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NinjaWorks Help Book
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NinjaWorks Guidebook

For

FINA Competitions

Table of Contents

Section                                                                                Page

  1. Summary                                                                                          3
  2. NinjaWorks Login and Terminology                                                  4
  3. General Competition Information                                                  5
  4. Setting Up Waves                                                                          6
  5. Athlete Registration and Upload                                                          8
  6. Editing Athlete Information and Run Order                                        12
  7. Adding Obstacle Names                                                                15
  8. Setting Division Specific Time Limits                                                17
  9. Using the Timer and Recording Athlete Runs                                19
  10. Editing Recorded Run Information                                                23
  11. Athlete ID Help                                                                        26
  12. FINA League Specific Training                                                27
  13. Adjustments for Hardware Timing System                                28

Summary:

To Run a FINA Competition in NinjaWorks:

At any time, once your competition has been added to NinjaWorks:

  1. Confirm or change your date using the Summary subtab
  2. Add or change your registration link using the Summary subtab

At least 2-3 days before your competition:

  1. Set up your Waves
  2. Set up your Obstacles
  3. Set up your preliminary Division time limits.

After registration closes, but before your competition:

  1. Complete athlete registration upload sheet with required information.
  2. Search for and fill in any missing NinjaWorks ID numbers
  3. Upload your athlete registration sheet (as a CSV file)
  4. Add individual athlete registrations (those with no NinjaWorks, or late registrations)
  5. Adjust any errant athlete information (incorrect ID numbers, divisions, waves, etc).
  6. Randomize run orders

Day of competition:

  1. Activate your competition using the Summary subtab
  2. Activate the first wave using the Wave subtab
  3. Go to Timer and confirm that the settings are correct.
  4. Switch to the Line Manager and use Next to add the first runner to the Timer.
  5. Switch back to Timer and start the run.
  6. Toggle between Timer and Line Manager until all runs are complete.
  7. If runs need editing, click on Runs on the black bar to edit.
  8. Deactivate the wave when it is complete.
  9. Adjust the next division’s time limits, if necessary. (under the Obstacle subtab)
  10. Activate the next wave.
  11. Repeat steps 3-10 as needed to complete the competition.
  12. Deactivate your competition using the Summary subtab (not a mandatory step)

NinjaWorks Log In and Terminology

When you log in to NInjaWorks, you will see a Welcome Page.  You will see a black bar across the top.  This will be referred to throughout this packet as the “black bar.”  This contains topics you will need for the day of your competition.

After you find your comp (see General Competition Information), under the name of your competition on the main page, you will see a list of blue subtabs headings.  These will be referred to throughout this packet as “subtabs.”  These contain topics you will need to set up your competition.

For most menus and pages in NinjaWorks, use the back button on your browser to return to the page where your subtabs are highlighted for use.  If you get stuck, click on League on the black bar and click on your gym to get back to your comp (several pages require information to be re-submitted, so returning to the main page through the black bar is sometimes the best option).

General Competition Information

To access your competition:

Click on League on the black bar.  Find your gym and click on it.  This will show your FINA competitions.  Choose the one that you want to access.  (Note: Speed and Endurance comps are separate in the system, as they are judged and recorded separately). This will bring you to the main page for your competition.

The tab on the homepage for your comp is the Summary subtab.

The Summary subtab will allow you to:

To perform any of the above actions, click on Edit on the bottom of the Summary page.  

On the following page, scroll down to see:

You can add your registration link (the box will already be checked to show the link on our website), activate your competition, and/or adjust the dates of your comp from this page.

When you are finished making changes to your comp, click the Update button on the bottom of the page to save your changes.

Setting Up Waves

Waves determine how you choose to run your comp.  You typically activate one wave at a time (although you can activate more than one if you choose), and the athlete names in that Wave will be loaded into the Line Manager.

You may set your Waves in any way that suits your comp (common Waves are: age group specific (7U, 9U), split age groups (7U group 1, 7U group 2), or combined (7U/9U).  You can also just call them Wave 1, Wave 2, etc.

