Knowing the qualifying standard is only half the equation. The other half is tracking your progress toward it - meet by meet, throw by throw, jump by jump. FieldSync's Goal Tracking feature turns qualifying standards into personal targets that update automatically as you compete.
Why Goal Tracking Matters
Most athletes know their personal best. Fewer can tell you exactly how close that PB is to the qualifying standard for their target competition, expressed as a percentage. Even fewer track the trend of their marks over the season to know whether they're on pace.
Goal tracking closes that gap. By setting a target once, you get continuous, automatic feedback on your progress - no spreadsheets, no manual calculations, no forgetting to update after a meet.
How to Set a Goal
Setting a goal takes about 30 seconds from the My Goals page (you'll need a free FieldSync account):
- Tap "Add Goal" - opens the goal creation form.
- Choose a season - Indoor or Outdoor.
- Select a competition level - Youth, High School, Collegiate, or Professional.
- Pick the meet - the dropdown populates with all meets at that level.
- Choose gender and event - e.g., Women's Shot Put.
- Select the standard type - Entry Standard, Automatic Qualifier, Provisional, etc.
- Review and save - you'll see a preview of the target mark before confirming.
The cascading dropdown system means you only see valid choices at each step - you won't accidentally try to set a goal for an event that doesn't exist at a particular meet.
What You See on Each Goal Card
Once created, each goal appears as a card on your Goals page showing:
- Target mark - the qualifying standard you're chasing, in both metric and imperial.
- Your current PB - pulled automatically from your competition history in FieldSync.
- Gap - the exact difference between your PB and the target.
- Progress bar - a color-coded visual indicator showing what percentage of the standard you've reached. The bar changes from red (below 85%) through orange and yellow to green (95%+).
- Performance sparkline - a mini chart showing your mark history over time, with a dashed horizontal line at the target. You can see at a glance whether your trajectory is trending up, flat, or declining.
- "Standard Achieved!" badge - when your PB meets or exceeds the target, the card celebrates the achievement with a green badge.
Automatic Notifications
One of the most valuable aspects of goal tracking is the notification system. After every competition scored through FieldSync, you automatically receive:
- Push notification - a mobile push message with a summary of your goal progress (if you've enabled notifications in your account settings).
- Email digest - a branded HTML email with a table showing each of your goals, your updated mark, the target, and whether you've achieved the standard.
The notifications fire automatically - you don't need to check your goals page after every meet. If you set a new PB that brings you closer to a standard, or if you hit the standard outright, you'll know immediately.
How Progress Is Calculated
Progress percentage is calculated differently depending on the event type:
- Horizontal events (throws/jumps) - Your PB as a percentage of the target mark. If the standard is 15.00m and your PB is 13.50m, you're at 90%.
- Vertical events (high jump, pole vault) - Same formula: PB divided by target. If you need 2.00m and you've cleared 1.90m, you're at 95%.
The progress bar color reflects proximity:
- Red - below 85% of the standard
- Orange - 85%-89%
- Yellow - 90%-94%
- Green - 95% and above
Managing Multiple Goals
You can set goals for as many meets and events as you want. A multi-event athlete might have goals for Shot Put at State Championships, Discus at NCAA Regionals, and Javelin at Nationals - all tracked simultaneously on the same page.
Goals can be removed at any time by deleting the card. If a competition passes and you didn't qualify, you can remove that goal and set a new one for the next target meet.
Connecting Standards to Goals
The fastest workflow is to start on the Qualifying Standards page, identify the standards that matter to you, then head to My Goals to set them as targets. The goal creation form uses the same meet and event data as the Standards page, so the marks will match exactly.
Get Started
Goal tracking is free for all FieldSync accounts. Create an account (or sign in if you already have one), visit My Goals, and set your first target. Your progress updates automatically every time you compete through a FieldSync-scored meet.