We are still in the offseason, but the definition of offseason is evolving fast. With so many new centers of freestyle around the world, more tournaments are being organized and more importantly, more players are jamming together year round. With more competitive opportunities come more opportunities to boost one’s ranking.
The only event added to the rankings this month is a brand new event, the Scandiland Open. The only event dropping off the rankings this month is the 2002 Wintershred, which will be replaced on next month’s list by the 2004 Wintershred results.
Things are very calm at the top of the rankings. There was no movement in the entire Top 50. Outside the Top 50, there are some ups and downs, the ups from the Scandiland Open players and the downs from the Wintershred players.
The New
Two German players, Philipp Lenarz and Peter Rujan, enter the rankings tied at 239.
The Ups
Jan Soerensen up from 61 to 53
Iwan de Moor up from 71 to 60
Timmy Broxap up to 173 from 258
Arne Bratenstein up to 198 from 291
Boguslaw Bull up to 224 from 381T
Russel Scott up to 260 from 320
Holger Hill up to 264 from 391T
The Downs
Melissa Trail down to 124 from 101
Carl Dobson down to 148 from 85
Bob Morrissey down to 155 from 95
John O’Malley down to 161 from 77
Tam Wolfe down to 211 from 173
Scott Weaver down to 226 from 167
Mike Esterbrook down to 348 from 222
Carolyn Yabe down to 387 from 194
In a rare occurance, an Italian player actually fell a few spots on the rankings. Two years ago, Marco Ruperto happened to be in San Francisco the weekend of Wintershred. Two years later, the points for his eighth place finish have expired, moving him down to 254 from 223. Unfortunately, his travels did not take him to Wintershred this year, so he will have to choose from one of the scores of European events coming up in the next few months.