To set up your Waves, click on the Waves subtab.  

Click on Edit on the bottom of the page.

You will now see this page:

Enter the Wave information for your first wave and click Update (or hit return on your keyboard).

 

NOTE: DO NOT USE COMMAS IN YOUR WAVE NAMES (this will affect your athlete upload).  Slashes, dashes, and all alpha-numeric characters are fine.

You may set up your Waves however you choose for your comp. Most gyms set them according to divisions, but you are free to combine divisions, split divisions, or set up your waves in whatever way makes sense for your competition.

Repeat until all Waves have been entered.

Once you are finished, your Waves page should look similar to this:

Note: Your start and end times for the waves do NOT need to be exact.  But the waves will be listed in order of start time.  If the same start time is listed for all waves, they will be listed in alphabetical order.

Once your competition status (on the Summary subtab) is changed to Active, this is what the Waves page will look like:

To activate a Wave, click on the gray Inactive button to toggle between Active and Inactive.  You may activate more than one wave at a time, but know that the names for all the activated waves will show up in the Line Manager together.

Athlete Registration and Upload

Uploading the Athlete Registration List

You can use any registration platform for athlete registration that you choose.  You will need the following information for each competitor:

(Birthdate is only required for Sectionals or Australian registration, and is NOT uploaded into NinjaWorks)

Athlete information should be loaded into a spreadsheet with the above categories as the column names.

NOTE: NO INFORMATION LISTED IN THE SPREADSHEET SHOULD CONTAIN A COMMA.  This will affect the upload of the information.  

No other athlete information may be present on the upload document than the categories listed above or the document will not be accepted.

Divisions for FINA are listed under the Divisions subtab for your comp if you need the full list.

They include the athlete’s age group and male /female listing.  Divisions on the spreadsheet must match the Divisions listed in NinjaWorks.

Correct: 9U Female

Incorrect: 9u F

Incorrect: F/9U

The Wave listed for each athlete on the upload sheet must match EXACTLY the Waves that you created for your competition (including capitals, spaces, punctuation, etc. - feel free to copy and paste from NinjaWorks to ensure accuracy).

The Athlete ID is a 6 digit NinjaWorks Athlete ID number specific to each athlete.  NinjaWorks Athlete IDs are NOT league specific, so FINA can accept any current NinjaWorks number.  All athletes listed on the upload sheet MUST have a NinjaWorks Athlete ID.

If an athlete does not have a NinjaWorks ID, they can register for a free one at timing.ninjaworks.com.  If you have an athlete who registered without a number, and they cannot register for a new one in time for your comp, you must remove them from your upload list and manually register them for your comp as a new competitor (see below).   If an athlete cannot remember their NinjaWorks ID, you can search for their number (see Athlete ID Help).

Once all information has been entered and checked (briefly look over to ensure no obvious mistakes or mis-spellings), save or download the spreadsheet as a CSV file.

To upload your CSV file:

Click on the Competitors subtab.

Scroll to the bottom of the page and click on Edit.  

The page will now have a green button that says Upload Competitors.

Click on the green Upload Competitors button.

This will take you to the upload page. Scroll down to see the following:

Click on Choose File, and pick the CSV file you saved or downloaded.  Confirm that you want it uploaded in the same order as the sheet (you can randomize it later if you choose), and click Upload.

If there are any issues with your sheet, an error message will show up for each mistake.  Read what the error is, and correct it on the original spreadsheet.  Resave the spreadsheet as a CSV file and attempt the upload again.  Repeat this process until all errors have been fixed, and the competitors are uploaded into NinjaWorks.

Registering a Single Athlete

To register a single athlete, click on Go To Registration on the bottom of the Competitors subtab.

Note: once you’re in Registration, there is no easy way to go back to your comp without starting over at League on the black bar.  So we recommend adding your single athlete registrations last.

Now click on the green button in the upper right corner that says “Register New Competitor.”

