Running a sports club is a lot of work. It takes the time and effort - usually of volunteers with full-time jobs, to dedicate countless hours to organization and administration. Every season the same process occurs – register players, collect payment, assign those players to teams, build a schedule, communicate to players and parents and on and on… Blue Sombrero was founded by former athletes and administrators familiar with the annual rite of registration, to help alleviate this burden. Whether your club uses a paper-based system or has made the transition to online, our software has streamlined the process to make it user-friendly for parents and simple for administrators. We provide four key services that will make registration and management of your club a simple and effective process: 1) Registration and Payment Allow your participants to register and pay for sports programs online. Remember the “old days”, when parents would gather at your facility for Registration Day? Piles of illegible enrollment forms, medical waivers, stacks of checks to be photocopied and deposited.
Welcome to the 21st century. Blue Sombrero has automated the process specifically for youth sport clubs where any parent can register their child in less than 5 minutes…and our records show a 95% success rate for first time users interacting with our software. Clubs can customize the process to include their own questions - acknowledgement of medical waivers, playing history and any other information they may want to gather. Parents have the option to pay by check or credit card, eliminating concern in accounting for checks and the need for administrators to deal with unwanted paper. All Blue Sombrero financial transactions are protected by Verisign, the industry leader in online security and 128 bit SSL encryption. A bi-weekly financial reconciliation report is sent to every club detailing every transaction in line-by-line item detail. 2) League Management Once participants are registered online, the information that has been input is automatically transferred to the Club Administrator’s database. From there, Blue Sombrero’s Club Service provides all of the functionality that an Administrator would need to organize their club, including… • Tryout Registration • Team Building • Schedule Building • Coach and Volunteer Management • Donation Collection • Report Creation – Participants, Uniforms, Medical, etc. • Financial Reconciliation and Management Each Administrator using the Club Service receives hands-on training and support from the experts at Blue Sombrero in customizing the system to meet their needs. But since the Administrator’s functionality was built on the same user-friendly interface that parents interact with, managing your club’s administration online couldn’t be easier! 3) Website Your club’s website is the face of your organization. Not only does it need to look professional, but it is a critical communication tool in the distribution of information to a club’s membership. Blue Sombrero’s website development service provides three key benefits for any club looking to upgrade their image… 1) DESIGN CONSULTATION – each new Blue Sombrero Premium Website customer receives an individual consultation with our design department. Whether your club requires a total re-branding effort or just a smoother way to organize your information, our design team can help. 2) EASE OF USE - Blue Sombrero teaches you how to be your own webmaster. Posting information on your website is the easiest way to communicate to your membership – schedule changes, roster updates, photos…why should you have to wait for a designer to make these changes for you?? If you can handle a Microsoft Word document, then after a one-hour consultation with the Blue Sombrero Support Team, you’ll be able to program your own website – no experience necessary. 3) INTEGRATION – Blue Sombrero club websites are integrated as part of the online registration process. So, rather than redirect users away from your club’s professional looking website when they want to register – we maintain the consistent look and feel of your club throughout the entire registration process. Looking for an image upgrade beyond the basics?? CLICK HERE to learn more about Blue Sombrero Website Development and the customized options available to your organization. 4) Communication How does your club communicate to its membership?? Are you really sure that everyone is getting every message that they’re intended to?? When participants register using Blue Sombrero, a valid email address is required so Administrators are assured their messages are being delivered. Blue Sombrero’s proprietary “slice and dice” bulk email tool allows you to communicate with exactly who you want to, when you want to… • Need to send an email only to the U10 Girls team notifying them of a field change?? Select ‘U10 Girls’ as a sub-group and all registered email addresses as part of that group – parents, players, coaches and volunteers will receive the email. • Missing payment from a few parents?? Select ‘Non-Payment’ to email only those parents who have outstanding balances on their account. Drafting emails is as easy as creating a Microsoft Word document, and with all of the same functionality – change font, color, size and even add your own images and logos to provide a professional look to every piece of communication. It’s where we got started…providing online registration and league management services to soccer clubs across the country. It’s our core business and it’s what we do best. SCHEDULE A DEMO to learn more about how Blue Sombrero can help your club.