Phase 1: Lesson 3
Return to the full Roadmap to Success.
Now that we know what programs we’re offering, and have updated our website, so everyone else knows what we offer, it’s time to do some work for our teams and seasons. There’s so much you can do in SportsEngine, but the core value comes from the Registration and Rostering processes. It makes everything else work so much better. Here are a few things that you can do when you roster:
- It automatically adds teams and schedules to the mobile app for parents
- It allows you to send messages and invoices to teams
- It gives permissions to coaches to use the mobile app and team pages
To do all of this, though, you need to have your club, leagues, and teams all set up so you can set up your rosters. It’s pretty easy, and I’ll throw you some pro tips along the way. I just set this up for our hockey club, so I’m going to use that as an example since it's a great way to show the two ways to organize teams.
First, a few things to establish
Teams are organized by being a part of your “club” or “league.” The main difference is that your club teams aren’t “connected” to each other for their games. They operate independently of each other. League teams are as you’d imagine. They compete, will have standings, etc.
In my clubs example, our Travel Teams are all club teams with different age divisions as they compete in external leagues. Our Mite/8U teams are all set up as a League with different age/skill divisions as they compete as in-house leagues.
Put your teams on paper
It makes a ton of sense to list out and organize your teams, so you know what you need to build. Take your leagues first, list them out with their divisions, and add teams to each division. In the same way, take your club teams and list them out, including levels/division, and list the teams.
Set up your Club and/or Leagues
Now, you need to set everything up in SportsEngine. My recommendation is to do it through Sitebuilder and your website. It can be done directly in HQ -> Sport Management, but I find it much easier on the website side. Remember, though, there’s a 3 level limit on your navigation, so you’ll want your league/club to be a main level item. Start with your league or club page, then add your divisions/levels.
Set up your Teams
Now, it’s time to set up your teams. When you’re adding your teams, they’ll utilize the default team template from SportsEngine. If you’d like to change that a bit, you can create your template BEFORE adding all your teams. It’s up to you. (FWIW - I use the general template). Then, you’ll add all of your teams. You can customize their colors, logos, and names if you want. But after this step, they are all set on your website, for the mobile app, rostering, and everywhere else, teams and groups are utilized. (Of course, you’ll need players and coaches, but we’ll add them later.)
Activate your season
It’s time to activate the season. If you were setting up for the first time, you’ve already done that as part of the setup process. If you’re setting up next season, you’d know by now you’re skipping the past three steps and are simply turning on the new season. Pro-tip, you can add the new season to work on your teams, but not activate it as the current season. It may not matter to you, but it’s a feature you can use it you need it.
At this point, we’re ahead of the game and in good shape. Honestly, you can do this part after registration closes, but as an active volunteer, I try and do this early to be proactive and not have to scramble when I have hundreds of parents ready to get their team assignments and schedules.
Next time, we’ll discuss getting our registration ready to roll.