That button will take you to this page:

If the competitor already has a NinjaWorks ID, enter their number in the box under “Returning Athletes.”

You can also click on “Search by Athlete Name.”  Enter the athlete’s name.  Find them on the search results, and click the blue Select button next to their name.

To register a competitor who is NEW to NinjaWorks and does not have an Athlete ID (and cannot create their own account at timing.ninjaworks.com), click on the green Create New Athlete Profile on the bottom of the Registration page.  If you are unsure if an athlete has an NinjaWorks ID or not, use the Athlete Search function (see Athlete ID Help) BEFORE registering for a new ID.

Enter the athlete information (Capitals and Lowercase letters - check your spelling!) and click Create.  The page will now show them as a competitor with their new 6-digit Athlete ID at the top of the page.

Choose the athlete’s Division and Wave, whether they have physically checked in, and if you want to register them for the start of the wave or the end of the wave and click Register.

Suggestion: If you are hosting Speed AND Endurance, individually register all athletes for one of the comps after you have uploaded your initial athlete list.  Then add these athletes back to the original list with their new numbers to create a new complete upload list for the second comp.

Editing Athlete Information and Run Orders

Editing Individual Athlete Information and Manually Adjusting/Setting Run Orders

Once your competitors are uploaded, you can edit much of the information for each athlete, including adjusting the run order, or changing waves,

Click on the Competitors subtab, and then click Edit at the bottom of the page.

You will now be able to edit all athletes that have been uploaded.

To edit an individual athlete, click on the Edit button next to the athlete’s name.

You will now see this page:

On this page, you can

Edit the athlete's Division

Edit the athlete's Wave

Edit the athlete's run order within the Wave

Remove the athlete from the run order (will not show when names are uploaded to Line Manager).

Note - the athlete name may NOT be changed.  Any misspelled names must be submitted to NinjaWorks for the correction. Additionally, do NOT use the Change Athlete ID button to switch to a different athlete.  This will negatively affect the data recording.  Delete the incorrect athlete, and add the new one as a new competitor.

When you are done making changes to the individual athlete, click Update at the bottom of the page.

When you are done making changes to all individual athlete information, click the “Done Editing Competitors’ button on the bottom of the Competitors page to save all changes.

NOTE: Any changes to run order will NOT be saved unless you click “Done Editing Competitors.”

Editing Full Competitor List Information and Randomizing Run Orders

After clicking Edit on the button on the bottom of the Competitors page, click the More Actions button on the top right side.

This brings up the following choices:

To randomize all the names in the run order (they WILL stay in their respective Waves), click the Select All Competitors button (lower left), and then click on the yellow button that says “Randomized Selected Competitors in Run Order.”  

You can also add athletes to the run order (if they aren’t added already), delete athletes from the run order, or delete athletes from the competition.  Simply select the specific athletes you want to choose, and click the desired action.

When you are done making changes, click “Done Editing Competitors” button on the bottom of the page to save your changes.

Adding Obstacle Names

You are not required to add the names of your obstacles into the system, as they will automatically populate with “Obstacle 1, Obstacle 2, etc.”  However, it is HIGHLY recommended that you do so for scoring purposes.

To add an obstacle, click on the Obstacle subtab.

All of the Divisions will be displayed like this:

To add an obstacle, click on Edit.

That will bring up a page that looks like this:

Enter the name of the obstacle, and then click Update or hit Return on your keyboard.

Repeat as many times as necessary until all Obstacles have been named.

Assuming that many of your obstacles will be the same or similar for your other divisions, you can use the Copy button (next to the Edit button) to copy this set of obstacles to another division.

Choose to which division you want to copy those obstacles, and click Copy Obstacles. To make edits to the obstacle list once it’s been copied, click the Edit button for the specific division you wish to edit.  Click Update at the bottom of the page once you’re done editing to save your changes.

Setting Division Specific Time Limits

You are now able to pre-set the time limits for each division, meaning that you can easily integrate two divisions into the same wave without needing to manually adjust the timer for athletes in different divisions.

