In a world in which we can access the internet from just about anywhere, why is there no interface between USAT and race directors regarding athlete membership?
I was at a race this past weekend and the card I brought was actually a year old (I accepted full responsibilty for presenting an expired card). It still had my number and I knew I had paid my dues for this year, but I still ended up forking over the $10.00 for a one day pass. That really upset me. I’m not upset that I presented an expired card and had to pay the $10, but I am upset that I need a card at all. Why isn’t there step in the sign-up process to enter your USAT membership number?
IMHO it seems that this is a bit of a money grab by USAT. Keep the receipt for a year and you get a discount on next year’s membership? What if I don’t want to join next year? And who is going to keep a $10 receipt until the following year???
I did the same thing but fortunately the person checking the cards knew my name and let me slide without paying the $10 fee.
Ultimately it is our responsibility to bring our correct cards.
They could do an electronic check of membership before the race and clear those pre-registered. USA Swimming does this before meets. Run a membership check prior to the event and clear those that are members. it is not a big deal with internet the way it is today, etc.
I’ve said before it would be a fairly simple program that could take membership / race results electronically to and from USAT and race directors. As a person who makes a living implementing technology it’s frustrating for me to have to wait for data that I know should only take a few seconds to go from race director to result website then ultimately to the sports governing body. I think it boils down to spending money on something they don’t see having a lot of value vs. what they are spending money on.
On the other side of the coin as a person who has to work with people like you who feel that because they didn’t bother to live up to their end of the responsibility that someone else is to blame. I hear almost daily that someone is pissed off because there is no software to tell them that they should act like a responsible adult or pay an extra 10 dollars for being a knuckle head.
Sorry to rant a bit but cmon you’re being a little silly aren’t you?
I see your point, but it seems to me that the governing body should join the 21st century. I accept full responsibility for my own actions. A bit of grumbling, perhaps, but I am not blaming anyone but myself for bringing an expired card. I know looked like a tool in front of the people who were in line behind me. ESPECIALLY after I presented my card and it was expired.
I am not complaining about paying the money because I presented an expired card. I am complaining that USAT appears to be wasting money on the use of a card at all. I have no idea about the economics involved, so I won’t try to generalize about costs, but wouldn’t it be easier for USAT to interface directly with the race directors through active.com (who most people use to sign up for races) simply to add the USAT number into the registration process?
It is fairly annoying that there’s all this hullabaloo over checking USAT numbers and such and recording them, yet there seems to be no way to correlate results/rankings by our USAT numbers. Every year I have races that don’t show up under my, which I have to track down, report to USAT,
and get corrected. It has always been due to my name being recorded different ( Chris vs. Christopher ) or the town not matching ( Billing and Home address being different ). If we all have unique USAT numbers, wtf does spelling of my name cause results to be misrecorded?
There are tons of races that do not use active.com. One reason to make you present your card and ID at each race is that it helps to ensure that the person racing is actually the person who signed up. Otherwise, it’d be much easier to sell race entries, etc…
True. There ARE races that don’t use active.com. This was just an example.
It makes me wonder if there’s a way for the registration site to forward a field completed by the athlete to USAT for USAT to subsequently verify and return to the RD. If this were possible, then the only time you’d need a card was to take advantage of the discounts USAT membership has secured for the participating members.
Why not a placce in the registration sites to enter and keep your USAT number (and expiration date) on file? THey can keep our credit cards on file for years - why not the USAT number?
there is. just not to the degree that you are suggesting would eliminate the issue you ran into.
for the moment…the interface is us as athletes remembering to bring our personal ID and USAT card to registration for that verification. it is a requirement placed on us. if we bring it and are not asked to show it that is one thing. but we should expect to have to show those ID’s at every sanctioned race. it is no different than remembering to bring your helmet. that is the process and until we are notified otherwise…will be the process. it simply is what it is. why should you be upset about a known process?
asking for implimentation of a higher level of interface between events and USAT suggests that all RD’s are in a position to easily follow through with that process. in reality, most RD’s put on events as a sidebar to their primary occupation and utilize a crew of volunteers to get most things handled. the interface you ask for, while possible, is more than likely not yet probable across the board.
have you in the meantime, sent a copy in some fashion of your ID and your USAT card (which you can print off from the USAT site) to the RD and/or USAT…which might get you your $ back?
