Managing and Organizing a Sports League is a tough task!

The question on many parents’ minds is - how hard could it be? You register your players, find coaches, pick your teams and you are all set! Unfortunately, this is not the case and there are hundreds of tasks and responsibilities leagues and associations are responsible for. From scheduling games and referees to communicating with coaches and parents – running a sports league is a huge task.

There are many steps involved in getting a sports league or association up and running for the season, regardless of whether it is a minor soccer association or a beer-league men’s hockey league. It starts with the venue – where are your teams going to play, practice and train this season? Having one (or a couple) fields, arenas or facilities your teams frequent can help get priority when scheduling and possibly deals on rentals.

The second step is financials. You will need to get your money in order to handle collecting registration fees and processing payments for everything from facility rentals to referees.

The third step is finding referees, volunteers, coaches, and administrators. These people are the backbone of your league or association, and you won’t have a successful season without them. This also commonly includes a board of directors that oversees everything and helps make key decisions.

Another key piece to organize is league sponsorship. There are businesses in every community looking to get involved with sports leagues regardless of age, level and sport. From car dealerships to restaurants to insurance agencies, these sponsors will help cut costs for your league and promote it in the community. Offering jersey and program advertising space is a great way to provide value to these businesses.

From here, you will need to find a sports league software to handle registration, communication, and keeping everything organized. Check out TeamLinkt for a solution that offers a website, registration, league-wide messaging and a team management app for all of your teams completely free.

Once you have these key pieces set up, it is time to start forming your teams. Most youth leagues will begin with an evaluation process, and using an athlete evaluation software like Skill Shark is an affordable way to save time during this process.

Once your players are registered and evaluated, the next step is to form teams. Through TeamLinkt, you will be able to easily assign players and coaches to teams and set them up on a team management app. Having a team management app set up will allow the team to start communicating and getting organized for the year. Finally, you will have to create your schedule and share it with all of your teams. This can be done through your league website and team management app, so everyone has access to it.

Once the teams are formed and your schedule is created (including games, practices, volunteers, referees and more), you are left to manage and communicate with members of your league or association throughout the season. There are problems that will arise, but having the foundation set with a strong league management software will help keep you on track and ease communicating and organizing throughout the season.