Meet us at the United Soccer Coaches Convention!

The United Soccer Coaches Convention is back for another year, and we’ll be back in attendance! The USC will be held in Philadelphia this year on January 11-15, 2023. Want to learn more about the convention? CLICK HERE

What Can You Expect at USC 2023?

Only at the Convention can you attend sessions crafted with your coaching level and desired topics in mind. Presented by world-class presenters, our collection of over 200 lecture sessions and field demonstrations will offer every coach something to bring back to their own training sessions.

Build your network of support with coaches from across the country all in one location. The Convention features socials, meal functions, and award ceremonies that allow attendees to make lasting connections with other coaches and administrators.

Scope out the latest in uniforms, equipment, and technology by visiting our Exhibit Hall. Featuring vendors from all corners of the soccer landscape, attendees can meet with representatives, test out products, and find solutions to assist with daily coaching and administrative duties.

United Soccer Coaches administers an extensive award and recognition program designed to recognize excellence in soccer, academics, and service to the game. Coaches and players are recognized across both genders and all divisions.

The networking opportunities alone will make an impact on your career. You will create and build relationships with new, like-minded coaches and form friendships that will last a lifetime. You will also be able to meet up with coaching friends, colleagues, and contacts that you may only get to see once a year.

Why will Sports Office be Attending?

USC is a great way for us to meet you, and talk about your club, club needs, and more! Being in attendance allows us to market to new and existing clients as well as make presentations on what’s going on with our services! This also allows us to sit in on discussions and presentations on new technology, services, and ways for us to adapt to the ever-changing market. With new technological advancements, it allows us to learn new systems that best fit your club!

Interested in Meeting with Us?

Want to set up a time to meet with one of our staff, hear a presentation, or learn more about what we do? Reach out to us in one of the following ways!

Schedule a meeting

Shoot us an email: info@sportsoffice365.com

Give us a call: (443) 267-3100

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Capitals Season Preview- SO365 Opinion

The Washington Capitals are the officially supported team of Sports Office 365. With members of our staff supporting the hockey club for 20+ years and having worked in the organization: we take pride in our opinions and evaluations as fans.

Ovi Chases the Great One

Outside of another triumphant Stanley Cup victory, I think most Caps fans can agree that the main focus over the next few years is Ovechkin chasing Gretzky’s scoring record. Ovi will only need to score 29 more goals per season for the rest of his current contract to catch Gretzky. With each passing year comes another year of elite-level hockey taking a toll on his body. Thankfully for Ovi, he is a Russian Machine who tends to stay very healthy.

Sports Office Prediction: 35+ Goals in 2022-2023

An Aging Core with Young Flare

The Caps enter season as the second-oldest team in the league. With the core players, we have grown to love over the past many years reaching their final few seasons, the Caps are going to need to start relying on their young players. The Caps have a pretty good pipeline of prospects, but as we have seen, Coach Peter Laviolette is happy with the old core. While that’s not necessarily a bad thing, the lack of experience for younger players could be a bit of a wildcard. But, the season is still early, so I expect a steady rotation of players throughout the year.

Sports Office Prediction: Dylan Strome (25 Y/O) top 5 in Points on the team

Injuries, Injuries, and a few more Injuries

The Caps are in a very very tough spot at the moment with the number of injuries some star players are currently facing. Tom Wilson and Nick Backstrom are out indefinitely with some pretty severe injuries and off-season surgeries. Carl Hagelin may not return to the sport after suffering severe eye damage last year and suffering another injury before the season began. Newly acquired signing Connor Brown has just been placed on LTIR with an undisclosed lower-body injury that may require surgical repairs. And a few other Caps have been showing signs of age with some consistent minor injuries. While this could be a good chance for young guys to get in the lineup, missing the likes of Wilson and Brown long-term will be a huge blow.

Sports Office Prediction: Wilson to Return in February

Competing in a Fast League

I couldn’t tell you the last time the Capitals were known as a fast team. Unless the Caps copy and paste Kuznetsov 4 more times, we’ll consistently be a slower team. One thing the Caps do have that not a lot of other teams in the league have is a brutally physical game. The Caps have been pretty consistent in their game plan for just breaking down the opponent and hitting hard on the forecheck, but can that continue to work in a league becoming dominated by speed? Well, it depends. Playing against the superstars like McDavid and Makar will never be easy, for any team. The Caps can manage to beat the speed by just playing smart and physical in transition. The biggest holes will come from turnovers in the neutral zone and in the opponent’s zone. The Caps tend to get caught out in transition when players get caught below the goal line. If they’re able to keep their game physical and aggressive on the forecheck they can minimize the odd-man rushes. The Capitals are going to need to rely on physical play to help wear down their opponents.

