Meet Templates

Meet Templates allow you to define a list of events and rules for different types of meets throughout the season (e.g. Dual Meets, Tri Meets, Divisionals, Champs, or Invitationals). Once you have defined the templates, you can simply apply them to the appropriate meets on your calendar each season.

Covered in this Article:

• Meet Template Settings
• Creating a Meet Template From an Existing Meet
• Creating a Meet Template From Scratch
• Editing and Managing Meet Templates
• Applying Meet Templates to Your Meets
• Applying Shared Meet Templates from your League
• Editing Meet Setup That's Linked to a Template
• How Meets are Affected by Template Changes
• Team Preferences (Meet Entry Preferences)

Meet Template Settings

Meet Templates are made up of configurations for the areas of Events, Entry Rules, Entry Fees, Eligibility/Participation Requirements, and Seeding & Scoring (Meet Maestro users only).

The blue line between Linking and Events separates what is configured in a Meet Template.

>>Note: Team Preferences are not part of the Meet Template. Preferences can be set up at the meet level, or site-wide under Settings ➞ See our Help Center article for Team Meet Entry Preferences.

Creating a Meet Template From an Existing Meet

If you have meets that are set up the way you like, you can easily save the setup of each type of meet as a Meet Template. To do this go to Manage Team > Schedule, then click the meet name (select the year on the left side if the meet is not in the current season).

Then go to Meet Setup > Events, click on the Actions button, and select Save As Meet Template.

You will be taken into this new Meet Template where you can review each of the configuration tabs and make modifications as needed:

Creating a Meet Template From Scratch

If you do not have meets setup to save as Meet Templates, you can create Meet Templates from scratch.

➧ Option 1: We recommend creating a new meet by importing a Meet Events file, then you can save your Meet Template from there. Choose the Add Swim Meet menu and then Import Meet Event File.

Enter basic meet information since you are creating this in order to upload your events and save it as a meet template.

>>Tip: Hide this meet from your public calendar since it is not a real meet, just what you are using to create your Meet Template. 

Go to Meet Setup > Events, click on the Actions button, then select Save As Meet Template (this will create a Meet Template you can continue to configure).

After saving you will be taken into your meet template where you can complete the setup by going through each of the configuration tabs:

>>Note: After completing the new meet template setup, you can go back to your Schedule and delete the "meet template meet" you created by clicking on the Remove button within the meet.

➧ Option 2: Go to Schedule > Meet Templates > + Add Template

This option is not recommended, since you have to manually create each event, but it is an option in case you do not have a meet event file to upload.

>>Tip: Create meet templates for each type of meet (dual, tri, divisionals, state, champs etc), so you can set the specific rules, fees, eligibility, and seeding/scoring (Meet Maestro users only) for each type of meet. This will save you valuable time each season, since you will be able to just apply these pre-set templates to your meets.

Editing and Managing Meet Templates

Your current Meet Templates can be found at Manage Team > Schedule > Meet Templates.

To edit, click on the name of the template.  There, you'll find four tabs:  Events, Entry Rules, Entry Fees, Eligibility and Seeding & Scoring (only for Meet Maestro users).

Once you've created one Meet Template, you can Copy Template and make any modifications so the new template can be used with a different kind of meet, such as a Divisionals or Championship meet.

>>Note: For leagues that use SwimTopia league-wide, the league can define Meet Templates to share with their teams - these will automatically be populated in each teams' Meet Templates.  Some leagues may even lock their teams' shared Meet Templates such that the teams are unable to edit any of the settings.  You can make copies of the league's Meet Templates and then make changes to the copy. For more information ➞ See our Shared Meet Templates article.

➧ Meet Events

Meet Events, including individual, relay, diving and individual/relay event groups can be imported (suggested - if possible) or manually created, edited and deleted from within your Meet Templates or directly within the meet itself. Your meet events is the first page you are taken to when you create or edit your meet template, and will be listed under the Meet Setup > Events subtab within your meet.

➞ See Meet Setup: Events

➧ Meet Entry Rules

We have many entry rules configuration options, but not all rules are applicable to each team. From general rules like entry limits and results editing, to specific rules surrounding individual and relay entries. 

Like many configurations provided to offer flexibility to our customers, entry rules can vary greatly between leagues and teams. Before you can begin entering swimmers in events, you'll need to confirm your meet entry requirements and rules are accurately set. 

Set the rules for your Meet Template under the Entry Rules subtab.

➞ See Meet Setup: Entry Rules

➧ Meet Entry Fees

Meet entry fees can be set up on your Meet Templates (preferred) or direclty within your Meet Setup. The fees will be calculated but online payment or collection of entry fees during meet signup is not available at this time. There is a report available to track these payments owed, and we do have options for how you can collect these fees using a merchandise item or non-swim meet event. 

Set the fees for your Meet Template under the Entry Fees subtab.

