The Coach Data Import saves a list of coaches (team name, coach name, phone numbers and email addresses) so you can pick them from the Returning Contact list when you add or edit a team on a division's 2 Teams page. It only fills in a team's contact details: it doesn't create teams, registrations or roster entries, so imported coaches can't be put on a program's rosters. To put coaches on rosters, import them as volunteer registrations with the Volunteer Registration Import instead.

Applies to: Admins whose role includes Import Data · Enhanced, Elite and Enterprise plans (Coach Data Import) · Teams on a division's 2 Teams page

Where: Administration > Import Data > Start Import > Coach Data Import (listed under Schedule); then the division's 2 Teams page under Schedules > Leagues & Divisions

Fill in the import file

1. Go to Administration > Import Data.
2. On the Coach Data Import row, under Schedule, click the icon in the Sample File column to download the template. The icon in the Instructions column opens the column rules.
3. Fill in one row per coach and team, using the columns in the table below.
4. Remove every comma from your data, for example by replacing it with a space.
5. Save the file as CSV. It can be up to 10 MB.

Import the file

6. On Administration > Import Data, click Coach Data Import.
7. On Step 1 of 3: Upload File, click Select next to File Name and choose your file. Leave Includes Headers checked if the first row has the column names.
8. In Sport Type, choose the sport of the league whose teams these coaches are for, and click Next Step.
9. On Step 2 of 3: Map the Fields, check the Import Field chosen for each TeamSideline Field. Columns whose header matches a field's name are chosen for you. For an optional column your file doesn't have, choose No Mapping, Leave Blank. Click Next Step.
10. On Step 3 of 3: Review and Confirm, read the messages. If there are errors, fix your file and start again. When there are none, click Queue Import.

What you'll see: "Your import has been successfully uploaded and will be processed shortly." The import runs in the background, a few rows a second. When it finishes, you get a "Data Import Status" email, and Administration > Import Data > Status lists the import and its messages.

Use an imported coach on a team

11. Go to Schedules > Leagues & Divisions and, on the division's row, click the link in the # of Teams column (for example, 8 Teams). The division's 2 Teams page opens.
12. Click Add Team, or the Edit icon (pencil) on a team's row.
13. In Returning Contact, type part of the coach's name and pick the coach. Coaches are listed as last name, first name.
14. Check the contact details that fill in, then click Add (for a new team) or Save.

What you'll see: Contact First Name, Contact Last Name, Primary Phone, Alternate Phone, Primary Email and Alternate Email are filled from the import (Coach Phone 1 and Coach Email 1 become the primary ones). If the team has no name yet, or still has a placeholder number from 1 to 20 as its name, the Team Name from your file fills in too.

If it doesn't work

• "Invalid telephone number format. See import instructions for valid formats." A phone isn't a 10-digit number in one of the formats above, or the cell is blank in a phone column you mapped. A blank phone isn't accepted in this import: put coaches without a phone in a separate file and choose No Mapping, Leave Blank for the phone columns.
• "Please enter a value for "Sport Type"." Choose the sport in Sport Type on Step 1 of 3.
• "The email address '(email)' has an invalid format." Fix the email address in that row.
• "Value is invalid (blank when required, too short, too long, invalid format, etc)." Team Name, Coach Last Name or Coach First Name is blank or too long.
• "The file you have chosen to upload does not contain the same number of columns in every line (failed on line: N)." A value on that line contains a comma. Remove the commas and upload again.
• "'Team Name' is a required field. You must select an Import Field before you can proceed." Map each required field to a column of your file on Step 2 of 3.
• The coach isn't in the Returning Contact list. The division's league is for another sport than the Sport Type you chose, or the import is more than 90 days old. Import the coach again with the right Sport Type.
• Coach Data Import isn't listed on Import Data. It comes with the Enhanced, Elite and Enterprise plans, and your admin role must include it.

Good to know

• Imported coaches stay in the Returning Contact list for 90 days after the import. The list also shows the contacts of teams already in your leagues for the same sport, with no time limit.
• Each coach name is listed once. If the same name is on several rows or teams, the list shows the details from the most recent one, so two different coaches with exactly the same name appear as one entry.
• The import doesn't change any team by itself; a team's contact changes only when you pick a coach and save. Importing again adds new entries rather than replacing the old ones.
• The import sends no emails to coaches.
• To create the teams in a division along with their coach contacts, use the Team Import. See Schedule imports: upload games, practices, location availability, teams, rosters, coaches, officials and conflicts.
• To put coaches on a registration program's rosters, import them with the Volunteer Registration Import (How to import registrations from another system (Enrollee and Volunteer Registration Imports)), then assign them to teams with Assign To Roster (How to assign players and coaches to teams (Assign To Roster)).

Related articles

• Which import should I use? (Import Data overview)
• Schedule imports: upload games, practices, location availability, teams, rosters, coaches, officials and conflicts
• Import error messages and how to fix them
• How to import registrations from another system (Enrollee and Volunteer Registration Imports)