Sports Office Prediction: Wild Card Spot 1- Hopeful playoff run

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Recruiting Volunteers for Youth Sports Programs: 4 Tips

Your club’s volunteers are essential to keeping your youth sports programs running smoothly. They’re the coaches, assistants, and other cheerleaders that create a positive experience for the young athletes in your community, helping kids develop lifelong skills and friendships. 

But as a park and recreation professional, it can be challenging to recruit enough qualified volunteers to help out. You must find individuals who not only want to support your programs but also have enough free time in their schedules to actually do so. 

In this post, we’ll highlight four effective tips for recruiting volunteers for your youth sports programs: 

  1. Reach out to a wide range of audiences. 
  2. Use a multichannel approach. 
  3. Share the benefits of participation. 
  4. Set volunteers up for success.

Effective volunteer recruitment starts with connecting with the right people using the right message. What does that look like in reality? Read on to learn more!

1. Reach out to a wide range of audiences. 

The first people you probably turn to recruit volunteers for your youth sports programs are the athletes’ parents and guardians. But as you know, these individuals are often busy and may not always be looking to take on the responsibility that comes with volunteering. 

Therefore, make sure your recruitment strategy is wide-ranging and inclusive to give parents a break and ensure you aren’t overlooking any enthusiastic potential volunteers. Target your recruiting efforts to reach: 

  • Past volunteers: This includes past coaches, assistants, concession workers, referees, and other supporters who might have let their involvement lapse. You never know who might be interested in coming back!
  • Former youth sports program participants: Depending on how long your program has operated, you might have program alumni who are willing to contribute their time to create a great experience for this generation’s athletes.
  • High school or college student volunteers: High school and college students are often looking for ways to get involved in the community to earn service hours. Volunteering in a youth sports program can be a fun way to earn these hours. 

While these individuals might be a highly receptive audience for your recruitment efforts, don’t leave parent/guardian recruitment out of the picture entirely! Caregivers are often excited to engage in their child’s sports journey, making them a perennially helpful audience to turn to.

2. Use a multichannel approach. 

You won’t be able to reach all prospective volunteers by marketing your opportunities on just one platform. Take a multichannel approach and pursue a variety of recruitment platforms, including: 

  • In-person: Recruit ahead for next season by talking with attendees at games and practices. 
  • Traditional advertising: Post recruitment ads in your local newspaper, create flyers to hang in popular areas such as your local library or create direct mail postcards to send to prospective volunteers. 
  • Online marketing: Use your social media pages and email newsletters to spread the word about open positions. 

Use each platform to reinforce your message, boosting the chances that your target audience members will see and engage with your outreach content. 

3. Share the benefits of participation. 

Although they won’t be getting paid, that doesn’t mean your sports program volunteers won’t receive anything from their volunteer efforts. Your recruitment marketing materials should highlight volunteering benefits, including opportunities to: 

  • Help youth members of the community thrive in a constructive environment.
  • Fulfill volunteer hour requirements for a club or class. 
  • Get to know more people in the community.
  • Access any special volunteer perks you offer, such as free concessions or appreciation gifts.
  • Potentially be able to contribute a monetary donation to your organization via a volunteer grant

These benefits might provide the motivation some individuals need to not only get involved but also stay involved in your program for years to come. 

4. Set volunteers up for success.

Your program’s volunteers won’t want to head into a new sports season feeling unprepared, especially your new volunteers who are participating for the first time. Ensure your recruitment materials describe the type of support volunteers will receive before the season starts, including: 

  • Training: Offer a thorough pre-season training session for new coaches and assistants. 
  • Equipment/supplies: Provide volunteers with training equipment, such as cones, pinnies for scrimmages, goals, whistles, clipboards, etc. 
  • Participant waivers: Offer an online waiver system for participants’ guardians to sign digitally, taking the stress of getting waivers signed off your volunteers’ shoulders. 

Be responsive to questions early on in the recruitment process. Also, once volunteers sign up, use your volunteer management software to offer them a streamlined scheduling process that makes it easier to know where to be and when to be there. 

