It takes many people to run a successful swim meet. No swim meet ever runs perfectly but we do our best to make them run as smoothly and quickly as possible. Having a system which minimizes data entry errors and manual processes is a goal the MacDolphins continue to work toward.
Scratches
Historically one of the biggest challenges the MacDolphins have faced is the large number of late scratches and/or no-shows. Our scratch process consisted of a hand written list on the swim team bulletin board. Scratches and no-shows had become such an issue that the heat sheet was in a constant state of flux. With a goal to do a better job of tracking and reporting times, we had to first address the issue of which swimmers were actually going to be at the meet first.
For the 2009 season we implemented an online scratch system. Parents can scratch their swimmer(s) from a full or partial meet (some of our younger swimmers leave early, particularly those in year round school) using our web site or they can simply send an e-mail to scratch@macdolphins.org. Our scratch list is dynamically generated from the database so parents who use the web interface can verify their swimmer is on the scratch list immediately.
For the Summer 2010 season we added the ability to scratch via Text Message. This has proven to be a popular way to scratch, particularly on short notice. While late scratches can be a challenge, they are preferred to no-shows. There is a lag for the scratches submitted by e-mail or text message but usually not more than a few hours.
By moving to an online scratch list our no-show swimmer problem has been dramatically reduced which also means our heat sheet accuracy has significantly improved.
Swim Meet and Team Management
Beginning with the 2008 season, the MacDolphins moved from a very ad-hoc process of managing the swim team to a computer based process. The MacDolphins web site sits on top of WordPress and is the hub of our information. In addition to managing the communication process it also handles swimmer registration, meet participation, and hopefully for the 2010 season, our volunteers.
In addition to the web site the MacDolphins use WinSwim for meet management. After evaluating several solutions, we selected WinSwim over competing solutions (e.g. Hy-Tek Meet Manager) because of it’s ease of use, excellent support, cost, and most importantly, the ability to easily download our web based registration database directly ensuring accuracy of swimmer names, numbers, and birth dates.
If you are swimming against the MacDolphins we’d love to work with you to pre-seed the meet. This is a simple task for teams using WinSwim, not as easy, although not impossible, for teams using Hy-Tek. Contact Mike Walsh if you are interested in discussing how we can share information between teams.
Timing System
For the 2009 season the MacDolphins made an investment in a Colorado Time Systems Dolphin wireless timing system. Since our pool has six (6) lanes, we purchased a 6+1 (1 spare) system with the synchronized start. It has worked well for us and has greatly improved the accuracy of the times we report and how quickly we can report them back to the swimmers.
Some teams who have the Dolphin system also have back up timers who use traditional stop watches. We have elected not to do this. We did it for time trials and the first meet when we were learning the system however we dropped it quickly. One of the primary drivers for us purchasing the Dolphin was to reduce the number of volunteers we needed. The Dolphin system is not perfect, every once in a while there will be a glitch and we may miss times for an event. We have found this happens 2-3 timers per meet and have decided this is an acceptable tradeoff for the reduction in volunteers. In the 2009 season we only had this happen once during a main event.
As many teams can attest, the use of a timing system is great for getting accurate times but correlating the accurate times with actual swimmers can be a challenge. This is particularly true when the Clerk of Course is collapsing heats in an effort to shorten the meet. An accurate heat sheet is critical to making sure the times are assigned to the proper swimmer.
The MacDolphins address this potential problem area with the addition of a new volunteer position we call the “Heat Sheet Tracker”. This volunteer is located in the starting area and makes sure our heat sheet corresponds to the positions the swimmers take on the starting blocks. When there is a change, this Heat Sheet Tracker will make the corresponding change on their copy of the heat sheet. Any heat sheet changes are then reflected back into WinSwim before times are loaded from the Dolphin.
The addition of this critical volunteer job has allowed us to be flexible in moving swimmers around while ensuring we assign times to the proper swimmer. Because this job is so important, we staff if with two volunteers per meet who either share the job by dividing the meet in half or they trade off after each stroke.
Pre-Meet
The MacDolphins employ an online scratch system and ask that parents have all of their scratches into the system by the Friday preceding the meet. Inevitably we get late scratches due to illness or for some other reason but these tend to be a manageable number to deal with.
On Saturday morning a preliminary Heat Sheet and Best Times Report is generated and provided to the coaching staff. The Heat Sheet is generated automatically by WinSwim using it’s seeding capability. The WinSwim Heat Sheet is then converted into an Excel file which is formatted to match the way the coaches run the meet. The coaches then move swimmers around to comply with TSA’s Main Event rules. The coaches changes are then incorporated into WinSwim and an updated heat sheet is generated. This process is usually completed on Monday and a final heat sheet is generated by noon on the day of the meet.
At this point we consider the heat sheet frozen and ready for printing for the various volunteers. Any late changes at this point are made using our heat sheet tracker as the master source. A change on Tuesday afternoon is handled basically the same way as a change made by the Clerk of Course on the pool deck. We note it on our master copy and incorporate the change in WinSwim.
During the Meet
During the meet we run the Dolphin system from a dedicated computer and use a second computer to run WinSwim where we incorporate changes to the Heat Sheet and load times from the Dolphin system as the meet progresses. While the load the Dolphin places on a laptop is small, we have elected not to try and do work on the computer while the meet is running. Other teams take a different approach.
We incorporate Heat Sheet changes into WinSwim periodically. We gather the master Heat Sheet from the Heat Sheet Tracker after each stroke change (Relay, Free, Back, Breast, Fly, Free Relay) so the changes can be made during the meet. We do the same with the Dolphin time files – we copy them from one computer to the other periodically during the meet and load the times into WinSwim once all Heat Sheet changes have been made. We do our best to keep up with the meet but each meet is different so sometimes we have little work to do after the meet and sometimes we have several stokes to load.
The Dolphin Console Monitor is another volunteer position we have created. This volunteer monitors the Dolphin making sure it is reset prior to each event. This volunteer also has a copy of the Heat Sheet and makes a note of the name of the Dolphin time file for each main event. Every once in a while we have seen the Dolphin miss an event or write files twice. By noting which file goes with each main event, we have a “double-check” process so that if an error gets introduced it (a) is unlikely it will happen on a main event and (b) will not propagate very long before we sync again at the next main event.
Post-Meet
Once the meet is complete we provide a copy of the Dolphin time files to the opposing team along with a copy of our Console Monitor’s Heat Sheet/Dolphin Time File cross reference. Any remaining Heat Sheet updates are incorporated before final times are loaded and reports are run. We also verify our electronic results against the manual score sheet and generate timing reports which are available for parents and swimmers. Our goal is to have everything turned around by Thursday afternoon after a Tuesday night meet so ribbons, best times, and other awards can be placed in swimmer folders.
Summary
The MacDolphins made an investment in technology in an effort to address the number one request we had from parents and swimmers – reporting times after a meet quickly and accurately. We also hoped to reduce the number of volunteers however bringing in technology has created a need for new volunteer positions. Ultimately we ended up with the about the same number of volunteers, maybe one less. We were able to eliminate the recorder who worked with the timers to record times but we added the Heat Sheet Tracker and Console Monitor. We also made the job of the timers significantly easier, in fact, we don’t have any problems recruiting people as timers because the job is very easy now and we achieved our goal of turning results around to the swimmers and parents by the Thursday practice after a Tuesday night meet.
