The problem
Working out who is coming to training and who is free for Saturday's match by WhatsApp means scrolling threads and chasing parents one by one. A coach running 8 junior squads can spend about 3 hours a week on it, and still turn up to find half a team.
What the AI does
Spond is a free app for organizing teams and groups. Its site lists single and repeating events, availability requests that go out before an activity, and automatic reminders to members who haven't responded, sent 48 hours after the invite or 48 hours before the event. When an event reaches its maximum number of participants, the next people to sign up go on a waiting list. Spond's messaging page says parents and guardians can see what young people receive and who they message. Set up a group for each squad, add repeating training sessions and matches, and parents answer in the app. You see numbers per session at a glance.
A worked example
A junior football academy in Stockport has 8 squads of about 12 players. The head coach moves training and match availability from 8 WhatsApp groups into Spond, with each parent added to their child's squad.
Before
About 3 hours a week chasing availability on WhatsApp
After
Parents reply in the app and reminders chase the rest; about 1 hour a week, 2 hours saved
What it's worth
About $286£215€256A$413C$404 a month in time saved: 2 hours a week, times 4.3, is 8.6 hours a month at an assumed $33£25€30A$48C$47 an hour. Spond's app is free; payments through it carry a fee, but this use doesn't need them.
How to set it up
- Download Spond, create a group for each squad and add coaches as admins.
- Invite parents of each player, with the parent as the contact for children under your club's age threshold.
- Add repeating training sessions and matches with a maximum number of players where it matters.
- Turn on automatic reminders for anyone who hasn't responded.
- Close the old WhatsApp groups once everyone is in, so messages stay in one place.
What goes wrong
- Some parents won't install another app. Ask them to reply by email from the invite, or keep a short list you check by hand.
- Follow your safeguarding policy on messaging young players: coaches message parents, or groups with parents able to see, never one-to-one with a child.
- Payments through Spond carry a transaction fee. Check Spond's help center for the current rate before using it for subs.
- Reminders don't help if session times in the app are wrong. Update cancellations straight away, especially for bad weather.