What’s New

eteamz Offers New Import Functionality from LeagueOne and RegCenter

We are excited to announce that eteamz has developed new functionality that syncs with LeagueOne and RegCenter! You can now easily import up to 1,000 names from your LeagueOne or Registration Center registration lists directly to your eteamz website. It's easier than ever to manage all of your members in one single location. No more hassles with trying to convert and format files to upload to your website. With this enhanced integration you can:

• Import up to 1,000 people at a time directly to your People folder in eteamz
• Choose from excel or CSV file export options
• Save time by not having to convert files
• Improve efficiency with all registrations easily imported into your eteamz website

Don't have an eteamz website but need one? No problem! Sign up for a FREE Basic site or upgrade to PLUS with this exclusive 40% discount!

To create a PLUS account, use the following discount code: X81D6P
But hurry - offer expires July 1st!

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How to Use Twitter to Increase Awareness and Participation

Did you catch the ActiveSports Twitter webinar? It was a popular one! Whether you were in attendance or not, you can access the recording and presentation slides here:

View Twitter webinar on–demand

In this webinar, Justin Ramers, Director of Social Media at The Active Network, showed how teams and leagues like yours can leverage Twitter as a powerful marketing and player communication tool.

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eMarketing Center

Learn how "Going Green" can help you and the planet

As the days get longer and the sun shines brighter, we’re all heading outdoors more often. It’s a great time to appreciate our environment and put into practice simple ways to be kinder to it. Paperless online registration is one method of promoting a "green" mentality to your community—not to mention, it’s an easy registration option you can offer your players and families.

Among the many resources available to you in the eMarketing Center is an article on Going Green. Read about "Going Green" under the Marketing Tactics section!

Eco-friendly is a growing trend in today's society that we hope is here to stay. Because you've chosen to embrace online services, your organization is ahead of the curve. Boost your image as well as your participation by promoting your eco-techniques with our free Going Green graphic templates.

Login to the eMarketing Center to see the free Going Green ideas we have for you!

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Product Tips and Tricks for RegCenter Users

Sending a Broadcast Email to Current and Past Participants

Timely communication is a sure-fire way to increase participation and involvement for your event, league or team. Send an email to past participants encouraging them to register or email current participants updates on new information. In a few simple steps, you can send a broadcast email to any group of participants you’d like:

1. Go to www.active.com/explorer
2. Enter Username and Password
3. Select an event from the drop down menu in the upper, left corner
4. Expand Registration Tools
5. Click Broadcast Email
6. Click New Mailing
7. Click Edit Filters
8. Select the present and/or past events from the Category box that you would like to INCLUDE
       NOTE To select multiple events, hold down the Ctrl key and highlight each event you would like to include.
9. Click Search
10. Click Continue
11. Enter From Address
12. Enter Email Subject
13. Enter Message Body
        NOTE Only enter plain text. No HTML coding or special characters.
14. Enter Mail Profile Description
        NOTE Naming your profile will allow you to access your message for later use.
15. Click Save and Send

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Active Client Menlo-Atherton Little League Wins Positive Coaching Alliance’s Honoring the Game Award

As part of Positive Coaching Alliance’s National Youth Sports Awards Program sponsored by Deloitte, PCA periodically gives schools and youth sports organizations an Honoring the Game Award for excellence as an educational athletic organization. “Honoring the Game” is PCA’s expanded definition of “sportsmanship.” Individuals, teams and organizations that Honor the Game show respect for the ROOTS of their sport, where ROOTS is an acronym for respecting Rules, Opponents, Officials, Teammates and Self. Most recently, that award went to the San Francisco Bay Area's Menlo-Atherton Little League, which is a client of Active.

In Menlo-Atherton Little League, the players and coaches have fun, but when it comes to Honoring the Game, the organization is strictly business.

The league reached a tipping point of positivity when it formalized a "sportsmanship business plan, and set metrics and standards," said Scott Barnum, a member of the league's board of directors and chair of its sportsmanship committee. "PCA really helped by customizing its presentations and workshops. In partnership, we developed 30 different plausible scenarios involving players, parents, coaches and umpires, and then we role-played the scenarios.

Menlo-Atherton Little League serves roughly 500 baseball and softball players and has more people volunteering to coach than the league can deploy, Barnum said. "From the kids' and parents' standpoint, people like playing in our league, because it's a positive environment."

Among Menlo-Atherton Little League's efforts to win the Honoring the Game Award:

• earning PCA's Seal of Commitment for pledging that all of its coaches are trained and certified as Double-Goal Coaches^®
• a 90-percent-plus satisfaction rating as measured by the league's annual online survey tool, which solicits objective, confidential feedback from parents and coaches
• implementing a league-wide player sportsmanship award program.

