Data Format for Competition Schedules

If you are hosting a competition and would like to have me post "searchable" schedules please feel free to send me your schedule information. Your schedules when posted will have a menu that looks and works like the sample below:

I can accept your schedule information by email in a variety of formats; in today's computerized world, you're almost sure to have something pretty close to what I need for posting. Be aware that when the competition is over, I can also very easily post full results from your competition - if you wish to have results posted, please ask your accountants to email me a copy of the Club Summary Report file from Forms Central.

Really Easy for Everyone

Easiest for you and for me, though there is a small cost for you (well worth it though, especially if your competition is annual). Have your LOC contact Bill Goen in Michigan and buy his Competition Management Program for PCs. This Great software program runs on Windows and handles definition of events, registration and scheduling of skaters (including splitting of flights), mailing lists, makes masters for your printed competition "program booklet", AND it automatically generates a schedule file you can send to me for posting here on the Figure Skater's Website. For USFSA competitions, it generates a schedule file which the accountant's programs can import. For ISI it will do all of your scoring tasks. If you have this program, sending me a file is simply a button-press away, and I can post directly from the file you send. (special instructions for emailing Access databases)

A Little Bit of Work for You and a Little Bit of Work for Me

If you are unable to buy Bill's program, you can send me your schedule information in spreadsheet form, either Excel or Microsoft Works. You'll need to send me 2 tables - if you use Microsoft Works you can do it as 2 separate .WKS files. If you use Excel, you can send either 2 separate .XLS files, or one file with 2 "tabs" in it. Either way, the tables should have columns as shown below:

Table 1 - Events (columns may be in any order)
Column Heading	Content of Column
EvNum	The event number. Its ok to have some letters (for example event "91a") if necessary. For Ice Makes, enter "zam"
EvName	Name of event (for example "PreJuv FS D"). Use reasonable abbreviations such as FS, SP, CM, S/D, etc when possible. For Ice Makes use "Ice Make" or something similarly descriptive.
Rink	Name of Rink, if multiple rinks in use. For example "Olympic", "Red", "One", "Main", etc. If only one rink in use, you may omit the column.
Side	Used to indicate which end, for half-ice events. Most commonly, "Z" is used to indicate the Zamboni end, however can use "L" for lobby, "F" for flag, or whatever is most useful for your rink. Leave blank if not relevant, or not known.
Time	Time of day; include "am" or "pm". For example "10:15 am"
Day	Day of week; 3 letter abbreviations are preferred, for example "Mon", "Tue", "Wed", "Thu", "Fri", "Sat", "Sun"

Table 2 - Kids In Events
Column Heading	Content of Column
EvNum	Event Number, numbers consistent with entry in Events table. This is the linkage between the 2 tables.
LName	Skater's Last Name (if you are unable to separate first and last names you can use one field called "Name").
FName	Skater's First Name (if you are unable to separate first and last names you can use one field called "Name").
Club	Skater's Club. Be consistent with spelling, etc. Use abbreviations such as FSC, SC, SA as appropriate. For Individual Members, indicate "Individual Member"
Pro	(optional). If Coach is known, enter first and last names here in one field. For example "Don Korte". Coaches like it a lot when you can provide this information because it allows them to get a list of all of their student's schedules.

Note, if you have basically this same information all in one table and don't know how to separate it, that's ok too, though it will be somewhat repetitive...

Easy for You, Harder for Me

Microsoft Word version of program booklet event listing. Usually this has event name, time, rink, etc followed by a listing of all the skaters in the event. If you give me something in this format, I'll get it converted, but it'll take a lot longer to get it ready.

Whichever format works for you, you can send the files to me by email when they are ready. Feel free to email or call me (810-230-9536) if you have questions. Please note that I am unable to post skater schedules for Qualifying competitions (Regionals, Sectionals, Nationals)