Declare events for your athlete

When the coach opens a club meet for declarations, you choose the events your athlete would like to swim. The coach reviews your choices and builds the lineup. This guide walks through the form from start to finish.

On a high school team? The coach enters your athlete in events, so there's nothing to declare — see High School Meets.

Before you start

You can declare once the meet is Open for Declaration. You'll usually get an email titled Declarations are open for the meet, with a link straight to the form. Before it's open, the meet shows as Draft. Have your athlete's availability handy, and know whether they should be considered for relays.

Declare your athlete's events

1. Open the meet from your Schedule and click Declare Your Events. You'll land on the form for your athlete.
2. Check the bar at the top. It shows Declaration open, the meet's location and dates, and how long you have left (for example, Closes in 3 days). The countdown turns orange when you're within two days.
3. If the meet has sessions, mark each one Attend or Skip for your athlete. Every session needs an answer before you can submit. Skipping a session means no events are entered for it, and you can change your mind with Change to attending.
4. In each session your athlete is attending, pick their events. Choose from Available events and click Join to add one. Events you've picked move up to Entered, and you can take one back out with Remove.
5. If a session has relays, turn on Available for relays if your athlete should be considered. You don't pick a relay yourself — the coach builds the teams.
6. Add a Note to coach if there's something they should know, such as a travel constraint or an injury. It's optional, up to 500 characters.
7. Check the summary on the side. Total events declared shows how many events you've picked and, if the coach set one, the maximum.
8. Click Submit declaration.

You'll see Declaration saved for your athlete's name once it goes through. You don't need to enter seed times — the coach handles those.

More than one athlete

If you're linked to more than one athlete on the team, each of them has their own declaration, and you submit them one at a time.

Use the athlete card at the top of the form to switch. It lists each athlete with how many events they have. A check mark means that athlete's declaration is submitted, and a Draft badge means it isn't yet. If you switch with unsaved changes, you'll see Switch athletes? — switching discards those changes, so submit first.

Event limits

The coach may cap how many events an athlete can enter. A counter on each session shows progress, such as Events 3/4. When you hit the cap, the other events are greyed out and the session says Per-athlete limit reached. Remove an event to free a spot.

Events your athlete isn't eligible for

Events outside your athlete's age group or gender are hidden under an Ineligible events section. If you want them to swim one anyway, which is called swimming up, you'll see Enter a swim-up event? Click Enter anyway to continue.

A swim-up is a request, not a guarantee. It gets a small orange dot labeled Awaiting coach approval (swim-up), and the coach verifies it before the entry goes to the meet.

Change a declaration

Plans change. Reopen the form and the button reads Update declaration. Change anything and submit again. You can do this as often as you like until the deadline.

If you remove every event and submit, you'll be asked to confirm with Clear all event picks? — this clears everything you'd previously requested. If you leave the page with unsaved changes, your browser warns you first.

After you submit

The coach reviews each request and decides what goes in the lineup. Once the deadline passes and the meet is Closed, you can't make changes. If something comes up after that, contact the coach — they can reopen the meet or change entries themselves.

Your athlete's confirmed events then appear on the meet page, with their heat and lane once the coach finishes seeding.

Troubleshooting

I don't see Declare Your Events — the meet is still a Draft, or already Closed. Ask the coach.

It says the window hasn't opened yet — the coach set a start date. Declarations open on that date.

It says the window has closed — the deadline has passed. Ask the coach if they can reopen the meet.

I can't add an event — your athlete may have hit the event limit, or the event is in a session you marked Skip. Mark the session Attend or remove another event first.

I don't see my other athlete — they need to be linked to your account. See Linking your athlete.

It won't save — check your connection and try again. If you see a message that your selections are no longer valid, refresh the page — the coach may have changed the meet.