Time Limits must be set BEFORE the start of your event. They can be adjusted at any time.

For Speed competitions, we HIGHLY recommend using the finisher times from the previous division to set the course time limit for the next division.  For example, use the finisher times from the 7U division to set the course time limit for the 9U division.  So although you must set the course times before the competition, we want you to adjust them as necessary to create the best possible competition atmosphere.

To add division time limits, click on the Obstacles subtab

The obstacle lines will show this message:

Click on the Edit button on the right side of the line, or the red “Must Be Specified” button to  to bring up the edit menu for the obstacle and division.

On the right side of the division line you will see the box for the time limit set.

Enter the time limit that you want for each division, and then click Update at the bottom of the page.

The timer will now automatically change to reflect the time limit for each individual athlete’s assigned division when they are uploaded from the Line Manager.

FINA STRONGLY recommends adding additional time to the Speed course limits for 13U Female, Young Adult Female, Amateur Female, Masters Female, and Top Flight Female.  This feature will allow you to add this time without having to manually adjust the timer based on the athlete’s division.

See the Course Rules for more specific information about additional time for specific divisions.

Using the Timer and Recording an Athlete’s Run

To record an athlete’s run using the timer, first activate the specific Wave (see Setting Up Your Waves)

Then click on the Timer on the Black Bar, and choose your specific competition.

That will bring up the following screen:

To confirm the settings for your comp, click on the Settings icon on the upper right corner.  That will bring you to the Settings page for the Timer.  

Confirm that the Timer is counting Down, and confirm that the Fail mode is set to Continue; this is how we can continue to score points in FINA even after an obstacle fail. Leave the obstacle point at 1.

Use the Timer button in the upper right corner to return to the main timer page. (If everything has been previously set, you can go straight to the Line Manager page from the top black bar).

Click on the Line button on the top left corner to toggle to the Line Manager.

The Line Manager page will look like this

Click on the blue Next button next to the name of the next runner to load them into the Line Manager.  You do NOT need to pick the next person in line - you can skip over any athlete as necessary.  

The athlete list is set to perpetually run, to allow for two runs for Speed competitions, and any necessary re-runs.  The name of the athlete who just ran will cycle down to the bottom of the run order, and you can progress through the names as needed (once for Endurance, and twice for Speed).  NinjaWorks will automatically take the best time of each athlete, so there is no limit as to how many runs an athlete can register.

Once you have added the name to the Line Manager, click the Timer button to go back to the Timer page.  The name you chose should now show on the top of the Timer page.

If

If you load in a new name and the previous runner’s name is still showing, click the blue Reset button.  This will reset the Timer and the current athlete’s name should show up.

 To start the athlete’s run, click the large green Start button.

(We recommend counting down 3, 2, 1 Go.  Click the green button when you say Go).

Record the outcome of EACH OBSTACLE ATTEMPT using the yellow Complete or red Fail buttons.

Be sure to record the LAST obstacle completion using the yellow Complete button.  Then use the gray End Run button to stop the timer.  The official time for the athlete will revert to the last completed obstacle time.  There is no rush to end the run, but be sure to pay close attention to accurately record the last obstacle completion.

At the end of the run, this will be the final screen:

The yellow Obstacles number is the total number of successfully completed obstacles.  The Obstacles Seen is the total number of obstacle results recorded.  So for the above athlete, she completed 5 of 7 obstacles, and the last obstacle was logged as completed at 24.79 seconds.

In the instance of a False Start, simply end the run and then click the blue Reset button.  As long as you have not loaded another name into the Line Manager, the current athlete’s name will stay on the Timer and you can record another run.  

To load the next athlete, click on the Line button in the upper left corner and use the blue Next button to load the next athlete.  Use the Timer button in the upper left corner to return to the Timer page.  You can click the blue Reset button to ensure that the correct athlete name is displayed.  Repeat as necessary until all athletes have completed their designated number of runs.

Editing Recorded Run Information

All athlete run information is stored under the Runs heading on the top black bar.

