If you run Masters meets using Hy-Tek's Meet Manager software, read on.
Your LMSC Registrar now has the ability to provide you with a file that contains the names, USMS numbers, clubs, and birthdates of the swimmers in your LMSC. This file (of filetype .RE1) can be imported directly into the Meet Manager program.
When you import the .RE1 file, the "Athletes" list in Meet Manager is automatically populated with names, clubs, USMS numbers, and birthdates. All you have to enter are the swimmer's events and seed times.
This does three things:
1) It saves you, the meet director, a lot of typing as you enter swimmers into the meet, and
2) It ensures that the swimmers' names appear in the meet results AS THEY APPEAR ON THEIR USMS CARDS, and
3) It ensures that the swimmers' USMS numbers are stored in the meet results.
To obtain an .RE1 file, contact your LMSC registrar and ask for him/her to create an .RE1 file from the Club Assistant registration software. He/she can then e-mail the file to you.
To import the file into Meet Manager:
From the main Meet Manager menu, select "FILE"
Select "IMPORT"
Select "REGISTRATION FILE"
Locate and choose the .RE1 file that was sent to you
After the meet you can delete the names of everyone who didn't enter the meet. (You do this by going to File >> Purge >> Remove Data Selectively, and deleting athletes with no entries.)
My LMSC has used the .RE1 file for our past three meets. It really helps improve the accuracy of the meet results!
Anna Lea
While the registrars have the ability to create these files, USMS is discussing if they have the authority to provide this information non-USMS officers.
There are issues of confidentially that need to be addresses. If you are a registrar who is providing this information to meet directors, please stop.
As a meet director, I can’t wait to get this since it will make meet entries and data accuracy greatly improved. However, until we can resolve the issues of member information confidentially I will need to wait.
just curious, what's confidential other than your date of birth? they need to know how old you are, but don't necessarily need your exact birthdate, right?
providing swimmers' ages as of the meet date (or end of year if meters) would be fine I'd think.
It seems the RE1 file can contain address and phone number information (it's part of athlete information in Meet Manager), although I don't know if they're scrubbed by USMS in this context. Certainly they contain your full date of birth, which you would need for yards meets (you can't really trust people to not accidentally write down their age).
Whether the date of birth should be an issue is something else. In USA Swimming, the date of birth is disseminated as part of the permanent ID for all athletes as part of the posted electronic results. The athletes for the most part are minor children, so you have to wonder which NGB has the right idea (is USMS overprotective or USA Swimming underprotective?).
Patrick King
just curious, what's confidential other than your date of birth? they need to know how old you are, but don't necessarily need your exact birthdate, right?
providing swimmers' ages as of the meet date (or end of year if meters) would be fine I'd think.
Can a simple release form be created that the meet director can sign with their meet sanction application in order to gain access to this file?Fisty,
I would hope so! As you may know USMS is looking into automated end-to-end meet management tools (from sanction through results/top10). Hopefully the task force working on this will find a way to assist meet hosts while protecting the privacy of our members.
I can't see a problem with providing the information to save them time and increase the accuracy of meet entries and results.Unfortunately, I can see potential problems with providing someone who may not be affiliated with USMS (beyond running a meet) with a list of all our members.
But doesn't that description apply to any meet director today?Not exactly.
The primary difference is that the individual swimmer is providing this information today. So the individual is responsible for making the determination about sending this personal information. Sending personal information without the individuals knowledge or consent is different.
Unfortunately, I can see potential problems with providing someone who may not be affiliated with USMS (beyond running a meet) with a list of all our members.
But doesn't that description apply to any meet director today? They will be getting personal information for all meet entrants, including their addresses (which are not included in this RE1 file). A nationals meet host would have this information for 1-2,000 members who enter the meet, which is far more members than the vast majority of all LMSC's. Do they have to sign off on anything saying they won't use this information for something other than running the meet? It sounds like a good practice to add such a signed statement as a condition of getting a meet sanction already, even without the RE1 file.
The RE1 file could be configured to provide only the swimmer's name, sex, club, and USMS number (no birthdate or age). I tried it and it imports into Meet Manager just fine. It would still be extremely useful. In my observation, the majority of errors that I see in meet results are either incorrect swimmer names (not entered exactly as it appears on their USMS card), or missing USMS numbers.
The name, sex, club, and USMS number is LESS information that what is currently publicly available, so I don't see that it would be a privacy issue. (The "Member Lookup" function on the Pacific Masters web site is one example.)
Anna Lea
While the registrars have the ability to create these files, USMS is discussing if they have the authority to provide this information non-USMS officers.
There are issues of confidentially that need to be addresses. If you are a registrar who is providing this information to meet directors, please stop.
As a meet director, I can’t wait to get this since it will make meet entries and data accuracy greatly improved. However, until we can resolve the issues of member information confidentially I will need to wait.
Can a simple release form be created that the meet director can sign with their meet sanction application in order to gain access to this file? Some sort of simple non-disclosure statement should do the trick. As long as the meet director agrees in writing not to use the personal information for any purpose other than running the meet, I can't see a problem with providing the information to save them time and increase the accuracy of meet entries and results.
Some people may feel that their age (not on your list, but used as an example), gender, club affiliation or even membership in USMS is a matter of personal privacy. And while gender, club affiliation and USMS membership generally fall into the category of ordinary personal data, age and an individuals USMS number could be considered as sensitive data.
A devil's advocate point of view... If all these are matters of personal privacy,
AGE - age groups should be done away with from now on; nationals no longer seeded by age; records are no longer kept by age group. the 500 free record is now 4:26.87.
GENDER - i will now register as a female in order to swim faster than all the real girls, get lots of glory, and anyone questioning my femalacity is violating my right to privacy; that, or we all swim as a new gender U for Unisex, and women can compete against men for everything.
Club Affiliation - USMS now offers sanctioned relays where all four members can be on four different teams; or we're all "Unattached"
USMS Membership - we may now sign up for all meets as "Anonymous." The 500 free record mentioned above will be reset to have been swum by "Anonymous," and since i swam a meet as "Anonymous," I am taking credit for that record
Seriously...
USMS has a privacy policy. The first paragraph is:
When you join USMS, we ask that you provide your name, gender, address, telephone number and birth date. This information is collected from your Local Masters Swim Committee, which then forwards it to our National Office. Our National Office compiles a data base from this information. The data base is required so that we can confirm registration for insurance purposes and so that we can assemble and compile USMS swimming records.
This goes on to discuss how a LMSC might use that information, that meet managers will also need this information, and that meet results "may include publication of personal information such as your age."
In reading the policy, I do not see where creating this file for meet directors only will violate this policy. While I think the Meet Director Confidentiality thing may be overkill, I believe it would be a great tool in the prevention of misuse of this information. If approved, I will be the first in line to sign it if it means I don't have any errors in my results.
Furthermore, if meet directors are supposed to have perfect data, it would be helpful to have a benchmark against which we can verify accuracy. Either someone has to provide us that information so we can do the benchmarking, or someone else has to do the checks and corrections for us. Gatekeepers at the local level (ie LMSC registrars and .re1 files) would make life a lot easier for folks on the national level, as evidenced by Jim's post.
Finally, if someone does not wish to have any of their information (esp. that they're a USMS member) shared with anyone else, why are they signing up for an organization that requires you provide such as part of registration? Anyone that paranoid should be living in seclusion, and if they're listed in the phone book, they're hypocrites. :soapbox:
