What does the “PARENT” tag mean under People?

We get asked this question somewhat frequently. A common variant is, we have a coach but they’re still in college and don’t have kids, why does SwimTopia say they’re parents? Can we remove the PARENT tag from them?

Two kinds of People

In SwimTopia there are only PARENTS and ATHLETES. A Parent is any adult, and any kid is an Athlete.

Those are the only two main designations available at the moment. Parents can also have Roles assigned to them as well as be designated as an ADMIN. Kids can be in an Age Group and also an Athlete Roster Group (optionally).

Behind the scenes, these tags indicate an “Affiliation.” To SwimTopia, an Affiliation is a connection between a particular Person, a particular Season, AND a particular Team.

The primary and best way for Parent and Athlete Affiliations setting is through the process of Registration. When a family completes a Registration (and the Registration is Approved—automatic when paying online, or is Pending when paying by check or account#) they become Affiliated with the current Season* and the kids do as well. Additionally, the kids are assigned to the proper age group and Athlete Roster Group (if used) at the same time.

It is possible to manually set an affiliation for a Parent or Athlete. From the People tab, click the name of the person in question (it might be necessary to locate them in another Season using the search field) and use the Add Affiliation command: