Introduction
The Swimming Module handles all aspects of school swimming. Swimming disciplines, heats and team templates can be set up as the backdrop against which to create teams and record performance. Galas are also fully catered for.
The Swimming module has three main sections to it:
Setup
Setup for the swimming secretary involves the following:
- Pool Lanes
- Disciplines
- Heats
- Templates
Pool Lanes
Select the number of lanes available for swimming. This number is needed in order to intelligently set up team sizes to participate in school galas.
Disciplines
Set up the various swimming disciplines. An example would be 50 FrSt (which stands for 50 m freestyle). Each discipline has the following associated with it:
- Age groups – which age groups can take part in this discipline (e.g. only age groups Under 10 and up participate in this discipline)
- Gender – which sex can participate (e.g. both sexes can)
- Record Basis – on what basis is performance measured (highest or lowest result). For example, the lower the time in swimming the 50 m freestyle, the higher the performance. TS School uses this to keep track of performance and records.
Heats
Set up the swimming heats. Heats are combinations of:
- Disciplines
- Age groups
- Gender
Templates
Any swimming team needs to have a certain structure. There might, for example, be teams that have 3 members and 2 reserves. There might also be large trial teams that have many places within them to cater for all swimmers of a certain age.
The structures of teams are called templates. Templates therefore have to first be set up before any team can be created. Later on, when creating a team, you have to say which template it’s based on.
Templates therefore represent every possible combination of how you would like any team to be structured.
There are two main types of templates:
- Trial Templates (used for trial teams) - Trial templates are usually very large, since many swimmers need to be catered for - just about everyone of a certain age group and gender need to undergo trials in order to determine the best swimmers for a discipline.
- Meeting Templates (used for galas) - Gala templates are usually much smaller. There are typically teams that use 1-dimensional templates for single races and those that use 2-dimensional templates for relay races. An example of a team using a 1-dimensional template is the final 50 m freestyle for boys under 13, where, say, 2 members from each of the school’s four houses occupy the 8 swimming lanes of your school pool. So the team would consist of a single row of 8 swimmers (1 X 8). A 4 X 50 m freestyle relay team, on the other hand, would simply have a 2-dimensional structure of 4 X 8 swimmers.
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Trials
Trials need to be undergone by the swimmers of the school in order to filter out only the best swimmers, since only these should participate in galas.
The trials section of the Swimming Module handles all of this. It consists of the following:
Setting up:
- Trial Templates
- Trial Teams
- Trials
Working with:
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As you can see, there are two main sections. The first allows you to set up everything to do with trial teams, whilst the second allows you to actually work with the trial teams themselves.
Setting up Trial Templates
In order to determine the best swimmers, each swimmer must undergo a series of trials. To both standardize and eliminate the need to set up trials for each and every team, all you have to do is set up trial templates.
Trial templates consist of the following elements:
- Age groups – Indicate for which age groups the trial template is applicable. E.g. Age groups under 6 through 10 have only 2 trials to determine who the best swimmers are, whilst age groups under 11 through 17 have four.
- Trials - The trials themselves
The trials that make up the trial templates have the following elements:
- Description – E.g. First swimming trial
- Weight – The importance of the trial (weights are whole numbers, with the least important being 1 and the most important being 100). Just like with test and exams, trial weights are typically based relative to the most important trial. If trials indeed have varying weights, then a typical spread is as follows:
- Trial 1: 50
- Trial 2: 50
- Trial 3: 75
- Trial 4: 100
In this example, trial 1 is as important as trial 2 (because they both carry a weight of 50). Trial 3 is 50% more important or 1.5 times as important since it has a weight of 75. (75/50 = 1.5). Trial 4, the final trial, is twice as important as trial 1 or 2 (100/50 = 2).
If your school regards all trials to be equal import then simply give all trials the same weight. |
- Date – the date of the trial
- Time – the time of the trial
- Reminders – When you want the system to send out reminders to remind swimmers of the upcoming trial:
- First reminder – when in advance the first reminder is to be sent. This is typically a week or so in advance.
- Subsequent reminders – at what interval, after the first reminder is sent, are subsequent reminders sent. Typically, every week.
- Last reminder – when in advance the last reminder is to be sent. This is typically a couple of hours beforehand.
- Format - What format the message should be sent in (PC, Email, SMS)
Note:
The default values for the reminders are pulled from the Practice / Trials section of the Default Reminders screen of the Messaging Module. |
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Since trial templates are based on age groups, whenever a team is created, the trials applicable to the age group of that team are created – thereafter trials can be manually added and dropped if needed.
Setting up Trial Teams
Finally, the trial teams need to be set up. These teams are needed in order to determine which swimmers are to participate in galas.
Trial teams consist of the following elements:
- Team name – E.g. 50 FrSt 13B.
- Description of team – E.g. 50m freestyle for boys under 13.
- Template – It’s important to determine what template is to be used for the structure of the team. Once the template is decided upon and swimmers assigned to positions within the team, the structure cannot be re-selected (the assigned swimmers must first be unassigned before the template can be changed).
- Heat – Select the team’s heat. The heats come from those set up above.
- Swimmers – Based on the age group of the heat selected, all learners of that age group are brought into the swimmers list box for selection.
- Schoolhouse – Further filtering can occur by selecting specific schoolhouses.
- Coaches – Coaches can be selected to coach the team and record trial results.
- Level – If the team is on a certain level, for example A, B, C, etc, then this can also be indicated.
