Swimming Databases

Why are there multiple swimming databases?
What is the purpose of each database?

 
By far the most frequently asked questions about the Potomac Valley Swimming website concern swimming databases. Questions incude why there are more than one database? What are their purposes? Why are certain swims not in a certain datbase? How does incorrect or old information show up in the database?

This page will attempt to answer those questions by describing all the various databases (there are three of them), their purpose, and where they get their data.

USA Swimming SWIMS Database

The USA Swimming SWIMS database is the official database of USA Swimming. It is the registration database for USA Swimming and contains all sanctioned swims. It is loaded by the LSC that sanctioned or hosted the meet.

This Database Contains
This Database Does Not Contain
Purpose of this Database

The PVS Database - TMOnline

The Team Manager Online database is Potomac Valley's locally-maintained database. It's purpose is to give PVS swimmers, parents, and coaches easy access to times of Potomac Valley Swimmers. It is not the official USA-S database, so it cannot be used as proof of time for meet entries. This database is loaded from post-meet databases, and is subject to any errors (in names, times, etc) that are in those databases. It does not automatically track changes in team affiliation, although all swims are recorded to the team listed in the meet database. A Frequently Asked Questions has been written that explains a lot about the capabilities and limitations of this database.

This Database Contains
This Database Does Not Contain
Purpose of this Database

The Zones Top Ten Database

The Zones Top Ten database is used to track times for the selection of the PVS Short Course Zone team. It contains times for the current short course season only. It does not contain swims or swimmers that are not eligible for the zone team (e.g. national meet qualifiers).

This Database Contains
This Database Does Not Contain
Purpose of this Database

If you've made it this far, we hope you have a better understanding of the multiple databases, what they do and how they work. Read the instructions and FAQs associated with each database to find out more. The Internet allows us to provide near instant access to all this data.

It takes multiple people in PVS to maintain all these databases for your use. And, each database has a different primary PVS volunteer that is responsible for its care and upkeep.