Oct 04, 2023 • 5 min read
We know baseball registration season can be a busy time of year, and let’s face it, a little stressful. Nothing slows your preseason prep down like accidental mistakes during registration. To help, we put together this quick list of the most common pitfalls of baseball registration so your organization can avoid them and launch registration smoothly!
No one wants to be building registrations online at midnight the night before your baseball registration period is due to open. We can’t stress this enough, don’t leave your registration to the last minute, not only does that create a stressful situation for you or your admins, but it can also result in mistakes in your online forms. Allow for plenty of time to build your form (or forms) and test them to ensure they are working properly before launching. We recommend giving yourself at least two weeks to work on building your registration form online.
The more information you can provide your future baseball families about the upcoming registration ahead of time, the better. Let them know all the information they’ll need to register, including any documents they might need to upload to help expedite the process. Share information on when parents and players can expect to be placed on teams and hear from coaches. When your members have all the information in advance, administrators will have fewer questions to field from parents who want to stay in the loop.
Nothing makes an administrator’s life more difficult than complicated fee structures, or a lack thereof altogether. Prior to setting up your registration, be sure to meet with your board to align on your fees for the upcoming season and what you will offer with each program. Don’t forget to talk through any registration discounts you plan to offer. And once these are finalized, find a seamless and flexible way to integrate them into your forms.
Clearly outlining your baseball organization’s payment options for registration, payment terms and your organization’s refund policy is essential to setting expectations with your members regarding finances. Adding your refund policy and payment terms (including the potential for waitlists) directly to your organization’s registration process means increased visibility for your future baseball families. This is a guaranteed home run = no surprises for your members or treasurers down the road when questions arise about payment terms.
Once you’ve built your form, don’t forget to test it out! Do you run a shifted infield without testing it first? Forgetting to test your form can result in errors during open registration. Preview your form as a registrant, so you can go through it the same way your members would. Previewing it as a registrant not only ensures you check your work but also puts you in the shoes of your members, seeing firsthand what they will experience during the registration process. This is a great time to test out your fee structures, sibling discounts and advanced logic you may have built into your form.
Registration season doesn’t need to be the most stressful event for your baseball organization this year. Small improvements like these can help your baseball organization pitch a perfect game and meet your registration deadlines with fewer hiccups along the way. If you’re in the market for a new registration system, you’ll love TeamSnap’s registration solution, which gives you access to the most intelligent registration system in youth sports.
TeamSnap for Business is the right set of integrated tools for your youth sports organizations. Our central hub accomplishes all of the above tasks, including some additional and valuable capabilities:
Ready to learn more about TeamSnap for Business, an advanced suite of integrated tools that will help you simplify growth for your youth sports business? Sign up for a personalized 1:1 demo today.