Instead of adding athletes one at a time, you can add several (or all) athletes at once using the Import CSV tool. You will find the tool on the left-hand side of the Details page. 


Please note: The import CSV feature cannot be used if registration is enabled.


This guide is divided into a few sections below:




Creating the CSV file


You can create the CSV file by organizing/organising your athletes in an Excel spreadsheet. You will need the following columns (the ones in red are mandatory columns):

  • EntryId - All athletes and relay teams are numbered sequentially for each meet/meeting (see example below).
  • StartListId - All start lists can be numbered in groups with a unique number for each event list. This column is only relevant for mixed start lists and events with multiple age groups or relays.
  • RelayTeamName - The name of the relay team.
  • FirstName - The athlete's first name.
  • MiddleName - The athlete's middle name.
  • LastName - The athlete's last name.


Please capitalize the first letter only in first, middle, and last names, except where needed. Example: John Joseph McDonald.


  • Gender - The athlete's gender (the only options are Male or Female). Please see below if you would like to add a mixed relay or mixed-gender competition.
  • LicenseType (currently relevant only for World Athletics, World Para Athletics (SDMS), Greece, and the UK countries) - The federation's name (the only options are WorldAth, WAPara, GreekAth, EnglandWalesAth, ScotlandAth, NorthernIrelandAth, NewZealandAth, and TFRRS).
  • LicenseNumber (currently relevant only for World Athletics, Greece and the UK countries) - The athlete's license number.
  • CountryCode - Three-letter abbreviation of the country (e.g., USA, FRA, CHN, SWE). You can find the abbreviations for all countries here in the World Athletics column: https://admin.rosterathletics.com/admin/country-codes (link is available for users with access to Roster Athletics CMP).
  • SchoolGrade - The athlete's grade (only for school meets in the United States). You can find the grade's codes below.
  • DateOfBirth - The athlete's date of birth must be in the format of YYYY-MM-DD. Note: The date format is very important! You can use Excel's formatting functionality. 
  • YearOfBirth - The athlete's birth year in four digits (e.g., 1995).


Please do not add a fake date of birth (e.g., YYYY-01-01) for your athletes. If you only know the birth year, add it to the YearOfBirth column instead.


  • TilastopajaId - The athlete's ID for the Tilastopaja Database.
  • RelayId - If a RelayTeamName is added, then you can add the names of the individual runners on the team. Each name must have a number referring to the EntryID next to the Relay team name (see the example below).
  • EventStart - The start time of the event. This can be left blank and set after import in Roster Athletics. If added, the format must be YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS (e.g., 2020-02-14 15:55:00).
  • EventCode - Event code. See the list of event codes below. You can use the Roster Athletics event codes or complete event names (100m Hurdles or 3000m Steeplechase) as the EventCode.
  • EventStage - Add event stage, which can be Qualification, Preliminary, Heat, SemiFinal, or Final. This can be changed after the import. 
  • AgeGroup - Athlete's age group. Available age groups are listed below (you can select Auto if you want to automatically assign athletes to the age group based on date/year of birth). 
  • ClubName - The name of the club or school for which the athlete competes.
  • TeamName - The team's name (if it is a team competition).
  • TeamGender - The team's gender (the options are Male, Female or Mixed).
  • TeamName2 - If the meet/meeting includes several team competitions (optional).
  • TeamGender2 - If the meet/meeting includes several team competitions (optional). 
  • TeamName3 - If the meet/meeting includes several team competitions (optional).
  • TeamGender3 - If the meet/meeting includes several team competitions (optional).
  • BibNumber - Bib or start number for the athlete.
  • PersonalBest - The athlete's personal best. Dividers between cm and meter have to be a ".". The same goes for dividers between seconds and 1/100s. Dividers between hours and minutes and between minutes and seconds must be a ":".
  • SeasonBest - The athlete's season's best.
  • Title - The title for an event. Note that when specifying Title, a new event will be created with this title, even if another untitled event exists or otherwise specified in the same file.


Please note:

  • An example of a CSV file is attached to this article at the bottom of the page. 
  • If you use the PZLA or HyTek uploading functionality, use the CSV file directly from PZLA or HyTek
  • If you have a problem importing a HyTek file, double check if the file uses semicolon delimited entries.


Remember not to use special characters in the CSV file (i.e., , /comma/, ; /semicolon/ or /quotation mark/).

 

After all the athletes are saved in your Excel spreadsheet, save it to a CSV format.

Please note: You must save the file in the UTF-8 CSV format.



