Some help with doing the mail merges.
Recent versions of MS Word have a Mail Merge Helper. Try Tools… Mail Merge Manager… or Tools… Mail Merge Helper…
If you use a version of Word with the Ribbon, it is on Mailings Tab.
You will probably find that just opening one of the merge documents will automatically show the Mail Merge Helper.
The concept is the same for whatever version that you use. You set up a Master document, which you then combine with some data to produce the output. The output can be sent directly to a printer (Merge to Printer), or can be saved as a file for editing/printing later (Merge to File).
As the Master documents have been set up for you, all that you should have to do is:
1) Connect the master document to the Excel file
2) run the mail merge.
If you need more help about mail merges, have a look at this Microsoft guide:
this guide is for word 2007, but the concepts are the same in all versions.
When you open one of the master documents, it will probably give you an error message along the lines of 'I can't find the data source'. There will then be a button saying "locate file", "Find File", or "choose data source" or something along those lines. Click that button, and not any other one.
You should then navigate to the Excel file for the gala. This will be the one that has all the swimmers for all the teams in on the tab called "Team Heat Sheets".
You may get the following warning. Click OK to open the file.
As the file opens, you will be given the option of which worksheet to open. You need to ensure that you select the correct one - "Team Heat Sheets"
Once this is done, you can use the Mail Merge Manager to 'Merge to Printer', or 'Merge to File'. For more detailed help, have a look on-line, as there will be lots of stuff about how to do a mail merge. It might be best to 'Merge to File' first as then you get to see what the output looks like. Doing the merge will not change the Master file, and it can be used again with a different data set if you need to.