Enthusiastic, empowered volunteers can make all the difference when it comes to running your youth sports program. Be sure to reach out to a diverse group of potential volunteers and equip them with the proper resources to succeed. 

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Preparing for a New Season- The Official GotSport Guide

GotSport is a tool used all across the country to get teams carded and ready for another year of competition. GotSport is an essential tool in the mixed bag of running a sports organization. But, this tool becomes more complicated when you’re using an external registration platform. Whether a new club admin or volunteer or a season GotSport Vet; sometimes you run into problems and need a refresher. At Sports Office 365, we know how daunting GotSport can be at times. We’re helping out clubs by sharing the official GotSport article to help prepare you for a new season in GotSport! In the section below, you’ll find helpful tips, tricks, and direct links to GotSport articles.

Steps to Prepare for Season Transition if Using a Non-GotSport System for Registration

21/22 to 22/23 Transition FAQ: 

Will I have to create new teams? No, you can register your same existing teams to your league and adjust your rosters accordingly. 

What can I expect if I am uploading players to the system? 

You should have three different types of scenarios. Here is an FAQ for each scenario: 

Scenario One –  Players that played in my club last season: 

  •  As long as Affiliation, First Name, Last Name, DOB (with correct date format in the file), parent name, and email are the same; any other information will just update. 
  •  You may end up with a duplicate player profile in your player list if your file has a different name, gender, or DOB than the player that is already in your club’s player list in the system. If for some reason the data does not match, you can update the player profiles to match your spreadsheet or update your spreadsheet to match the player profile and reupload. 

Scenario Two –  Players that are brand new to the GotSport system: 

  • These players should upload and accounts will be created as long as you have the required columns in your file. 

Scenario Three – Players that are currently in the GotSport system, but played for a different organization last season: 

  • Data from the GotSport system matches your spreadsheet (Affiliation, First Name, Last Name, DOB, Gender). This will create a role for that player in your club, and you should see them in your Club Management Players list. 
  • If a parent does not get added to the player, it is because the parent email already exists in the system to someone else. 

What can I expect when adding coaches or managers to my club? 

You should have three different scenarios when adding coaches or managers to your club. Here is an FAQ for each scenario. 

Scenario One – Coaches/Managers who have a GotSport account already: 

  • If you are uploading, As long as the First Name, Last Name, and Email in your file match what is on their existing account, the coach/manager will be added to your club. 
  • If you are manually searching/adding these coaches and managers, and their First Name, Last Name, and Email matches the information you are searching for, you will be prompted to send a Role Request Approval email. If you search the additional optional information (Date of Birth, and Zip Code) you can bypass the email request and add them directly. 
  • If you have all the required information, you can bypass the email request by adding them directly to a team. This will give them the coach or manager role in your club. To do this, go to Club Management – Teams – Click on a team – Click Roster – Click coach or manager – search by First Name, Last Name, and email. 

Scenario Two – Coach or Manager does not have a GotSport Account: 

  • An account will get created for them via the upload or you will create the account for them if added manually. 

Scenario Three: The addition of a coach or manager fails because the email/user ID is already taken. 

  • This means there is an account in the system that already has the email that you are trying to add them with and the account does not match the first or last name. 
  • You can try to search for different variations of their name (Ex. Mat, Matt, or Matthew). 
  • Check your player’s list for that email. Make sure the player’s email is set in the contact email and try again. 
  • Add the coach/manager with a different email/userid and attach the email you have in their “contact email” box. 

Logging In and Adding Admins  

Account Login: See how to create and login to your GotSport User Account 

Create Club Administrators:  Adding Administrators 

Adding/Editing user title: Add a Title To A Club User 

  • This is a new requirement for all Admin users from last season

Editing an Admins Permissions: Editing an Admins Permissions 

  • Important when separating tasks/what is available in your User’s admin accounts if you would like to limit permissions/access.

Locating Required Governing Body Forms: Locating Required Governing Body Forms 

  • Any form made available for you from your governing organizations. For example Affiliation/Transfer Forms

General Club Management 

Players/Coaches/Managers 

Archive Players previous year players

Uploading players to your club- Note that if you do not include a competitive level or affiliation, you will not see your players initially after you upload and will need to adjust the filters on your player list for them to appear.

Any previously archived players that were uploaded will return to the active player list as long as their uploaded information matches the existing player profile that was archived.