- Timetable – A practice timetable can also be established at this stage (or later on when working with the team itself).
- Calendar – Team calendar events can be planned for at this stage (or later on when working with the team itself).
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Setting up Trials
When a trial team is created, the trials associated with the age group of the team are automatically created as well. (The trials were associated with age groups in the first place when the various trial templates were created).
If you need to add, change or drop any of these team trials, you can do this by using the Trials screen.
Working with Trial Teams
If you are a coach or power user, you can go through to your team or teams. If you have more than one team, you must first select which team you want to work with, otherwise your one and only team will automatically be shown.
You can do the following with your team:
- Team Positions – You can change the position of the members within the team. Moving one swimmer onto another will simply swap the swimmers. If you wish to add or drop team members, you need to go back to the Setup Teams screen.
- Trial Results – You can enter the individual trial results of each of the members of the team.
- Attendance – You can take attendance for practice sessions and other team events.
- Timetable – A practice timetable can also be setup (this could also have been done when the team itself was first created under the Setup Teams screen).
- Calendar – Team calendar events can be scheduled from time to time (initial scheduling could also have been done when the team itself was first created under the Setup Teams screen).
Entering Trial Results
The trial results of the individual members of the teams taken by you can be recorded.
Since TS School allows you to make remarks and comments on individual trials, the swimmers can be strictly monitored and developed. Again, if you take more than one team, you must first select which team you want to work with, otherwise your one and only team will automatically be shown.
Galas
TS School allows you to set up, organize and execute galas. Typically, this entails the following:
Setting up Gala Teams
The cream of the crop need be placed in gala teams, available to participate in the next gala. Gala teams are set up in much the same way that trial teams were. The only exceptions are that gala teams do not have:
- Trials
- An attendance register
- A calendar
- A timetable
Like regular trial teams, gala teams do have the following:
- Team name – E.g. 50 FrSt 13B.
- Description of team – E.g. 50m freestyle for boys under 13.
- Template – It’s important to determine what template is to be used for the structure of the team. Once the template is decided upon and swimmers assigned to positions within the team, the structure cannot be re-selected (the assigned swimmers must first be unassigned before the template can be changed).
- Heat – Select the team’s heat. The heats come from those set up above.
- Swimmers – Based on the age group of the heat selected, all learners of that age group are brought into the swimmers list box for selection.
- Schoolhouse – Further filtering can occur by selecting specific schoolhouses.
- Coaches – Coaches, in this context, are really staff members in charge of the team during galas.
- Level – Finally, if the team is on a certain level, for example A, B, C, etc, then this can also be indicated.
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Working with Gala Teams
If you are a coach or power user, you can go through to your team or teams. If you have more than one team, you must first select which team you want to work with, otherwise your one and only team will automatically be shown.
You can do the following with your team:
- Team Positions – You can change the position of the members within the team. Moving one swimmer onto another will simply swap the swimmers. If you wish to add or drop team members, you need to go back to the Setup Teams screen.
- Gala Results – You can enter the individual gala results of each of the members of the team.
Setting up Galas
TS School allows you to set up individual galas. There can be as many galas per year as you wish, although schools usually have only one. Some of the larger schools, though, might have two – one for juniors and one for seniors.
The following is required:
- Name – The name of the gala (such as Gala 2005). This exact phrase will go onto invitations.
- Description – The description of the gala (such as 2005 gala for all swimmers).
- Date and Time – the date and time of the gala. This, too, will go on invitations.
Each gala comprises the following sections:
- The Schedule - This is a schedule of events that represents the entire gala from start to end.
When setting up any event you need to indicate the following:
- Team or Event –Whether the event is a team competition or a regular event such as an opening speech for example. In the former case, the team needs to be selected. In the latter case, the actual event and description need to be typed out (e.g. Opening Speech would be the event, and By the School Principal, Dr. William Mathews would be the description).
- Times –The starting and ending times of the event also need to be given. The events of the schedule will be ordered in accordance with their starting and ending times.
Printing
- To assist you in setting up the gala schedule, you can print out both general and detailed versions. The detailed version will show each team along with their members. This is of course a quick way of determining that all is fine.
- Alternatively, you can simply print out the programme that will finally be given to those attending the gala, to make sure that everything is in order.
(See the Programmes section below).
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- Documentation -
These contain the various documents pertaining to the gala, namely:
- Invites - Default gala invite, Gala – Invite^. This document needs to be sent off to all those invited to the gala.
- Programmes - Default gala programme, Gala – Programme^. This is handed out to those attending the gala. The programme contains the full schedule of events of the entire gala from start to end. Shown are:
- Name – of the event or heat (eg Opening Speech, 25 FrSt B10)
- Description – of the event or heat (eg Opening speech given by the School Principal, Dr. Patrick John Williams, 25m freestyle – Boys under 10)
- Swimmers – The swimmers participating (first name and surname)
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- Other Documentation - There is a link to the Batch Run screen of the Documentations Module where you can print out all those user-defined gala documents to which you have been given access.
Note:
All documents are done in MS Word to give you the opportunity to customize them in the way you would like them to be sent out. |
Cloning - To save yourself a lot of work, you can simply clone from a previous award ceremony. This will copy over the entire schedule of that award ceremony. You can then add, change and drop events. Ensure, though, that all heats do indeed have participants.
Gala Results
Gala results can be recorded, along with any pertinent comments. Swimming records and performances are based on these results. |