We have prepared a list of the most important things you must remember when preparing a CSV file for uploading entries. You can find it in the Checklist for importing CSV entries guide.



Importing the CSV file


Please note: if you already have a schedule set in the web admin platform for events and leave the EventStart field blank for those same events during the .csv upload, the previous schedule will be changed to default values. To keep the same schedule (or any specific schedule), please use the EventStart field in the .csv or change the schedule starts in the web admin platform after loading the .csv.


You can add the saved CSV file by clicking the Import start lists button and then choosing Auto or Roster format. You can also drag and drop the file.



Once you have imported a CSV file, you will see a new CSV Import menu option on the far left-hand side. This option will be visible until you change a meet/meeting, upload another file, click the Finished button, or reload the page.



After the import, you will see four different marks next to the names of the athletes or relay teams:

athlete/relay already exists in the Roster Athletics database, and an exact match has been found,
athlete/relay does not exist in the database but will be automatically created,
athlete/relay matches with one or multiple athletes/relays in the database but isn't an exact match, so you have to select the correct athlete or relay team,
there is a conflict, so you will need to select the athlete that is the correct athlete/relay to match with or remove (in case of a doublet). You must create a new one if the correct athlete/relay is not found.


Action is required by the user if there are yellow or red marks! See below.



If there is a conflict (yellow or red mark), you can try to manually find the athlete or relay team in the Roster database by clicking on the Select a profile from the list and selecting Search & select. You can also create a new athlete or relay team (with data from the CSV file) by clicking Select a profile from the list and selecting Create new athlete profile or Create relay team profile.


For example, you uploaded a CSV start list with two relay teams named "Roster Relay Team", but one team is number 1, and the other is number 2. For purposes of this example, let's say that there is only one "Roster Relay Team" relay team in the Roster database. Therefore, both of your teams will be matched to the existing "Roster Relay Team", resulting in a conflict. To resolve this conflict, you must create two new relay teams named "Roster Relay Team 1" and "Roster Relay Team 2". See the screenshot below. 



Remember to resolve all conflicts and save the start list by clicking the Import button. After this step, click the Start list button to go to the start list.

Please note: you cannot save the start list until all conflicts have been solved (i.e., selecting the correct athlete). 



Regular Relay Events

 

When specifying relay teams using the input file, follow these rules, which are shown in the example:

  • Relay definition line: set an EntryId line with StartListId, RelayTeamName, Gender, CountryCode, EventCode, EventStage, AgeGroup, ClubName (or school name), TeamName (can be assigned when importing).

  • In the following lines, list each athlete on this team on their own line. They must have the RelayId field set to the EntryId value above. This allows the association between the athlete and team.
    Please note: in the CSV file, relay members may NOT be in a line above the relay to which they are assigned.

  • Each athlete must have the same StartListId value as the team value set in the Relay definition line.

  • Each team that is competing in the same relay event must have the same StartListId set in the Relay definition line and following athletes lines. This groups each team into the same relay event. Otherwise, separate events will be created.

 


SPECIAL CASE for mixed-gender relay events (separate male and female teams in one event)

 

If you have an event where separate female and male teams are running in the same event, simply set the StartListId to be the same value for all the teams, and they will all appear in the Start list under the same event.



SPECIAL CASE for 4x400m MIX TEAM mixed gender relay teams and event (male and female athletes together on the same relay team)

 

The special 4x400m MIXED TEAM relay (or any other mixed team relay, 4x___m MIXED TEAM, with male and female athletes on the same team) designates a relay event where teams are comprised of both male and female athletes on the same relay team (e.g. Bella, Wendy, Steven, and Tom on one relay team). Specify in the CSV upload: 

  • EventCode is 4x400m MIXED TEAM (or other applicable 4x___m MIXED TEAM event code)

  • Gender for RelayTeamName row is Mixed

  • Each athlete is Male or Female as appropriate

  • Set the same RelayID for each athlete as described above for regular relays



SPECIAL CASE for mixed gender individual events


If you want to upload an event which is mixed gender, you will need to add Male or Female for each athlete and give all athletes the same Start List ID (StartListId). In doing so, the start list will be uploaded as a mixed event. See the example below.




Codes for EventCode, EventStage, and AgeGroup fields


Use the following codes for events and age groups:



Event Codes (EventCode)


Event name = code for the CSV file


Please note that either the full Event name or code notation can be used as the EventCode in the CSV file. See the upload sample files for examples on EventCode.


The full list of events and their names is available in the List of events guide.


