Background

The Santa Cruz Bay Volleyball Club is an elite training ground for young women in California. Olympians, collegiate champions and varsity starters by the dozens have all gotten their start here. Club President Mark Patenaude is not only dedicated to running the most efficient, organized and professional volleyball club in California, he is also dedicated to ensuring the experience is enriching to everyone who passes through, regardless of skill level. From the first day of operations, Santa Cruz Bay has been a dedicated Clubspaces customer. This decision has helped position Santa Cruz Bay as one of the most trusted popular names in women’s youth volleyball in the state.

On the court with Santa Cruz Bay Club Volleyball President Mark Patenaude:

Q: How has online registration from Clubspaces helped your organization?
Online registration has helped us improve our organization. There are so many different aspects to registration; you have to have a tool like Clubspaces to organize everything. Online registration was easy to set up and we’re able to collect all of the data we need to pass on to the NCVA. It takes so much work out of my hands. It is one of the benefits to choosing my club over others in my area. We’re more organized and more professional because of Clubspaces.

We use online registration for every aspect of our club. We use it for our try-outs, our post-season tournaments and even for our summer camps. Best of all, we’re able to compile a massive database with player data in it so when we have another camp or try-out, we just point and click and we can email all of these players. It’s been a great marketing tool!

Q: Why did you choose Active’s Clubspaces product?
We researched all of the options that were available and decided that Clubspaces was the best fit for our organization. It had the functionality and the price we were looking for.

Q: How has the Clubspaces email tool helped your organization?
The Clubspaces email tool has worked well for us. We use broadcast emails to make announcements. It’s very easy to use. I just point and click and I can communicate with everyone in our club. It’s great.

Q: How does Clubspaces help you with volunteers?
Our Clubspaces website is our main marketing tool and we drive everyone we can to our site, including volunteers. We clearly have our online registration link marked and we’re able to get quite a few volunteers that way.

Q: How does Clubspaces help you solicit donations?
We use the automatic donation feature during online registration and it works well. We can choose a preselected donation amount or registrants can donate whatever they want. Clubspaces allows us to input a full description of what the donation will be used for and that really helps. We can also segment donations and have part of our donations go to one cause, like scholarships, and another part go to something else. It really works for us.

Q: Do you use Clubspaces document management?
Yes! At the end of the online registration process, we have all of the documents our players need so they meet requirements for Northern California Volleyball Association (NCVA) and USA Volleyball (USAV). They print them off and bring them to our first practice. We love the affiliation Clubspaces has with USAV and NCVA, it saves us a lot of time. We don’t have to chase things down or wonder if we’ve forgotten anything.

Q: Do you use the Clubspaces payment installment feature or auto billing feature?
Clubspaces payment features were what originally drew us to the product in the first place. We use multiple payment options and we use the auto-reminder feature to let clients know when their payments are due. We can now accept credit cards and other forms of payment, as well. We’ve never missed a bill in all the years we’ve been using Clubspaces. It’s been a real differentiator.

Q: How has your Clubspaces website changed the way you do business?
Our Clubspaces website has been critical to our business in two ways: it improves our communication and it simplifies our financial management.

I use the announcements window on the front page of our site to keep our membership updated on every aspect of our club. It’s available 24/7 and it’s completely reliable. We created individual team pages that were password-protected that players could access to learn when practices were. This unique enhancement worked really well for us.

The financial side of things works even better. I don’t need a program like Quick Books or anything like that. When someone makes a payment electronically, it shows right up in their account. We can see outstanding receivables. It’s all right there in front of us.

"Clubspaces takes so much work out of my hands. It is one of the benefits to choosing my club over others in my area. We’re more organized and more professional because of Clubspaces."

Click here to request more information to find out how Active's Clubspaces website, online registration and club management software products can help you.