If you’re a swim club treasurer or secretary managing gala entries, you already know the drill: spreadsheets upon spreadsheets, chasing parents for payments, wrestling with Hy-Tek files, and praying you haven’t accidentally entered someone who doesn’t have qualifying times. Then results come back and you’re manually updating PBs in yet another spreadsheet.
April to June is competition season in UK swimming. County championships, regional qualifiers, open meets – the calendar fills up fast. And if you’re reading this in early March, you’re probably already feeling the pressure of entries opening soon.
This guide covers what every treasurer and competition secretary should know about managing gala entries, the tools clubs use today, and what’s coming to make this significantly less painful.
The Pain Points Nobody Talks About
Spreadsheet Chaos
Most clubs manage gala entries in Excel or Google Sheets. You’ve got one sheet for swimmer details, another for PBs, another for entry fees, another for who’s entered which events. Coaches pick swimmers, parents confirm (or don’t), and you’re left reconciling who’s actually going.
The worst part? Qualifying times. Counties publish standards in PDF format. You copy-paste them into your spreadsheet, then manually check every entry against every standard. Miss one, and you’re pulling a swimmer at entries check-in – or worse, turning up poolside and getting told they’re not eligible.
Chasing Payments
Entry fees vary by meet. Some are £8 per event, some £12. Some have relay fees. Some have late entry surcharges. You calculate the total for each swimmer, send WhatsApp messages to parents, chase the ones who don’t respond, then manually match bank transfers to entries.
If someone drops out, you’re issuing refunds. If someone adds events late, you’re chasing extra payments. It’s admin work that expands to fill all available time.
File Format Hell
Once entries are finalised, you need to export them in whatever format the meet organiser requires. Most UK meets use one of three systems:
- Hy-Tek (HY3 format) – The most common in the UK, particularly for county and regional championships
- SportSystems – Increasingly popular, especially in southern counties
- SDIF or Lenex – Less common but still required for some meets
If you get the file format wrong – wrong field order, wrong date format, incorrect swimmer IDs – the organiser emails back asking you to resubmit. You’ve now held up the entire meet seeding process.
Results and PB Updates
Results come back (usually as another file export). Now you need to update every swimmer’s PBs in your system. If you’re using spreadsheets, that’s manual data entry. If you’re using meet management software, it’s often a semi-manual import process. Modern club platforms can streamline this — compare entry management features on our GoMotion comparison, Club Organiser comparison, and pricing.
Miss updating a PB, and you might enter a swimmer into an event they’ve already qualified out of, or miss an opportunity for them to enter a higher-level meet.
Current Solutions: What Clubs Use Today
Hy-Tek Team Manager
Hy-Tek is the incumbent in UK swimming. It’s powerful, comprehensive, and has been around since the 1990s. Many county and regional bodies require Hy-Tek exports for entries.
Pros:
- Industry standard for UK meets
- Comprehensive meet management features
- Handles qualifying times, meet seeding, results import
- Offline desktop software (works poolside)
Cons:
- Desktop-only (Windows, limited Mac support via emulation)
- Steep learning curve for new committee members
- Expensive (£300+ for full version)
- File-based architecture means data lives on one person’s laptop
- No parent portal (coaches/treasurers manually enter everything)
Most clubs using Hy-Tek have one person who knows how to use it. When that person steps down from the committee, there’s a painful handover period.
SportSystems
SportSystems is a cloud-based alternative that’s gained traction in the past five years, particularly in southern England.
Pros:
- Web-based (accessible from any device)
- Modern interface
- Built-in parent portal for entries and payments
- Automatic results import from affiliated meets
Cons:
- Not universally accepted (some meets still require Hy-Tek files)
- Subscription pricing (£500-1,000/year depending on club size)
- Learning curve for clubs migrating from Hy-Tek
- Requires internet access (can be problematic at some pools)
SportSystems is a significant improvement over Hy-Tek for clubs that can afford it and whose local competition calendar supports it. But cost is a barrier for smaller clubs.
Spreadsheets + Manual Admin
Many smaller clubs still do everything in Excel or Google Sheets. It’s free, flexible, and everyone knows how to use it.
Pros:
- Zero software cost
- Complete flexibility
- No lock-in
- Works offline
Cons:
- Entirely manual process (no automation)
- Error-prone (typos, formula mistakes)
- Time-intensive for treasurers and secretaries
- No parent self-service
- File format exports require manual template work
This approach works for clubs with small squads (under 50 swimmers) and limited competition schedules. Beyond that, the admin burden becomes unsustainable.
