App for sports clubs: members, dues, court bookings and announcements in one place

An app for a sports club pulls together what usually lives across a spreadsheet, an office notebook and a handful of group chats: member records, dues by category, membership cards, court bookings and announcements for each sport. And it keeps all of that with the club, not with whoever is volunteering this year.

A club isn't a gym. It has lifelong members, whole families, youth teams, a board that changes every so often, and a lot of work done by volunteers. If you run a gym, which is a business with a different logic, see gym membership software.

The real problem: the information lives with one person

At many clubs, the member list sits on the treasurer's or secretary's laptop, in a spreadsheet only they understand. It works as long as they're around. When they step down, the board changes or the laptop dies, the club loses years of history: who's been a member since when, who's paid up, which family gets a discount.

The first thing your own system fixes is ownership. Several people log in with their own accounts, each sees what's relevant to them (coaches see their team, the treasurer sees dues), and nobody takes the member list home.

What a sports club app should include

It depends on the club, but these pieces show up almost every time:

• Member records: contact details, category (adult, junior, family, life member), sports and join date. Family members linked, so you bill and notify once.
• Membership dues and program fees: who's paid, who owes and for how long, with a reminder ready to send to those behind.
• Digital membership card: members show a code on their phone at the gate or the pool, and staff can see if they're current.
• Court and field bookings: pickleball, tennis, padel, five-a-side or whatever the club has, with different rules for members and guests.
• Announcements by sport: Saturday's game, a practice time change or a rainout, sent only to the people it affects.
• Expiry dates: medical clearance forms, league registrations or insurance, with a reminder before they lapse.

Courts: where the arguments happen

Court booking is where conflicts show up: the member who booked by text and the guest who has the same slot written in the notebook. A booking system ends that argument because there's one schedule and everyone can see it.

That's where the club sets its rules: how far ahead people can book, whether members get priority at certain times, what happens with no-shows, whether lights cost extra. If guests pay to play, the system can ask for payment or a deposit when they book. I went deeper into booking reminders in appointment reminder system.

The club office, before and after

What to leave out at first

A club has lots of moving parts, and it's tempting to want everything at once: the snack bar, accounting, tournaments, match stats. My advice is to start with whatever eats the most volunteer hours, which is nearly always the member list and dues, and add the rest once people are using it.

The club's formal accounting and any reporting it owes as a nonprofit are your accountant's job; ask them which data they'd like exported from the system. The public website (history, sports, schedules, how to join) is a separate piece, close to what I wrote in website for nonprofits, since many clubs are member associations speaking to their community.

How we'd build it

I meet with whoever runs the office and the treasurer over a video call. We go over how you collect dues today, what categories you have and which sports bring in the most members. From there I build a first version with the member list and dues, you use it for a couple of months, and then we add courts, cards or announcements.

I work on my own, remotely from Buenos Aires, Argentina (UTC−3), in English or Spanish, with progress you can open from a link. Every club is different, so I quote each project separately. You can see other work in projects.

Frequently asked questions