BeastScore for Competitions

End Sandbagging with BeastScore

All sports need a means of matching athletes for fair competition. Boxing has weight classes. Tennis has NTRP ratings. Functional fitness has BeastScore.

BeastScore is a number between 0 and about 250 (there is no upper limit) that represents the overall development of an athlete. To match athletes of similar ability, competitions can base their division levels on BeastScore. To do this, individual competitors are ranked by BeastScore and then segmented into divisions. This can also be done for teams by using the total BeastScore of all team members.

This post from our blog illustrates how well BeastScore creates division levels by matching athletes of similar ability.

How you integrate BeastScore into your competition's division levels depends on how your competition handles registrations:

Usage Case A (easiest/recommended): Use BeastScore's Competition Registration Manager (CRM)

With BeastScore CRM, everything is handled for you in one place. Athletes will register and pay fees for your competition through CRM, which ensures athletes have a BeastScore so that they can be placed into a division. Once the registration period closes, athletes will automatically be ranked by BeastScore and placed into a division.

Usage Case B (for operators of other registration management software): Integrate BeastScore Verification with BeastScore API

BeastScore has an API available for coders to tap into. By utilizing the API, any competition registration software can be modified to obtain and verify athlete BeastScores. Contact us for more information about the API.

Usage Case C: Use BeastScore as a Guideline

The most effective way to end sandbagging and to match athletes of similar ability is to verify athlete BeastScores using one of the three methods above. However, some competitions may have less stringent requirements and want to use BeastScore as a guideline only. In this case, competitions will keep registration open for their division levels, and offer recommended BeastScores to their athletes who are unsure about which division to register for. Please contact us for recommended BeastScores for multiple divisions.

Usage Case D (not recomended): Manually Verify BeastScores

Competition organizers can handle registrations any way they wish and ask members to report their BeastScores via email or some other method. Competition organizers are responsible for ensuring all participants have a BeastScore so that they can be placed into a division. Although possible in theory, this method is not very practical. (The experience is similar to herding cats).

What else must competitions do?

Regardless of how registrations are handled, competitions should announce registration early enough for athletes to obtain any PRs required for a BeastScore that they may be missing. BeastScore requires eight specific PRs, which most athletes have within a few months of joining a sport like CrossFit®, but it's not unusual for athletes to be missing one or two. These athletes will need time to attempt a PR for the missing movement/WOD(s).

Competitions should also consider closing registration at least a week prior to competition. Most competitions do this anyway for other reasons, but if you are collecting BeastScores manually (Usage Case B) or want to adjust athlete placement in divisions, having a week to do this is helpful.

Feel free to call us at 626-765-1655 or email us with any questions.

Example of ranking athletes by BeastScore and segmenting into two divisions:
 
Men BeastScore Division
Michael 164 Division I
Julian 162 Division I
Jose 156 Division I
Razi 150 Division I
Patrick 148 Division I
Jesus 140 Division II
Kevin 134 Division II
Paul 129 Division II
Jason 125 Division II
James 120 Division II
 
Women BeastScore Division
Pam 165 Division I
Nicole 157 Division I
Brooke 151 Division I
Alice 145 Division I
Kia 140 Division II
Katie 134 Division II
Evelyn 127 Division II
Lauren 118 Division II