Sign Up for a SwimTopia Account

➧ What product tier is right for you?

If you have already signed up for a Premium or Lite SwimTopia account, proceed to the next section. If not, follow the link below and come back to this article to continue.

Both plans offer Meet Maestro and all meet related features to help you run your Block Party meets with ease. Pick the plan that’s right for you, and give us a try with a free 2-week trial — no credit card, no obligation! After 2 weeks, you’re trial site will become your team management site, and you’ll receive an invoice.

➧ SwimTopia Lite: Lite accounts are primarily used by teams looking to run meets. If you already have team management software and aren’t looking to change now, the Lite account is probably right for you. This version will allow you to register your athletes, manage meet entries, and run or participate in Block Party meets.

➧ SwimTopia Premium: If you’re ready to check out all our team and meet features, then Premium is the way to go. Premium includes a fully customizable website, volunteer management features and more.

➞ See our plan comparison chart here for feature details.

➞ Sign Up Here: https://info.swimtopia.com/block-party

» Note: if you select a tier and change your mind later, we can easily convert your site.

Set Up Your SwimTopia Site

➧ Website Settings (Team, Logo, Colors)

When you signed up for a SwimTopia account, your team name should have been entered for you, and you may have set up your team colors and logo. To edit the team colors and logo, log in to your SwimTopia account and go to Manage Team > Settings > Team Information.

Once you're in your admin console (Manage Team), you'll see a link to a Settings menu for a list of site-wide settings and tools.

•  Modify your team's name and abbreviation (if needed)
• Set your preferred swim course
• Add a team logo and set your time zone
• Configure your Athlete Roster Groups (if using)
• Set your Meet Entry Preferences (will parents declare and sign up for events...)
• Create a Stripe account to accept online payments (only needed if using the registration feature and charging fees.) 

➞ Admin Menu

➞ Manage Team: Site-wide Settings

➧ Import Roster and Time History

If you plan to use our meet entries matrix to enter athletes into events; use our “easy button” relay team generator; invite parents/athletes to declare for meets and/or sign up for meet events; and wish to communicate with your members, you’ll want to import your team’s current or past roster and time history. 

Select the option that works for you ➞ Data Imports - Team Roster and Time History

➧ Connect to USA Swimming

If you are a USA Swimming team, you must have SwimTopia selected as your team management vendor on the USA Swimming Club Portal to utilize SwimTopia's integration features. This selection should be done now, if not already completed. You can designate more than one, so this will not affect any other vendor you have configured. 

➞ Connecting USA Swimming and SwimTopia

▶️ Training Video - SWIMS 3.0 Integration Overview

Set Up Your Block Party Meet

➧ Are you in a hurry due to a meet deadline?

Focus on the most important steps below:

• Meet Creation and Details (Steps 1/2)
• Meet Signups and Entries (Step 6)
• Meet Communication (Step 7)
• Merge Entries and Run the Meet (Steps 8/10)

➧ Step 1: Create Your Meet

We have a selection of tried and true Block Party event lists and corresponding entry rules for all levels of swimmers so you can easily run short, fun, meets for your developmental through competitive swimmers. 

You can also easily import an EV3 file to set up a meet if you already have a meet format in mind.

You'll add new meets under Manage Team > Schedule > Add Swim Meet. You'll create a New (Empty) Swim Meet or Import a Meet Event File (EV3).

➞ Creating Meets (Options)

➧ Step 2: Set Meet Details

Meet Details are basic what/when/where information along with a few calendar, age-up date, and pool length configuration settings.

➞ Meet & Event Details

➧ Step 3: Set Team Preferences

Team Preferences are settings centered around how a team manages their athlete participation assumptions, meet entry signups and relay settings. 

If you plan to allow parents to declare for the meet, and/or sign up for the events, this is where you’ll make that choice. You can set these at the meet level and then choose to Update Team Preferences from the Actions menu on the screen to update your default site settings. These settings will automatically be applied to new meets.

