Direct Athletics Monopoly for NCAA events

How is it FREE, when my online entry charge is doubling and tripling. As a timer, I play a flat fee, with DA, I will force to pay much more. Don't shed any tears, we (timers) will just have to charge schools more for our service.

So

http://tfrrs.com/

is up and running, but I would like to know how meet directors/timing companies who are not NCAA coaches can set up accounts?

There are a LOT of meets that meet all requirements for NCAA qualifying that are not hosted by an NCAA coach or school but by NAIAs, JCs, private stadiums, track clubs, etc.

Mt SAC Relays, for example. If Mt SAC Relays was tomorrow, none of it would count for NCAA qualifying because the meet director would be unable to get the codes from TFRRS.

We are a month away from the start of the indoor season. It's going to be interesting to see them work out the kinks that they could have avoided if there had been more input into the process.

You're right, there's no way they could've anticipated that. God, you're so smart polevaultpower. However did they design this system without you?

Or, direct from the page...

Yes. Starting in early November, you will be able to sign up for a free meet director/timer account. Creating a meet director account is easy--once you have an account, you can upload results for as many meets as you'd like. Meet director/timer accounts ensure that only certified meet hosts and timers can submit results to TFRRS and allow the site administrators to contact the "owner" of the results easily. Accounts also allow meet directors/timers to make corrections to previously submitted meet results.

All meet directors/timers can download TFRRS rosters into their meet management software at no charge for the purposes of running their meet. If you wish to download TFRRS rosters for free, each athlete will download with a "single-meet" TFRRS ID. This ID is valid for uploading results for that meet only. There is no limit to how many meets you can set up on TFRRS, but you will need to re-download rosters for each meet that you are hosting.

It's already early November, less than a month until the first indoor meets. No, I don't have faith that they will have everything ready in time, or that they have anticipated all of the problems that can and will arise.

I would really hate to see legitimate marks not count for Nationals because some team got screwed because they went to a legit meet where the meet director had trouble uploading results to this system. I guarantee that some meet directors will have trouble with it. If TFRRS has a plan in place to address problems that arise, it must be a closely guarded secret because they sure aren't sharing with anyone.

As it stands now, the coaches have no power. If a meet director has trouble, it's the athletes who pay for it.

Also, if there is a mistake in the results, fixing it requires the meet director to make the change in the original hy-tek results and reuploading the entire meet, by the Monday after or whatever the deadline is. So coaches, you'd better triple check those results before you leave the meet...

NCAA schools should have the freedom to attend any legitimate track meet that meets the NCAA requirements for qualifying. Now schools who attend meets hosted by non-NCAA entities have to double check to make sure their results will be uploaded to this site and may have to make changes to their schedule.

My opinion is that if a meet is legit, meets all requirements, and publishes their results online (which 99% of meets attended by colleges do), then a school should not be punished if that meet director can't or doesn't upload their results to this site. There should be a recourse for schools to submit these published results to someone at TFRRS and have them uploaded. But because they have tied their whole system into these ID numbers, that won't happen.

Schools shouldn't have to alter their schedules because of the shortcomings of this system.

Just so everyone is clear....

This cost no extra money to anyone....

It is a report system that will compile all results so they are easily verifiable for everyone in the nation...athletes,fellow coaches, meet administrators---both at big meets and NCAA, to NCAA committees who are overseeing the list....

On top of the this Non NCAA division---NAIA has been using this for about 5 years already so they are ahead of the NCAA curve....

This is a good thing for everyone....

NATIONAL Rankings will be up quicker- results must be sent in within 24 hours of completion of meet, easier to see both within division and entire country...

It will save coaches the hassel of reporting each individual POP(Proof of Performance) Form....Each form takes 3-4 minutes so a school that might have 10-30 POPS in a weekend it will save a little bit of time to spend on other important facets of coaching, ie coaching, recruiting, or some of the other endless paperwork that needs to be done...I know I am happy for this change and it is one less stress of doing NCAA Q entries every week.

All that needs to be done is:

each school downloads roster into Direct Athlete---This is a point and click process.

Then each week send result file to Direct Athletics and meet results get downloaded into the system...This can be done by the meet director or coach from NCAA school gets copy from meet director---should happen anyway and the NCAA coaches sends em off...

THIS IS A GOOD THING FOR TRACK AND FIELD AND WILL NOT COST ANY MORE MONEY TO PARTICIPATING SCHOOLS HOSTING MEETS OR SHUT ANYONE OFF FROM MEETS OUTSIDE OF NCAA.