40m=40
50m=50
55m=55
60m=60
80m=80
100m=100
100yd=100Y
120m=120
150m=150
200m=200
300m=300
400m=400
500m=500
600m=600
800m=800
1000m=1000
1200m=1200
1500m=1500
1600m=1600
One Mile=Mile
2000m=2000
3000m=3000
Two Miles=2M
5000m=5000
5km=5K
10000m=10000
10km=10K
15km=15K
Ten Miles=10M
20000m=20000
20km=20K
Half Marathon=HM
One Hour=1H
25000m=25000
25km=25K
30000m=30000
30km=30K
Marathon=Mar
100km=100K
24 Hours=24H
1500m Steeplechase=1500S
2000m Steeplechase=2000S
3000m Steeplechase=3000S
50m Hurdles=50H
60m Hurdles=60H
80m Hurdles=80H
100m Hurdles=100H
110m Hurdles=110H
200m Hurdles=200H
300m Hurdles=300H
400m Hurdles=400H
High Jump=HJ
Standing High Jump=HJS
Pole Vault=PV
Long Jump=LJ
Long Jump (Zone)=LJZ
Standing Long Jump=LJs
Triple Jump=TJ
Triple Jump (Zone)=TJZ
Standing Triple Jump=TJs
Shot Put=SP
Discus Throw=DT
Hammer Throw=HT
Javelin Throw=JT
Weight Throw=WT
1000m Race Walking=1000W
One Mile Race Walking=MileW
2000m Race Walking=2000W
3000m Race Walking=3000W
5000m Race Walking=5000W
10000m Race Walking=10000W
10km Race Walking=10W
20000m Race Walking=20000W
20km Race Walking=20W
30km Race Walking=30W
35km Race Walking=35K
50km Race Walking=50W
4x40m=4x40
4x40m MIX=4x40m MIXED TEAM
4x60m=4x60
4x60m MIX=4x60m MIXED TEAM
4x80m=4x80
4x80m MIX=4x80m MIXED TEAM
4x100m=4x1
4x100m MIX=4x100m MIXED TEAM
4x200m=4x2
4x200m MIX=4x200m MIXED TEAM
4x300m=4x3
4x300m MIX=4x300m MIXED TEAM
4x400m=4x4
4x400m MIX=4x400m MIXED TEAM
4x800m=4x8
4x800m MIX=4x800m MIXED TEAM
4x1500m=4x15
4x1500m MIX=4x1500m MIXED TEAM
4xMile=4xMile
Sprint Medley Relay=4xSPRMED
Distance Medley Relay=4xDISMED
Medley Relay=4xMED



Event stage (EventStage)


Possible values:

Qualification

Preliminary

Heat

SemiFinal

Final



Age groups (AgeGroup)


Age group = code for the CSV file


Age group = Auto (select if you want to automatically assign athletes to the age group based on date/year of birth)


Youth and senior
U8 = Meeting_8
U10 = Meeting_10
U12 = Meeting_12
U14 = Meeting_14
U16 = Meeting_16

U18 = Meeting_18

U20 = Meeting_20

U23 = Meeting_23

Senior = Senior


Master
M30 = Master_30
M35 = Master_35

M40 = Master_40

M45 = Master_45

M50 = Master_50

M55 = Master_55

M60 = Master_60

M65 = Master_65

M70 = Master_70

M75 = Master_75

M80 = Master_80

M85 = Master_85

M90 = Master_90

M95 = Master_95

M100 = Master_100



School
1st grade = School_1

2nd grade = School_2

3rd grade = School_3

4th grade = School_4

5th grade = School_5

6th grade = School_6

7th grade = School_7

8th grade = School_8

9th grade = School_9

10th grade = School_10

11th grade = School_11

12th grade = School_12

Frosh/Soph = School_Frosh_Soph

Junior Varsity = School_Junior_Varsity

Varsity = School_Varsity





Grades (SchoolGrade)


School grade = code for the CSV file


Kindergarten = K

1st grade = 1

2nd grade = 2

3rd grade = 3

4th grade = 4

5th grade = 5

6th grade = 6

7th grade = 7

8th grade = 8

9th grade = 9

10th grade = 10

11th grade = 11

12th grade = 12

Freshman = FR

Sophomore = SO

Junior = JR

Senior = SR



How to open a CSV file in Excel?

See this link: https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffice/forum/all/how-to-open-utf-8-csv-file-in-excel-without-mis/1eb15700-d235-441e-8b99-db10fafff3c2