The problem
Competition squads mean extra sessions and tournaments, and finding out who is coming by WhatsApp takes chasing. An instructor running a weekly squad session and 8 tournaments a year can spend about 45 minutes a week on session replies and 3 hours per tournament on entries.
What the AI does
Spond is a free app for organizing teams and groups. Its site lists single and repeating events, a maximum number of participants with a waiting list once full, availability requests sent before an activity and automatic reminders to anyone who hasn't responded, 48 hours after the invite or 48 hours before the event. Its messaging page says parents and guardians can see what young people receive. Add the squad session as a repeating event and each tournament as a single event, and squad members or parents reply in the app. You see who is in for each one before you enter anyone.
A worked example
A martial arts school in Swansea has a competition squad of 25 students, mostly juniors. The head instructor moves squad session replies and tournament sign-ups from WhatsApp to Spond, with parents added for each junior.
Before
About 45 minutes a week on session replies and 3 hours per tournament chasing sign-ups
After
About 10 minutes a week on session replies and 1 hour per tournament
What it's worth
About $128£96€114A$184C$180 a month in time saved at an assumed $33£25€30A$48C$47 an hour: 35 minutes a week on sessions, times 4.3, is about 2.5 hours a month, and 2 hours saved on each of 8 tournaments is 16 hours a year, about 1.3 hours a month. Spond's app is free; this use doesn't need its paid payments.
How to set it up
- Download Spond and create a squad group, with instructors as admins.
- Invite adult squad members directly and parents for juniors, following your club's rules on contact with young people.
- Add the weekly squad session as a repeating event and each tournament as a single event with its closing date.
- Turn on automatic reminders for anyone who hasn't responded.
- Enter students for tournaments only after a parent has confirmed for each junior.
What goes wrong
- Instructors message parents or groups that parents can see, never one-to-one with a child, in line with your safeguarding policy.
- Tournament entry, licenses and medical declarations go through the organizer's system; Spond only tells you who wants to go.
- Payments through Spond carry a transaction fee; check Spond's help center for the rate before collecting entry fees in it.
- Some families won't install another app. Keep a short list of those you contact by hand.