Background

Nestled between sprawling farmland and bustling Chicago is the small town of Woodstock, Ill., population 20,000 and home to Woodstock Girls Softball League. This thriving ASA league, founded in 1969, serves 200 girls six to 18 years old, and like so many leagues, had relied on paper, phone calls, and a fair bit of driving back and forth to fulfill team registration and league management. Then a league volunteer researched different registration and management software options and decided on Active’s Clubspaces product. Though it’s early in the game, it’s already proven to be a winning pick.

In the dugout with Erich Thurow, League Sponsorship & Registration Coordinator

Erich Thurow believes it’s important to step up to the plate and give back to his community. So for the past four years he’s served the league as a coach for his daughter’s team and for three of those years as sponsorship coordinator. This year he added the mantle of registration coordinator to the line-up. A fair bit of giving back for this machine shop owner and lifelong resident of Woodstock, who hasn’t a complaint about any of it.

What are the most timesaving aspects of Active’s online registration and management tools?

Having a system that allows for credit card payments has kept us from having to process checks, track folks down and make bank deposits. It’s one less thing to worry about, and helps our treasurer immensely. It’s also eliminated the need to call about events, volunteer opportunities and even fundraising. Our Clubspaces website has everything right there, including boxes visitors can check if they are interested in donating or volunteering. Everything is streamlined and all information is correct from the start. This is big for a nonprofit volunteer organization.

How has online registration helped you manage player regulations by age, and residency rules/requirements?

This is especially important in a more rural area like ours. Our field is city-owned and rates are different for girls who don’t reside within city limits. Having everything online and automated allows us to determine who is where and helps us coordinate teams. We have five divisions, each determined by age. We are able to design specific questions that automatically allow for sorting by required data.

Have you utilized your website to increase participation?

This was our first year to do so. I’ve made an effort to get the word out about the site; we keep pushing people to the website. The other thing is how it eliminates the need for phone calls about a schedule change, for instance. Imagine a dad working in Chicago and worried about whether he’s going to make the game. He can go online and find out if the game is rained out.

Have you received the guidance and tech support you need from Active?

Without a doubt. I was anxious to get things up and running by January 1, and our Active account executive actually called me on his day off to help me get everything going. He even suggested creating questions asking if folks were interested in donating. We found that people checked “yes”; we garnered nearly $200 without any specific fundraising effort!

What special ASA requirements does the online system help you manage?

We have to turn rosters in to the ASA. Girls must be registered with them and, with the Active software, we only enter the information once. Being a volunteer organization, anything that makes our work easier benefits the organization.

What other features do you like about Clubspaces?

The photo galleries are great. We had a float in the Memorial Day parade and posted those pictures, and for opening day. We will post pictures from our upcoming tournament, too. We haven’t fully utilized the Auto-Scheduler, but by fall season we’ll have that functional. The email for notices is great for getting out the midseason report, event announcements (our upcoming car wash), and more.

How do you take advantage of your Ad-Free website to feature sponsors?

I have deep ties in our community so I reach out to everyone. Our major sponsors get a front-page ad. It’s more than just their name on a T-shirt. It’s a good way of recognizing them and it’s there 24 hours a day. I continue to reach out. It’s a work in progress.

Schedule a demo with an Active Network representative to see if Active can help streamline how you manage your ASA Softball league.

Clubspaces is the Official Online League Management System of Amateur Softball Association of America