t know why the slate gets wiped clean every year.
If you create a real world ranking system with points accumulated by results in the WT, 5-6 stars, then lesser events, you could carry over the RANKINGS from one year to the next and you would have a greater and smoother ebb and flow off and on the WT.
The top 44 surfers get invited to each WT event, keep the trials in those events (like Hawaii) that need them, 4 wildcards per sponser.
WT surfers that get poor results fall further back vs those killing it on the next tier events. They’ll need to surf more 5 & 6 stars (and get results) but almost all WT surfers will need to surf SOME too.
Results that help rankings would trail 2 years or so – a poor result in 1 event (or 2) will not knock you down too much. Injuries, births, sickness’ shouldn’t potentially kill your career.
The weighting should allow for the top 5 to battle it out, the top 10 to be there for a while, the top 25 forced to step it up and the rest just need results.
It is just simply too confusing now to the casual fan, rankings should be more like tennis or golf. Consistency is key while allowing for the top to surf the best, most visible events. It should be hard to make it in and hard to fall off (assuming you are getting fair results).
I want to see the best, that doesn’t change “mid year” or even year to year.
yeah i could never explain that to anyone..i kind of get it. but why not make it real simple.if you are not in top 22…or even 20, then you are off. back to QS/prime events for the next year.
you get dozen new good talent, and those that fell off can try get back on after a year on the QS. more chances for new talent. at end of day it is important your viewers and fans understand how it works. otherwise people get lost and don’t buy into it so easy.and then less likely to follow it.
So virtually impossible for the lower seeds to get in to prime events. And with the non-prime events (most “tentative” on the schedule) scattered around the world what is the incentive for the lower seeds to travel to those events, a financial disaster for those kids. Why even allow any competitor that is not in the top 100 to compete in the ASP at all? Have you guys even considered having the same amount of events with the same value in each of the regions to give these guys a fighting chance at their dream without having to go broke? Have the surfers who have financially contributed to this organization for years been individually notified of these changes prior to the beginning of the season which changes every year to accommodate the top 34? Meanwhile there are over 500 on the wqs warrior tour that are completely forgotten. There is one contest (non-prime) on the west coast of California this year. ONE
@shannon its a WORLD tour (ct and qs). having another event in crappy huntington waves isn’t exactly going to excite the world about surfing.
What about the seeding? How is it gonna work?
I do not know what the solution is and I have a idea what the problem is. My idea of the problem is that there are to many grreaaaaat talentented young surfers who are not earning enough from surfing to develop to their full potential. These surfers then resort to working which then reduces the nubers of hours in the water. Thus reducing the numbers of top contenders. This reduces the push from the bottom (that is what elevates Kelly and co to the next level).
A possible solution would be to find sponsors out side the traditional area of sponsorships. A thought would be to involve the big petro chemicals, the main suplier of the raw materials from which we make board. Big Petro Chems are already wanting out of the fossil fuel industry because 1. it is a waste to burn fossil fuels, they make more profit from funky plastics,waxxes and othe “by products”. 2. Burning fossil fuels is seen as the major contributor to global warming(which it is not- Read Deep Truth- Gregg Braden) and it will alter their immage to assosiated with surfing.
Yeah we, the surfers of this world want to be seen as trendsetters and rebels, that is part of the youthfullness of the surfing population. There are another side to this game and Kelly and Co kicked that door open. There are a whole lot of rippers now who are no longer kids(some have kids) and are top carreer athletes. Taj, Joel, Josh, Mick, Damien, Keiren, Dede, Taylor…. (has somebody sat down and and figgure the avarege age on the WCT recently) What does that mean? The market has also adjusted accordingly, I am 49 years old and most of my surfing mates are in that age bracket but we are well established, have access to financial resources. We work at professions or are respected trade people. More like F1 racing than beach bums. Just a potential source of financing.
Any way I really apreciate and vallue the fact that the ASP adapted a aproach for “ongoing improvement”.
