Lots of changes in TAP since some of you played
I am sorry I didn't get back on here. I been busy setting up the hotel with 17 tables for our national playoffs and Summer Titleholder the next 2 weekends but I got some time this morning to address some of what you guys posted and asked questions about.
1. TAP stands for The Association for POOL..(TAP) We pretty much got away from that and just go by TAP these days.
2. Score Keeping? It's not a pain like other leagues with TAP. We are the only league that has a score keeping app built into our handicapping system. Players simply keep score on their smartphones or tablets and submit it in. The L. Op. goes into their device, checks it out and submits it and its updated in seconds. I have submitted scores while at a host location and its gets updated before they left the building. Can the APA, NAPA, BCA or any other league claim to do this? I think not. It will also give you players and teams stats as well as a function to look up other player's stats and records. Below are a few examples. There is much more to the app but I don't want to bog this thread down. In it there are bar graphs as you can see as well as pie charts and other ways to look at your stats.And it is all simply touch screen scoring and the app is free! For example, my Spring session I had about 500 scores come in for the 16 weeks. I manually inputted maybe 5 score sheets in by hand. Players love the app. I call it crack cocaine for score keeping. Once players use it they do not want to go back to pen and paper. While other leagues use trick shots artists and lady pros to promote their leagues, TAP puts our money back into the tech side so of it for a better player experience. There is no more sending score sheets in by mail or fax or even emails. In fact, I disconnected my fax line last January and the fax machine is in storage.
3. Titleholders? Yes this is a way to play for the money at the end of the session. Other leagues do it with city cups, tri annuals, etc. It's the players money and it should be played for.
4. TAP was founded by Loyd Schonter in 1989. He unexpectedly died on December 31, 2013 of a massive heart attack. His family (who were working in the office with Loyd) took up the ownership and have carried on. TAP is not some big corporation with faceless people running it. The Schonter family is very easy to get in touch with and in fact on Poolnet there is a help desk that Chuck Schonter mans 5 days a week from 9 to 5 est. As Loyd always said.."Built by a player and for the player" and the Schonter family has been trying to hold to these standards that their brother Loyd set.
5. And Lorider, I am happy you posted your pros and cons about TAP. We like to hear and address the players concerns. How else are we going to be able to improve things if we don't get player feedback?
6. As in any new leagues there will be growing pains for the operators learning the system as well as the players. I been doing it over 20 years and it is not a easy job dealing with hundreds of players all trying to win. But I will say this. TAP has added over 12,000 new members since the first of the year and this isn't counting all the new players coming in for the Fall sessions. I do all the sales for TAP in the U.S. and I added 12 new licensees since April. That's an average of one every two weeks. Practically everyone coming to TAP was a ex APA player. What's that tell you? It tells me a lot. Any other questions, feel free to ask. I will be very busy the next two weeks with my events here in Western Pa. (the largest pool events of any league in Western Pa.) but I will try to keep up on any that you ask. TAP ON!
I am sorry I didn't get back on here. I been busy setting up the hotel with 17 tables for our national playoffs and Summer Titleholder the next 2 weekends but I got some time this morning to address some of what you guys posted and asked questions about.
1. TAP stands for The Association for POOL..(TAP) We pretty much got away from that and just go by TAP these days.
2. Score Keeping? It's not a pain like other leagues with TAP. We are the only league that has a score keeping app built into our handicapping system. Players simply keep score on their smartphones or tablets and submit it in. The L. Op. goes into their device, checks it out and submits it and its updated in seconds. I have submitted scores while at a host location and its gets updated before they left the building. Can the APA, NAPA, BCA or any other league claim to do this? I think not. It will also give you players and teams stats as well as a function to look up other player's stats and records. Below are a few examples. There is much more to the app but I don't want to bog this thread down. In it there are bar graphs as you can see as well as pie charts and other ways to look at your stats.And it is all simply touch screen scoring and the app is free! For example, my Spring session I had about 500 scores come in for the 16 weeks. I manually inputted maybe 5 score sheets in by hand. Players love the app. I call it crack cocaine for score keeping. Once players use it they do not want to go back to pen and paper. While other leagues use trick shots artists and lady pros to promote their leagues, TAP puts our money back into the tech side so of it for a better player experience. There is no more sending score sheets in by mail or fax or even emails. In fact, I disconnected my fax line last January and the fax machine is in storage.
3. Titleholders? Yes this is a way to play for the money at the end of the session. Other leagues do it with city cups, tri annuals, etc. It's the players money and it should be played for.
4. TAP was founded by Loyd Schonter in 1989. He unexpectedly died on December 31, 2013 of a massive heart attack. His family (who were working in the office with Loyd) took up the ownership and have carried on. TAP is not some big corporation with faceless people running it. The Schonter family is very easy to get in touch with and in fact on Poolnet there is a help desk that Chuck Schonter mans 5 days a week from 9 to 5 est. As Loyd always said.."Built by a player and for the player" and the Schonter family has been trying to hold to these standards that their brother Loyd set.
5. And Lorider, I am happy you posted your pros and cons about TAP. We like to hear and address the players concerns. How else are we going to be able to improve things if we don't get player feedback?
6. As in any new leagues there will be growing pains for the operators learning the system as well as the players. I been doing it over 20 years and it is not a easy job dealing with hundreds of players all trying to win. But I will say this. TAP has added over 12,000 new members since the first of the year and this isn't counting all the new players coming in for the Fall sessions. I do all the sales for TAP in the U.S. and I added 12 new licensees since April. That's an average of one every two weeks. Practically everyone coming to TAP was a ex APA player. What's that tell you? It tells me a lot. Any other questions, feel free to ask. I will be very busy the next two weeks with my events here in Western Pa. (the largest pool events of any league in Western Pa.) but I will try to keep up on any that you ask. TAP ON!
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