At ActiveSports, we're taking off our ball caps to the Menlo-Atherton Little League - congratulations!

For more information on PCA’s Honoring the Game Award, click here.

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In The Sportlight

WYSA gets a kick from efficient online registration where every player is accounted for in real–time

Wisconsin Youth Soccer Association
Location: West Allis, WI
Website URL: http://www.wiyouthsoccer.com/
Active Client Since: 2009

The sheer size of the WYSA was the primary reason the organization needed to find a comprehensive software solution. Yvonne Bennett, Executive Director of WYSA, explains, "We worked under a self reporting system with our 130+ affiliated clubs. The clubs had the responsibility of collecting fees at the club level, then remitting those fees to the State Association. For a number of reasons, the payments would not always make it to the State Office or they were delayed for months. Our State Association had a difficult task of presenting an accurate view of players and revenues."

"There was no centralized database – we didn’t know who all of our players were,” noted Bennett. “Moreover, US Youth Soccer requires the names of all registered players, a requirement we found extremely challenging to meet with our existing registration process."

WYSA President Peter Mariahazy appointed a task force comprised of staff and volunteers who were representative of registrars throughout the state. The task force was challenged with finding a comprehensive, integrated, flexible solution that would allow them to effectively manage player registration as well as providing a platform for league and team scheduling. After research, interviews and demos with various vendors, WYSA decided that Active Network’s LeagueOne software solution was the best fit. "It met most of our key criteria and seemed to be the best poised to do a state-wide implementation," said Bennett.

WYSA held software training throughout the state with Active in April and May of 2009 in preparation for League One’s debut for the 2009-2010 registration. What was once a registration process that consisted largely of paper forms and checks on someone’s kitchen counter is now an integrated, organized and efficient registration process where every player is accounted for. "The clubs now have a complete history of their youth players in relation to teams and registrations."

Bennett notes two of the greatest benefits of using the LeagueOne system are the access to a comprehensive player database file and the real-time information on player registration which, as a result, enables the association to process registrations on a more timely basis. Additionally they are able to target message to specific groups of players and families based on demographic data important to the marketing of specific programs and services.

As for the support from Active throughout this process, Bennett says, "We have found that Active Network customer support is pretty darn good. The follow-up after the sale has been responsive to our needs."

"We went into this process knowing that it would not be easy, but we also felt that with the right people and partners in place, we would have a positive outcome. We are absolutely in a better place than we were a year ago."

Request more information on LeagueOne

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Team Huddle: Meet the Manager of your Implementation Team!

Stephanie Snaman, Implementation Manager

As implementation experts, my team and I are responsible for guiding our clients through the process of setting up online registration. There are nine people on my team, eight of which are sports certified.

• Sports certification is awarded to team members after they have been trained and tested on the market needs, market terminology, sport types and more. Being the experts in what we do means we have to talk the talk and walk the walk.

Clients meet us directly after they have completed the sales process—we are their first introduction to the online registration software. We help them with everything from product training and support to acting as consultants as they become familiar with our technology.

• Our team typically receives a setup form that has been completed by the client. We review it to ensure that everything looks correct and will make a "discovery" call to the client if we have any questions or suggestions.
• Once setup needs are identified, we then implement their request and send test links for the clients to review. The client has the opportunity to ask questions and make any revisions they’d like.
• Once deemed complete, the implementation analyst activates registration and helps the client understand which links to publicize.
• After registration is activated, we introduce clients to our dedicated support team who will be their ongoing resource from that point.
• We also offer thorough training where we walk the client through the product and address any specific needs their registration may require. My team hosts weekly webinars–RegCenter clients can view the webinar schedule here. ClubReg trainings are scheduled on an individual basis and we are also happy to schedule a 1-1 training for anyone who requests it.
• The implementation team offers both phone and email support from 7am-5pm Monday-Friday.
• For any after hours support needs, we have an on-call support representative that can be reached in an emergency.
• We pride ourselves on the fact that we return any messages in 24 hours (by the next business day) or less!

I have a lot of fun on my team and I love the energy that comes from working at Active. It is a motivating environment and I can attest that people here are dedicated to doing their best for our clients. In my free time, I love being outdoors. I recently became involved with triathlons and decided to dive in head first; last November I completed my first full Ironman! It was a destination race in Cozumel, Mexico and was a truly amazing experience. It taught me that just about anything is possible, which is a mantra that I apply to my job and life every day.

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