D2 Coach wrote:

On top of the this Non NCAA division---NAIA has been using this for about 5 years already so they are ahead of the NCAA curve....

The system NAIA has been using allows coaches to submit individual marks, it did not require the entire meet to be uploaded, which is a pretty big difference.

Then each week send result file to Direct Athletics and meet results get downloaded into the system...This can be done by the meet director or coach from NCAA school gets copy from meet director---should happen anyway and the NCAA coaches sends em off...

The coaches will need a copy of the original hy-tek files, not just the published results, and these files will have to have the 14 digit TFRRS codes attached to each athlete or it won't work.

So if the meet director doesn't jump through the right hoops, the coach/athletes get screwed.

What happens if a meet director promises they will have these codes in there, and then they don't? As things stand now, the coaches/athletes are screwed and there is no recourse.

Look, meet directors know about the process. If there's a meet this spring that doesn't submit marks to TFRRS, that meet will become a laughingstock of college running, and it will not be patronized in the future. Meet directors know this and will "jump through the right hoops." Why would they not? They would be eliminating their meal tickets for years to come if they didn't submit results properly.

Will there be errors? Yes, I can guarantee it. But there are errors with the current system as well. And on the whole, the new system will be much, much better. There will always be downsides, but the upsides of this system are monumentally bigger than the downsides. It's a no brainer.

But hey, maybe this year I won't report my taxes to the IRS on their proprietary forms. I'll just post them online in my own format, and I'll just report a few of the key numbers to the IRS. They'll love it.

technological gee-nee-us wrote:

Look, meet directors know about the process. If there's a meet this spring that doesn't submit marks to TFRRS, that meet will become a laughingstock of college running, and it will not be patronized in the future. Meet directors know this and will "jump through the right hoops." Why would they not? They would be eliminating their meal tickets for years to come if they didn't submit results properly.

Some schools are located in areas where their closest meets are those hosted by DIII (who are not required to use this system) or NAIA or JC schools where there might only be one or two teams that are DII or DI, so if the host school is not a school that normally uses DirectAthletics, it may not be worth it for them to spend hours entering TFRRS 14 digit codes in for these teams.

The DII or DI teams are not a "meal ticket" for these host schools. I can understand why these host schools won't want to jump through hoops. There should be recourse for the coaches to get these marks to count.

DI and DII schools should be free to attend any meet that meets the requirements for qualifying. We're a month out from the season starting. Most schools have their meet schedules set and have budgeted accordingly. It's unreasonable to expect them to change their schedules at this point.

If TFRRS had recourse for results to be uploaded using name matching instead of 14 digit proprietary codes, this would not be an issue.

I've spent the past year doing what they are trying to do (a giant database of college marks):

I seriously don't care that my database won't be the official POP list. I like being able to include marks from meets like the Pole Vault Summit or Boston Indoor Games that may not meet all of the NCAA requirements for qualifying (but are otherwise legit). I like having outdoor marks on outdoor lists and indoor marks on indoor lists (NCAA you can move some outdoor events indoors in bad weather, NAIA you can qualify for indoors in outdoor meets).

What bothers me is I know how to do what they are trying to do, and all they would have to do is have an option for name-matching instead of proprietary codes to identify athletes, and most of the problems that Jason and I have brought up would be eliminated. Schools could go to any meet they want, and they could easily upload the complete meet results themselves, they wouldn't have to rely on a meet director.

But that might cut into DirectAthletics bottom line...

Jason Byrne wrote:

I'm not about to get into a debate and I did not post this on the forum. But a lot of people are very concerned about this including timers, other web sites, online registration companies, coaches, etc. And please don't question my character or intentions if you don't know me. Of course, I am trying to run a business just like everyone else and am not fond of the idea of being locked out of it by a backdoor deal creating a monopoly. But anyone who knows me and has seen what I do and how much passion and love is behind it knows that I am a person of integrity and will always try to do what is right for the sport.

I posted it. It was sent to me and I work in a news-information business and thought it would reach its proper audience on LetsRun.

Jason didn't know I was doing that. I didn't mean to cause him harm, just thought the topic should be presented to others.

Sorry for causing any ill will.

Do you have any information on the Golfstat contract with the NCAA? Who pays who? What elements does it cover? Etc.?

thank you

10 years on now since this was first approached. How did things play out during the interim?

Personally, the High School Track and Field space is now in play.

fl.tfrrs.org, and much like the NCAA, the FHSAA mandates rule. Which State Association will be next?