I thought I did as well. I was brought back down to earth after my little grumbling to the USAT rep at the race on Saturday when I showed the card and it was expired. I definitely looked like an ass!
I keep the card (albeit it was expired) in my wallet just in case of an emergency and someone needs a quick 10% discount at a Comfort Inn :-). But I have never been randomly asked for the card at any time other than the three times a year I race in USAT events. Seems like the card is a waste of time and effort by USAT. That is, unless the president of USAT’s brother has the card making concession (just kidding).
Bitch, bitch, bitch, bitch. Think there is a better way? Run for the USAT board. Become a RD.
Help volunteer at races. And quit blaming others for your mistake.
I’m not bitching about the Board. In fact, I haven’t said a word about the Board. I have no aspirations to be a race director. The amount of work involved is tremendous. My idea actually lightens the load on RD’s because it’s one LESS thing for them to worry about.
Who am I blaming other than myself for my mistake?
Jason
PS – I volunteer at two races for every one that I particpate in. It’s too expensive a sport to race all the time, so I do A SHITLOAD of volunteering. If you’d like to discuss how often I volunteer, I’d be more than happy to discuss it.
Overall yes, USAT and race directors in general could fairly easily get access to that data or setup kiosks so that in the event that someone misplaces or forgets their card on the way to the race they can get the information for themselves so that they don’t slow the process down.
I volunteer at about 15 races a season, the wife 20 so yep, lets compare!!
Think about your title? If you can say this is not negative, then convince me.
How about changing your title to something like I was stupid at my last USAT race because
I forgot to pay my dues. No process is perfect, but works great when people follow the
directions.
I agree. And I think that this may be due to the fact that either one or all of the groups involved won’t spend the time to get the data set up in a way to easily syndicate it to the others. For a company that does any of the championchip timing not to have an electronic interface with the RD and USAT, NA Sports & etc… seems to be a bit short sighted from both sides. It would save costs over the long run in getting, inputting and correcting data, and that is the short part of the long tail of what could be done with the data.
Surely there is a way to interface between the USAT membership database and the on-line registration sites? I don’t want to make USAT pay for mobile Kiosks, or have the USAT rep at every event print out the entire membership roster – both of these are a waste of time, money, and renewable resources, as is the card program.
I don’t know why I have it in my mind that it can’t be that tough to make this work.
<<why should you be upset about a known process? >>
You certainly raise a good point. This is way it has always been. At least for as long as I’ve been involved in the sport. But technology has changed to make the process easier. Why not make the change?
As for my money, USAT has said if I send in my receipt, they will credit it towards next year’s dues. I appreciate this, but I see a lot of people who are not willing to go through this step. Shame on that athlete, and good for USAT - They’ve found a way to make some soft money that might help with budget shortfalls (probably not much though).
<<asking for implimentation of a higher level of interface between events and USAT suggests that all RD’s are in a position to easily follow through with that process>>
If I am correct, the athlete signs up for the race and enters in various points of information on active.com or whatever website the RD uses. If I am correct, the RD gets all the pertinent information from the website in a downloadable format. Why not just add the extra fields? I am trying to prevent any additional work from being put into the RD’s lap. When the RD prints out the participant list, they already have the individual’s USAT number as it was included when the athlete signed up.
Actually, it makes me wonder why someone can’t pay the extra money for the one-day pass while registering? I mean, if I am new to the sport, I’d rather be hit with that fee up front rather than get to a race and get pinched on that end. It makes the RD’s look like like they are trying to pull something over on the newbies. Just a thought.
I gave the title a lot of thought, and I stand by it. In my opinion the card program IS awful. It seems unecessary and a waste of money.
You’re a Race Director! Wouldn’t you like to have one less thing to worry about??? People NOT bithcing at you about a program you have no authority over, but are still required to regulate?