➞ See Meet Setup: Entry Fees

➧ Eligibility/Participation Requirements

Eligibility / Participation Requirements are useful for tracking and enforcing rules that require a minimum level of participation. A common case would be a championship meet with a rule requiring athletes to have swum in a certain number of meets during the regular season to enter the championship meet.

Set the participation requirements for your Meet Template under the Eligibility subtab.

➞ See Meet Setup: Eligibility/Participation Requirements 

➧ Seeding & Scoring Rules (Meet Maestro™ users only)

Just like in meet entry rules, many Leagues and teams will have varying seeding and scoring rules. For most teams, your league will have set seeding and scoring rules, but if not, they can be set in a Meet Template one time, or individually for each meet. Settings for seeding and scoring transfer to Meet Maestro when you merge the meet.

>>Note: Seeding & Scoring Rules only affect meets run in our meet management application, Meet Maestro™.

Set the seeding and scoring rules for your Meet Template under the Seeding & Scoring subtab.

➞ See SwimTopia – Setting up Seeding & Scoring Rules

Applying Your Meet Templates to Your Meets

Now that you've set up your Meet Templates, you're ready to apply a Meet Template to your meets. If you haven't set up any meets yet ➞ See our Help Center article about Creating Meets (Options).

Go to Manage Team > Schedule > Select a Meet > Meet Setup > Events 

If your meet does not already have any events, you select Apply Template and then choose the applicable Meet Template from the list presented.

If your meet already has events, you select Actions > Apply Meet Template and then choose the applicable Meet Template from the list presented.

>>Note: If the meet is already linked to a Meet Template, you will see the name of the template and an Unlink Template button. If you need to replace the template, you can unlink it and follow the steps above to link to the correct one ➞ See Editing Meet Setup That's Linked to a Template section below for more on linked templates.

Applying Shared Meet Templates from your League

➧ What are Shared Meet Templates?

Leagues who take advantage of our free league site offer, have the ability to create and share Meet Templates with all teams in the league using SwimTopia. This is a great time saving feature for each team AND when applied to meets by all teams, this guarantees that each team will be using the exact same list of events to avoid any meet hassles.

If your league has created shared meet templates, you will see them listed along with your personal meet templates (if you have any), but they will be designated with a label showing a chain link and your league.

>>Note: The chain link signifies the template is locked and cannot be edited by anyone outside of the league. So if you feel changes are needed, contact your league (please do not contact SwimTopia Support as we will only be able to point you back to your league).

➧ Applying Shared Meet Templates

Applying shared league meet templates to your meets follows the same process outlined above with templates you have created:

Go to Manage Team > Schedule > Select a Meet > Meet Setup > Events 

If your meet does not already have any events, you select Apply Template and then choose the applicable Meet Template from the list presented.

If your meet already has events, you select Actions > Apply Meet Template and then choose the applicable Meet Template from the list presented.

Editing Meet Setup That's Linked to a Template

While setting up a Meet Template, admins can decide whether to lock the template to prevent any changes from being made to any meets that are linked to this template:

Once a Meet Template has been applied to a meet, when you click on any of that meet's four template subtabs under Meet Setup, you'll see a message saying the meet is linked to a Meet Template (along with the name of the template).

If the Meet Template is not locked, you'll see a message similar to this one:

Click on the Unlink Template button to make edits to any of the four subtabs or to apply a new Meet Template.

If the Meet Template is locked, you won't be able to edit the any of the four subtabs, and you'll see a message like this one: 

>>Note: If you are using shared meet templates from the league, or your league used the Meet Schedule Import feature, check to see that the proper Meet Templates have been applied to each meet. During the Meet Schedule Import, your league may have defined and locked your Meet Templates, meaning you won't be able to edit any of the four subtabs. (contact your league if you have questions on any settings for locked league meet templates, not SwimTopia Support).

How Meets are Affected by Template Changes

When you change any part of a Meet Template, any upcoming meet linked to it will update with the changes you have made. Past meets are NOT changed. If changes to the template would eliminate events with entries, the changes will NOT be applied to the meet. If your meet is not updating as you would expect, please contact your friendly Customer Happiness Team. 

Team Preferences (Meet Entry Preferences)

Now that we've talked about the Meet Template and its four subtabs under Meet Setup, you may be wondering what the other subtab, Team Preferences, refers to and how that works.

Under Meet Setup, we’ve divided out things that are considered “rules” and those that are considered “team preferences.” Rules are things that the league typically governs in by-laws and meet guides. Team preferences are just that, settings that relate more to how your team likes to collect entries and attendance information, along with relay setup preferences.

You'll define your Team Preferences (or Meet Entry Preferences) under Manage Team > Settings > Meet Entry Preferences. And you can “Apply” those preferences to each meet, making any necessary modifications on a meet-by-meet basis.

For more information ➞ See our Help Center article about Team Meet Entry Preferences.

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