➞ Team Meet Entry Preferences

➧ Step 4: Review Meet Setup Configurations

Click on each subtab under Meet Setup to ensure the meet is set up properly, especially: Events, Entry Rules, Seeding & Scoring Rules:

➧ Step 5: Save As Meet Template

If you create your meets yourself, you can save valuable time each time you host a meet by saving your meet setup as a Meet Template. This is done from your Meet Setup > Events > Actions menu. ➞ Meet Templates

➧ Step 6: Open Meet Signups and Set Meet Entries

Once your meet is set up and ready to go, it's time to edit your meet status for meet signups, which includes attendance declarations and meet entries (if applicable for your team).

Coaches can review or create meet entries and generate relays from the Entries tab, and then mark the entries as Ready for meet day on the Merge/Export tab. They can also quickly generate relays using the Generate Relays "easy button", review coach notes (if configured for parents to enter), and run meet reports as needed (Participants, Missing Entries, First-time Entrants, Absences).

➞ Meet or Event Status (Calendar & Mobile App Display)

➞ Meet Entries
 

➧ Step 7: Communicate About Meet Details and Mobile App with Parents and Participating Teams

Parents: Notify your parents of the meet signup via email or push alert, and encourage them to download the SwimTopia mobile app to follow all the meet day excitement.

➞ Communications: Emails and Alerts

➞ Tools to Inform Parents about SwimTopia’s Mobile App

Participating Teams: Provide the following information to the visiting teams to ensure their meet is set up in their SwimTopia site with the same details:

• Name of meet
• Date, time, and location of the meet
• Pool course (SCY, SCM)
• Linking code (Meet Setup > Linking) - if they have a SwimTopia site to post a corresponding meet
• Tell them where to send their HY3 meet entries file if they do not have a SwimTopia site
• Export Meet Event File {EV3} - visiting teams can use this to create their meets to ensure the same events are used. ➞ Meet Setup: Events and Meet Event File

➧ Step 8: Merge Meet Entries

Once all participating teams have created a corresponding meet on their SwimTopia site (if they are using SwimTopia) and have marked themselves ready, or have provided their HY3 meet entries file to upload into your meet, you can merge the meet entries to create the Block Party meet in Meet Maestro.

➞ SwimTopia Meet Entries – Ready to Merge

➞ SwimTopia - Upload/Import Entries Files (when participating teams do not use SwimTopia)

➧ Step 9: Upload Meet Files to View from the Website

Use the “Files” section of your meet in SwimTopia to upload reports that your parents would like to access/print from your website before the meet, such as Heat Sheets, Session Report, Psych Sheet, Meet Details, Volunteer Report, Athlete Check-In / Meet Entries, etc.

➞ Adding Files to Meets and Events (For Website Calendar)

➞ Meet Maestro Settings – Pre-Meet Reports

➧ Step 10: Run the Meet in Meet Maestro

Meet Maestro is intuitive and easy to use. We offer video tutorials and a robust Help Center to help you get started. If you're using a timing system, we recommend you get your system connected to Meet Maestro immediately and run a practice meet first.

You'll find links to set up timing systems, run test meets, access pre-meet reports, watch video tutorials, and more:

➞ Meet Maestro – Run Your Meets

➞ Meet Maestro - Meet Settings Checklist
 

Support Resources

"Customer Happiness" is not just a team name at SwimTopia, it's our mission!

We offer an extensive Help Center that will provide in-depth information and step-by-step tutorials on all of the features you'll find with SwimTopia, Meet Maestro, and our mobile app.

➧ Product Support

Feel free to reach out to us for additional assistance, we're happy to help ➞ SwimTopia Support Options

➧ Billing Support

Questions related to your SwimTopia subscription should be directed to our billing department ➞ Billing Support & Policies Overview

➧ USA Swimming Block Party Details

➞ https://www.usaswimming.org/coaches-leaders/team-leaders/block-party