Click on Runs on the black bar, and choose your competition.

You will see many of the runs with a warning that an athlete has more than one run recorded.  This is fine.  FINA uses a more than one run format for Speed, and allows re-runs in certain instances.  This is normal for our type of competitions.

Ensure that you are looking at runs in the correct wave.

To edit an athlete’s run, locate the run that needs to be edited.  There are two icons on the right side of each run listed.

To edit basic information (athlete name, basic score, or ending obstacle time), click on the first icon - the box with the link through it.  That will bring up the following menu:

IF YOU ARE USING THE TIMER ON THE CLOUD, AND NOT THE HARDWARE TIMING SYSTEM, THE RESULT WILL SAY FAIL.  DO NOT CHANGE THIS.  THE ATHLETE RESULT IS CORRECT.  This will only change for gyms using the NinjaWorks Hardware Timing System. (See - Adjustments for Hardware)

You can manually change the total obstacle count or ending time.  It is much easier to just change the obstacle count than adjust the time, so try to ensure that you are correctly recording the last obstacle (if nothing else).  This will ensure that the ending time is correct and does not need to be changed.  Once you have made the adjustments, click Update to immediately change the results.

To adjust individual obstacle results, or to view the individual button presses, click on the three lines next to the athlete’s run on the Runs page.  That will bring up this menu:

If you are able to take the time to adjust the individual button presses for a run, that is optimal.  This allows the public to see an accurate result of which obstacles were cleared, and which were failed for each athlete. You can adjust the individual obstacle result using the edit button next to each obstacle.  

If you missed an obstacle, you can add an event using the green Add Event button in the upper right corner.  Again, just adjusting the obstacle count is much easier and faster.  But if you are able to take the time to update the run details, the results will be much more clear for the athletes and spectators to view.

Choose Show Button Presses if you want to see where all the button presses occurred.  This will be helpful if you are unsure as to which press was correct, or need the correct end time for an obstacle.

Athlete ID Help

Each athlete within NinjaWorks has a specific assigned ID number.  This ID number should be used for ALL competitions that use the NinjaWorks timing system.  The number is specific to the athlete, not the league or competition.

To search for a specific Athlete ID number, click on League on the top black bar, and choose Athlete Search.

This will take you to a page where you can search by Athlete First Name, Last Name, or Athlete ID.

Type in as much information as you have, and click Search.  The names that are shown will reflect the closest spelling to the name you entered. (If you don’t see what you’re looking for, try searching by only first name or only last name to increase results).  The results will show each athlete’s previous FINA competitions, or if they have competed in a different league as well as their specific Athlete ID.  Find the specific athlete you are looking for, and their Athlete ID will be listed next to their name.  Use that ID for any and all FINA competitions.  

If an athlete has multiple numbers listed, submit the multiple numbers to info@ninjaworks.com and ask for the accounts to be merged.  NinjaWorks will combine the information into a single number and the athlete must use that number going forward.

FINA League Specific Training

FINA provides a training platform for Partner Gyms to practice using NinjaWorks.  Choose League from the top black bar, and scroll down to FINA-TRAINING and choose competitions.

This will bring you to a page with mock competitions and competitors where you can practice all of the steps listed in this handbook.  All actions taken in the TRAINING system will not affect the outcome of any regular season FINA competitions.

You can create a new competition, or use one of the existing ones to practice.

Adjustments for the Hardware Timing System

There are only a few adjustments necessary for the NinjaWorks hardware system.

  1. The buzzer should be the last obstacle completion point.  This means that you don’t record a clear / fail for the last obstacle - the buzzer press will record the final finish time and point.
  2. Ensure that there is adequate space between the final obstacle and the buzzer to have time to stop the run in the event of a fail on the final obstacle (so the athlete doesn’t press the buzzer by accident).  Alternatively, you can change the final buzzer point to 0, and manually award the final point through the remote.
  3. Set the timer Fail setting to Cont1.  This is the Continue setting that you will need for FINA runs.