TBA Entries

Overview

A TBA entry ("to be announced") lets an athlete sign up for a partnered event before they have a partner for it. Instead of being entered directly, they join a matching queue for that event. The organizer can then pair up athletes from that queue to form real partnerships and entries.

This page explains how to turn TBA entries on for a competition, what athletes see when they use them, and how organizers pair athletes up.

Why Use TBA Entries

Partnered events normally require both dancers to already be paired before either of them can register. TBA entries remove that requirement — an athlete can express interest in an event and the role they want to dance, and let the organizer (or a chance match with another athlete in the queue) find them a partner.

This is especially useful for collegiate events where athletes may not have a regular partner and are open to being paired for a single event.

Key Concepts

Roles: Lead, Follow, and Flex

When an athlete submits a TBA entry, they choose one role:

Lead — wants to dance as the lead.
Follow — wants to dance as the follow.
Flex — willing to dance either role, whichever completes a pair.

Which events support TBA entries

TBA entries are only available for regular partnered events — not solo events, not team events, and not events generated from a Dynamic Event template (see the Dynamic Events guide). If an event doesn't meet these criteria, athletes won't see the TBA option for it.

Not yet part of the competition

Signing up for the TBA queue does not enter an athlete into the competition by itself. An athlete only becomes a registered participant — with a bib number and a place in the event — once they've been paired with a partner. Until then, they won't be counted in the competition's athlete or attendance totals. Athletes can see their own pending TBA entries on their dashboard, and can withdraw one at any time before they're matched.

Enabling TBA Entries (Organizer)

TBA entries are off by default and are turned on per competition.

Steps

Open the competition's Settings page.
Find Allow TBA Entries and turn it on.
Save. Athletes registering for eligible partnered events will now see the option to enter as TBA instead of picking an existing partnership.

Note: Turning this off later doesn't remove TBA entries athletes have already submitted, but it will hide the option for new sign-ups and hide the TBA queue from the event details page until it's turned back on.

How Athletes Use TBA Entries

On the registration form for an eligible partnered event, athletes see an "Enter as TBA" option alongside the normal partnership selection. Choosing it asks them to pick their role — Lead, Follow, or Flex — and submits them to that event's queue instead of creating a partnership entry.

An athlete can only have one TBA entry per event. Selecting TBA for an event replaces any partnership they might otherwise have picked for that same registration; the two aren't combined. Athletes can view and withdraw their own unmatched TBA entries from the registration page at any time.

Pairing TBA Entries (Organizer)

Once TBA entries start coming in, organizers pair athletes up from the event details page.

Steps

Open the competition and go to the Events page, then select the event.
Open the TBA Entries tab. This lists everyone currently waiting in that event's queue, split into Leads and Follows (Flex athletes appear in both lists, since they can fill either role).
Select one athlete from the Leads list and one from the Follows list to pair together.
Confirm the pairing in the dialog that appears, which shows who is being paired and in which role.

Once confirmed, both athletes are removed from the TBA queue for that event, a partnership is created between them (or reused, if they're already partners for other events), and they're entered into the event together — including a bib number if they didn't already have one for the competition.

Note: If the event's schedule has already been finalized for its current round and that round hasn't started yet, the new entry is automatically added to it. If the round has already started, the pairing still succeeds, but the organizer may need to add the entry to the schedule manually.

Where to Find TBA Entries

Organizers manage TBA entries from the event details page, under the TBA Entries tab (only visible once TBA entries are enabled for the competition).
Athletes submit and withdraw TBA entries from the competition's registration page, and can see any unmatched TBA entries on their dashboard.