Watch my spelling, but me thinks it the thoughts that matter not the position of the letter.
Aloha!
Henk van der Walt
So great, but what about the 5-6 star wqs events…they still relegated to a third level events? What ASP TC is doing to make this events more attractive to the sponsors/market because as far as I know since last year many 6 star events have been cancelled due low impact on the world ratings and by the way regional surfers are loosing money and potential points to fight for a better qualification on the ASP ratings?
Back to WCT and WQS, with one EXCEPTION the pipe masters. Try to explain to someone who doesn´t surf, why the pipe masters should “accept” more wildcards then the rest of the competitions.
Wow, this is amazing! Last year everbody slammed the mid year rotation. Now that it’s gone everybody is slamming the way things used to work! I think people just like to complain for the sake of complaining. Let’s just watch the surfing rather!
this is a very wrong decision by the ASP, i agree with the above its going backwards and will stop young talented surfer joing the tour.
the rotation should be at least twice a year !! the top 34 are now sitting on there A…feeling to comfortable, this is not challenging.
BIG MISTAKE.
great to watch the events and keep on surfing
I can’t wait for Snapper and The Volcom Pipe Pro in the mean time but I don’t get the regression cut off session either. The live web coverage has come a long way in just the last 8-12 months and I want to thank the ASP and the comp sponsors personally for that. Neat Analyzer is genius.
Absolutely, i don’t agree. The only way to improve competitive surf is to do rotations at the end of each WT Event, taking into account points of the year before. For instance, if an Event ends march 23, 2012 we must count the results into the same event the year before in march.
With this new system we only will wach accomodated surfers…
Sheez, I expected that release to come from politicians… So, the way forward is to go backwards???
Last year I witnessed:
Kelly push himself to surf better than anyone has ever seen him surf,
11 exciting events due to the mid way cut off,
New blood halfway through the year,
A 17 year old win two events and a make a semi in five events,
Old boring surfers fall off to make way for new exciting ones – twice!,
And, saw the cream of the world rise to the top…
Whats new for 2012, nothing, back to boring old 2009 and press releases written by politicians… How do you say, don’t fix what ain’t broken. If the surfers are complaining, tell them to focus, surf like they having fun, and do what they getting paid to do.
I totally agree with the above. such an exciting year, and i feel this is a step backwards. The ASP were the ones pushing for change, they brought in the two tier system with mid year rotation, and now they go back to the old ways.
Some of the older and “established” surfers would be stoked, as they dont have to fear a new medina and florence joining them midway each year.
So ASP, you say that the top 34 can only count 3 events from the world title events. So how many events do they use to make their end of year total?
Do you also think that by only allowing the top three WT events to be counted that people will skip events towards the end of the year? for example – you have the cold water classic as the second last event. say a surfer ranked in the teens already has 3 good WT results and is guaranteed a spot on the tour in 2013, what incentive do they have to freeze their nuts off? This surfer could skip the cold water classic, and go spend an extra week in hawaii preparing for the reef pro, or in OZ surfing the 6 star trying to get another result to add to their 3 WT results..
In my opinion, this is not the best move for the sport or the fans. I think the ASP should devote some time to re-educate all the judges and get them all on the same page. This is a fan driven sport and im a fan – the ASP should take some time to listen to the fans aswell as the surfers.
Avid tour watcher, I agree with your statements. I think last year was more cut throat than we’ve ever seen and as an ASP Tour fan that makes things exciting. A good mix of contests from beachies to heavy reef breaks and guys falling off tour all added to a great year. On another note, if you head over to surfingsays.com you can write your own article on the tour and whats install for 2012. You seem like someone who would have some things to say on the dream tour.
They will count 3 out of 8 best results?? So Crazy! The Prime events shoud be crowded, with no chances to lower seeds.
How about the seeds to the WT Events? How mix up 2011 results and 2012 if world rankings are reseted?
Try and explain that to ‘the hot girl’ down the beach who wants to know about pro surfing.
that is impossible