Manually Creating a Player 

  • If you are manually creating players, use the existing player information and login from the previous season to avoid creating unnecessary duplicates
  • Search the player’s DOB, First Name, and Last Name to see if an account exists.  If yes, then add in the email and postal code to bypass the role approval process and directly add the player.
  • If a player does not appear when searching with additional fields (email, postal code), then the email or postal code data that was searched does not match what is listed on the player’s account.

Adding a Player Photo 

  • The player photo from the previous season will appear on the profile by default.  If it needs to be updated, follow the steps in the link above to add a new one while removing the old one.

Add Documents to a Player 

  • If needed for any reason, proof of birth document can be added to a player with the steps above.

Coaches 

Archive Coaches

Coach Upload 

Creating Coaches 

Managers 

Archive Managers

Manager Upload 

Creating Managers 

Duplicate Coach, Manager, and Player User Check – If duplicate player/coach/manager accounts have been created unintentionally, these can be merged as long as the first name, last name, gender and DOB match on both profiles 

Teams  

Archive Teams (If wish to)

Resetting the team player list

Creating a Team Account– When creating a team, set the team age to what the team age is the time of creation, not the next seasonal year’s age.

Team Lock

Roster Lock

Hiding Player List

Team ages do not need to be changed manually.  When the new season begins on August 1, all team ages will update automatically in the system.  If a team age is manually changed, the system will then have the team “age up” again on August 1 and the age will be incorrect.

If Team Rosters are the same from the previous season with minor changes

Team Rosters Starting from Scratch – 

DO NOT CLONE AT ALL – Players From the Previous Season will be removed during the next steps

When you’ve completed building your teams, sync your team rosters – When you sync your rosters, any players that are not on any current or upcoming event roster will automatically be removed from the team.

Printing off Official Rosters and Player Passes

Click here for the full article on the GotSport website

Feeling overwhelmed by GotSport? Reach out to us today for assistance! We are industry experts in GotsSport and in getting your club carded and ready for another season.

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Valuing Volunteers

With the exception of 2020, which wiped out youth sports, one of my favorite moments each year is reviewing the final applications from the NAYS volunteer coach- and parent-of-the-year nominations. Applications come in from around the world from member organizations on almost every U.S. military installation that organizes youth sports.

Recognizing volunteers has always been one of the top priorities of youth-sports administrators. It is always on top of the list when we survey members about the best ways to attract more volunteers to programs. I don’t know of a better way to recognize volunteers than with awards that shine a spotlight on all the hard work and effort they put into programs in their communities.

Reading about the moms and dads who spend hours before, during, and even after a season concludes is truly inspiring. I think about the military mom who won the Parent of the Year award a couple years back. A number of her children were enrolled in sports, and she took on the responsibility of coaching because many of the other parents were active duty and could not dedicate the time. The fact that she not only coached her own team of 7- and 8- year-olds, but also acted as a team mom for another team because of a lack of parents available, made her an easy selection. I think of a Coach of the Year recipient from a number of years ago who had contracted a flesh-eating virus, lost both of his hands and legs, and still returned to coach kids in a basketball league. And he’s still coaching today.

I also think of my own coaches and team moms from many years ago. Instead of going home from work, these hard-working men and women volunteered their time to work on drills with me and my teammates, and then would sit in the parking lot until dark discussing game strategy and line-ups. I didn’t appreciate it back then, but I sure do now.

These are the people who truly make youth sports operate. Just think about that for a second. If we had to pay these individuals for their true value, consider how much youth-sports participation would cost in this country. You really don’t have to wonder; just look to the school system and see what it costs to have qualified, caring individuals in charge of our children’s education. It truly is astounding when you think about it.

What’s even more astounding is not every organization we work with actually takes the time to participate in the award program. Of course, there is only one winner for each category nationally, but that doesn’t limit the impact that can be made locally. One doesn’t need a national award to make an impact. We encourage all organizations to give multiple awards during the season. A weekly or even a mid-season event, where volunteers can be nominated and recognized, can have a tremendous impact on a program and show volunteers they are valued and appreciated for their efforts. Plus, if recreation leaders are going to submit a nomination for an annual award or a national award, they have already done all the work.

We have always stressed to administrators that volunteers should be regarded as employees. Part of that process is screening to ensure you have only the best people with the best intentions; monitoring and recognizing those individuals is the best way to ensure volunteers will be willing to show up when the next season rolls around. Plus, what better way is there to inspire the next wave of parents who will be joining the program?

Click here for the original article

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