Bob Cox from Pincourt pool has created a great Excel spreadsheet to score ALPS dual swim meets. Please take a few minutes to read the information below to help you use it to the best of its capabilities.

Note: If you download the file from this website or get it from Bob directly, it is 100% guaranteed to be virus-free. A download from anywhere else does not carry this guarantee. This is important since you must click the "Enable Macros" button to use the auto-scoring capability and macros may contain viruses and trojans.

Step 1 - Save the LATEST VERSION (see bottom of page) of the file to the C:\ directory of the computer you'll be using. Be sure to take to the pool an extension cord, a power bar and a printer - with paper.

Step 2 - Open the file and click on the "Click here to set the club names" button. "Home" and "Away" are the defaults but, if you enter the correct pool names, those names will be used to auto-populate other useful fields such as the cover page, the officials list page, and the pages of the scoresheet itself.

Step 3 - Print a copy of all nine pages of the scoresheet BEFORE you start in case you have any technical problems that require you to resort to manual recording for the meet. Printouts (and file backups) should be made after each page so that you have a record in hand in the event of computer or power problems. There are a few helpful pop-up notes built in to the scoresheet to remind the recorder/scorer to make print-outs and back-ups regularly.

Step 4 - Enter the names of the swimmers in the order of their finish, fastest to slowest, as always.

- It is best to enter the FIRST NAME FIRST, THEN THE LAST NAME and, in order to be consistent, do not use accents for french names i.e. Melanie Giguere not Mélanie Giguère.

- Once you have enter the swimmer's name, time and pool correctly, the Individual Points and Total Points columns will automatically be filled as well as the accumulated score at the bottom of each page.

- If you must go back and make a change to an entry, such as changing a scoring swimmer to a DQ, the score will reflect the change. Click on the "Place/DQ" cell beside the swimmer's time and click on the arrow that appears. Select "DQ". All of the ALPS rules on scoring have been applied in this application.

- To enter the swimmers in an exhibition heat, click the tab at the bottom marked "Exhibition Score Sheet" and enter them the same way. No scores are attribured to exhibition swimmers. Please remember to print this sheet and attach a copy to each score package, including the ribbon table.

Step 5 - When you have time before or during the meet, you can fill in the "Officials" page and the Relay team swimmers from the printed sheets you will receive as the recorder/scorer. Click on the tabs at the bottm of the page for these pages.

- Once you have entered the entire swim meet, you'll find at the end of the scoresheet, a button to print the cover page (remember to print the officials' page and exhibition swimmers pages, too).

At the end of the scoresheet, there is a "List Swimmers" button. Clicking it will generate an alphabetized list of swimmers from each club and their times in each of their events. This list now also include the exhibition swimmers. The coaches should find this page very useful. The information for your club can be saved to a blank Excel file and similar information from each weekly swim meet can be added and the resulting list sorted to provide a great record of every swimmer's progress this summer.

Step 6 - Before you go to your first dual meet, download and play with the program a bit to get used to it. If you have any questions, you can get in touch with Bob Cox . Be sure to thank him for spending the time to create such a great application. This has helped to bring ALPS into the 21st century!

Version 1.4 ( NOTE TO ALL POOLS: DESTROY VERSION 1.4 - DO NOT USE AGAIN)

Version 1.8

• Added a prompt to the user to confirm the location on the hard drive where the score sheet should be saved.. Some users had problems with the file saving to the root of the C: drive so now the users can enter the full path of where to save the file.

• Version 1.8 of the Excel scoresheet is no longer available. Please download version 1.9 below.
  

Version 1.9

Changes made:

Version 1.9 has the corrected e-mail addresses for the "A" and "B" section co-ordinators, and the default date has been changed to July 4, 2007 from 2005.

Please note that we are asking for all names to be entered as they appear on the swimming cards, that is to say FIRST NAME LAST NAME. Also, we ask that you make sure that the MACRO SECURITY (in Options, Security) is set to Medium before you open the spreadsheet. If not, then the buttons and the macros will not work. Having lowered the Macro Security from HIGH to Medium will not jeopordize the security of the laptop. It simply sets Excel to prompt the user, asking if the user wishes to activate macros in the spreadsheet rather than refusing to open the macros by default. As usual, if the scoresheet is downloaded from the ALPS website, we can confirm that there is no chance of virus, trojans, or worms within the macros.

Version 1.9-2 June 2008

Changes made:

John Rogers' email address was used as the Section B coordinator for swimming.

Version 2.0 Aug. 1, 2008 (Please delete all previous versions of the scoresheet)

New features:

* Automatically adds the Recorder names into the cover sheet

* Automatically adds the Section into the cover sheet

* Automatically assigns the club name in relays when the club name is selected in the competitor's name column

* Added 3 pages of Exhibition events to the exhibition sheet

* Swimmer list now places swimmers times into proper swims rather than relays

In order for these features to work, the recorders will need to know some information:

* The Click here to set club names button must be used. It is important that the recorders understand the implications of the changes to this function. Most are used to entering data without reading the screen. With new data to enter, many users may be confused. Users need to be aware that “ The menu has changed, please read every window carefully ”.

- In this routine, users are now asked to fill in the HOME and VISITING pool names. Please use the proper club abbreviations as assigned by ALPS. A list of the proper club names can be found on the ALPS WEB site

- Users are asked to enter the HOME and VISITING recorder names (people's names)

- Users are asked to enter the section they are competing in (A, B, or C only, no other text)

- Users are asked to enter the drive letter and path of where they want the file saved (C:\ by default)

* These features will allow the Cover Page to be auto-populated with the complete information. While this is great for the section coordinators, it does leave a bit to be desired for the physical onsite cover page which still MUST be signed by the recorders. Please sign next to, above or below your printed name.

* On Relay events, the spreadsheet automatically looks at the club name that is selected in the Competitors Name column and assigns the CLUB name in the club column for the points. This will both save time and reduce errors on the data entry

* 3 additional pages were added to the exhibition page. We have received comments that several clubs have more than 30 exhibition events, many clubs even having more than 3 heats for a particular event

* The swimmer list now places the exhibition times in the proper swim style. For this to work, the recorders must not include a letter with the event number. If you have 2 or more heats for an event, each and every heat must carry the same event number. For example, if the 8 and under girls free style has 2 exhibition heats, the primary heat for points is event 1, and each subsequent exhibition heat will also be event 1 and NOT event 1A and 1B. Always using only the numeral 1, the swimmer list routine will automatically detect that event 1 is freestyle and place the swimmers time in the FREE column.

Note: It is no longer necessary to type in the names of the relay team members. Please have the Chief Finish Judges check the names on the swimmers' cards against the hand-written list of names submitted by the coaches prior to the meet and make any necessary corrections. These lists must then be attached to the print-out of the signed cover page of the official score sheet. These pages must be either mailed or delivered to the Section coordinator by the meet manager of the home club.

To download version 2.0 of the scoresheet, click here.