Planning a regatta season
A step-by-step walkthrough for coaches and captains preparing squads for a competition season - from event setup through lineup selection.
A regatta season involves more coordination than regular training sessions: entries close weeks in advance, lineups need locking in early, and athletes need certainty about their schedules. Here's how to manage it end to end in Rowbot.
This guide assumes your club's squads and groups are already configured. If not, set them up first under Groups and positions.
1. Set up event types for competitions
Regatta events look different in the schedule from regular outings. Create a dedicated event type so they're clearly distinguishable.
Go to Manage > Event types and tap + New type.
Name it something like "Regatta" or "Competition" and choose a distinct colour - red or gold works well to make them stand out.
Save the type. You'll select it when creating each competition event.
2. Create the season's competition events
Enter all the regattas on the calendar as early as possible so athletes can plan around them.
Go to Schedule and tap + New event.
Fill in the date, start time, and location. Set the Type to your "Regatta" event type.
Under Advanced, enable Lineups and optionally RSVP. For competitions you'll often want to control who attends rather than accepting open sign-ups, so consider leaving RSVP off and managing attendance through lineups alone.
If the regatta is only for a specific squad, link it to that Group so it appears only in their schedule.
Repeat for each competition in the season.
You can set Require signup on competitions to gate access to the event detail until a coach confirms the athlete's place - useful for entries with strict crew limits.
3. Assess athlete availability
Before finalising lineups, gather availability across the season.
- Ask athletes to mark their availability from the Schedule tab in the app. Each athlete can mark themselves available, unavailable or uncertain for any date range.
- View a consolidated availability overview from Coach > Squad availability. Filter by squad to see which athletes are free for each competition date.
- Use this view to identify availability conflicts before you start composing crews.
4. Compose and publish lineups
Open the regatta event from the schedule and go to the Lineup tab.
Tap + Add position to define the seats in the boat (or crew roles for sculling). You can use a template if your club has standard crew configurations saved.
Drag athletes into each position. The availability status appears next to each name - a yellow warning shows if an athlete has marked themselves uncertain or unavailable.
Add any coach notes to explain selection decisions. These are visible only to coaches and committee.
Once the crew is confirmed, tap Publish lineup. Athletes receive a push notification that the lineup is live.
Publishing a lineup notifies all athletes in the event's group. Only publish when the crew is confirmed - unpublishing and re-publishing sends another notification.
5. Track lead-up training
In the weeks before a regatta, use session attendance to monitor which athletes are completing the preparation programme.
- Mark attendance after each relevant training session from the Attendance tab on the session detail page.
- From Coach > Athletes, filter by squad to see each athlete's attendance rate over the lead-up period.
- Flag athletes who are missing training ahead of a competition and follow up directly.
6. On race day
On the day of the regatta, use the event page to:
- Confirm final attendance - mark athletes as 'attended' as they arrive.
- View the published lineup at a glance from the Lineup tab.
- Share the event detail link with parents or supporters who need the location.
7. Post-regatta review
After the regatta, capture results and any notes while they're fresh.
- Update the event status to Completed from the event detail page.
- Add results or notes to the event's Coach notes field.
- Review athlete data over the competition period in Coach > Athletes to inform selections for the next regatta.
Repeating the pattern
For a full season with multiple regattas, repeat steps 2-7 for each competition. Creating all the events at the start of the season lets athletes and coaches see the full picture and plan their commitments early.