What Swim Clubs Actually Need
Having spoken to treasurers, competition secretaries, and coaches at clubs across the UK, here’s what an ideal gala entry system would look like:
- Qualifying time database built-in – County, regional, and national standards automatically updated
- Automatic eligibility checking – System flags ineligible entries before submission
- Three-way workflow – Coaches select swimmers, parents confirm and pay, treasurer submits file
- File format flexibility – Export to Hy-Tek, SportSystems, SDIF, Lenex as needed
- Automatic PB updates – Results import updates swimmer times automatically
- Payment integration – Entry fees calculated automatically, collected via Direct Debit
- Mobile-friendly – Coaches can select swimmers poolside, parents can confirm on phones
- Handover-proof – New committee members can pick it up without extensive training
No current solution ticks all these boxes. Hy-Tek is powerful but not accessible. SportSystems is accessible but expensive and not universally compatible. Spreadsheets are accessible and cheap but entirely manual.
How Swimly Will Solve This (Module 5 Preview)
We’re building Module 5 (Competition & Meet Management) for Swimly in Q2 2026. It’s designed specifically for UK swim clubs, based on the pain points above.
Here’s what it will do:
Qualifying Time Database County, regional, and national standards (Swim England) built into the system. Updated automatically when new standards are published. Coaches see which swimmers are eligible for which events before they start selecting.
Three-Role Workflow
- Comp Sec creates the gala – Imports standards, sets entry deadline, specifies file format required
- Coach selects swimmers – System highlights eligible swimmers, flags those without qualifying times
- Parent confirms and pays – Receives notification, confirms entries, pays via Direct Debit with 50p convenience fee
File Generation Export to Hy-Tek HY3, SportSystems, SDIF, or Lenex. The system handles formatting differences automatically. You specify the format the meet organiser requires, hit export, and you’re done.
Automatic PB Updates Import results files from meets. System automatically updates PBs for every swimmer, flags new qualifying times achieved, and notifies parents of improvements.
Payment Reconciliation Entry fees calculated automatically (per-event pricing, relay fees, late entry surcharges). Parents pay via existing Direct Debit mandate (no chasing). Treasurer sees real-time payment status for every entry.
Swim England Data Import Swimly supports file-based import from the Swim England portal, keeping membership status and competition times in sync. You export from the SE portal and upload to Swimly. Same data, simple process, once or twice per season. Live API integration is on the roadmap if clubs prioritise it.
Module 5 isn’t built yet. We’re architecting it in March 2026, with development planned for April-June. RTW Monson Swimming Club (Mike’s home club) will pilot it in July-August ahead of the new season.
What You Can Do Now
If you’re using spreadsheets:
- Create a qualifying times database now (copy-paste from county websites)
- Set up a template for entry fee calculations (per-event pricing)
- Document your file export process (future you will thank you)
If you’re using Hy-Tek:
- Document everything in a handover guide for the next committee member
- Consider cloud backup of your Hy-Tek database (it’s just a file)
- Test your results import process before competition season starts
If you’re considering SportSystems:
- Check compatibility with your local competition calendar
- Calculate total cost (subscription + setup + training time)
- Run a pilot with one squad before rolling out club-wide
If you want Swimly Module 5: Join the waitlist at swimly.uk. We’re prioritising clubs that sign up early, with a focus on RTW Monson’s local area (Kent, Sussex, Surrey) for initial rollout.
Module 5 will be available as an add-on to the core Swimly platform (Modules 1-4: membership, billing, attendance, compliance). Pricing will be announced in April 2026, but we’re targeting affordability for clubs of all sizes – significantly below SportSystems pricing.
Competition Season Starts Soon
If you’re a treasurer or competition secretary reading this in March 2026, you’ve got about four weeks before county entries open. That’s your window to get systems in place, update qualifying times, and brief coaches on the process.
Gala admin doesn’t have to be painful. With the right systems, it can be efficient, accurate, and actually give you time back. That’s what we’re building.
About the author: Mike Tempest is a swim parent at RTW Monson Swimming Club and founder of Swimly. He’s spent too many evenings reconciling gala entry spreadsheets and is determined to fix this for every club in the UK.