Change of Approach to Entering Swim Galas - please read as parents need to do it themselves!
NB: this will also appear in the Team App News while we run with both systems until mid-June
Hi everyone
As part of the Team Unify adoption we are changing how swimmers enter into galas. Currently this is a hugely time intensive and manual process that largely relies on the large time commitment and fantastic efforts of Gail Hogarth and Scott Creelie. Utilising Team Unify will put more responsibility onto parents to enter meets and pay for them upfront.
A very brief summary is that you can sign your swimmer up to a gala and chose the specific races yourself either via the Team Unify website or the Go Motion/ On Deck app. You will also need to provide Credit Card details that will be automatically charged after the gala entry deadline has passed. Please see attached 'cheat sheet' here - /portobelloasc/UserFiles/Image/QuickUpload/credit-card-and-gala-entry-cheet-sheet-tu_054807.pdf. This gives much more detail on how this will work and what you need to do.
One important change to note is that there is a payment processing fee for using the Team Unify payments system. This is 2.95% per transaction plus 20p. Therefore the meet entries have been adjusted accordingly e.g. a £5 race entry becomes £5.15; £6 race becomes £6.18; £9 race becomes £9.27; £12 race becomes £12.36 etc. Plus 20p on top of any total. As a committee we felt the increase in absolute cost was small enough that we were comfortable pushing ahead with this. If we are to adopt this platform for training fees we will consult more widely since the amounts will clearly be larger (in absolute, if not relative terms).
We will adopt this approach for the two remaining galas of the season - Musselburgh Summer Fun Meet and East District Summer Sizzler. Formal emails via the Team Unify system will sent on each of them later today. Note both have limits on who can enter so not every account holder will receive the formal email (Musselburgh is for younger swimmers, EDSS for older swimmers).
One other important change is that email communications for gala entries will now be via [email protected]. It will still largely be Gail Hogarth working tirelessly behind the scenes. Please feel free to ask any questions in the comments of the Team App news post, or in your relevant swim squad What's App group or email the address above.
And thanks again for your patience with this. Once we are all used to it, we firmly believe it will make everyone's' life easier - but especially the volunteers that keep the club functioning.
Thanks!
Ali
