App for minor sports club registration and season fees

Parents register their kids for the season online, pay the fee, and you see right away who's in and who still owes.

Who it's for

A community sports club in Canada. Minor hockey, soccer, ringette, ball or lacrosse. One registrar who is a volunteer, a treasurer, a few coaches and a board that meets once a month. The problem bites in the four weeks before the season, when hundreds of forms, waivers and payments all land at once and the registrar is working off a kitchen table and a phone.

The problem today

Registration night fills the arena lobby. The rest comes by email. Parents send a scanned form, or they send nothing and ask me to hold a spot. Fees come in as e-transfers with no child's name on them, cheques in an envelope, and cash at the door. I keep a spreadsheet and I still lose track. I send the same reminder email four times to the same family. Two weeks before the first practice I cannot tell a coach how many kids are in U11, because half of them are registered and unpaid and I do not know which half. The waiver is a pile of paper nobody wants to be responsible for.

What the app does, screen by screen

1. Season and divisions — Parents see every division open this season, the age range, the fee and whether spots are left.
2. Register a child — Parents enter the child's name, birthdate, health notes and emergency contact, sign the waiver, and add a second child before paying.
3. Pay the fee — Parents pay by card and get a receipt, so the registration is complete the moment they finish.
4. Parent account — Parents sign back in later to see what they paid, pull their receipt, fix a phone number and check whether their jersey is ready for pickup.
5. Registrar list — The registrar sees every registration by division, who has paid, who still owes, and can message the families who owe.
6. Teams and rosters — The registrar and coaches put registered kids onto teams and see a clean roster with contacts.
7. Jersey and gear pickup — Staff at the equipment room mark a jersey number handed out so nobody hands the same one out twice.

Who uses it and what it keeps track of

• Children registered — Name, birthdate, division, health notes, emergency contact, signed waiver. The parent sees their own child. The registrar and that child's coach see the rest.
• Parent accounts — Parent name, email, phone, the children attached to them, and their past seasons. The parent sees their own. The registrar sees all of them.
• Fees and payments — Fee charged, what was paid, what is still owing, date and receipt. The parent sees their own. The registrar and treasurer see the whole season.
• Divisions and spots — Age range, fee, spots available, open or closed. Parents see what is open. The registrar sets it.
• Jerseys — Jersey number, size, which child has it, handed out or not. Equipment staff and the registrar.

What it changes for the business

Registration stops being four weeks of email. A parent signs up and pays in one sitting, at ten at night, and the spot is theirs. The registrar opens one screen and knows the real count for every division, with the unpaid families listed by name instead of guessed at. Waivers are signed and kept with the child, not in a binder. The treasurer can match money to a child, because every payment arrives with a name on it. Coaches get rosters they can trust before the first practice. And nobody holds a spot for a family that never meant to pay.

The one decision that matters

Does a registration count before the fee is paid. Option one: a parent fills in the form, gets a spot, and pays later by e-transfer or at the arena. Option two: the registration is only complete once the card goes through. Go with option two, and add a smaller deposit choice for families who ask for a payment plan. The reason is that option one rebuilds the problem you started with, a list of maybes that the registrar has to chase. When payment finishes the form, the division count on your screen is the real count. Keep the deposit visible as what is still owing, so a family on a plan is tracked, not forgotten.

What to build first, and what can wait

Build the division list, the registration form with the waiver, card payment, the parent account and the registrar list first. That is the whole crunch. Team assignment, jersey numbers, text reminders and last season's families pulled forward can all wait, because a registrar can do those by hand for one season and cannot hand-process three hundred forms. Add them once the first registration window is behind you.

How BooDoo builds it

You describe the club, the divisions, the fees and the waiver in plain words, and BooDoo builds it. It sets up the database and sign-in, so a parent sees only their own children while the registrar sees the whole season and a coach sees one roster. The same request gives you a website on its own live address, with your club's domain connected, and an Android phone app you can put on Google Play under the club's own account. Card payments come in through a ready integration. Next season, when the fees change or you add a division, you describe the change.

How you'll know it works

A week before the season you open one screen, read the exact number of paid kids in every division, and tell the coaches their rosters without sending a single reminder email that day.

Build it

Paste this in and it gets built.

I run registration for a minor sports club and I want a website where parents see each division for the season with its fee, pick the one their child belongs in, enter the child's name, birthdate, health notes and emergency contact, agree to our waiver, and pay by card right there, adding a second child in the same checkout. Parents should be able to sign in again later with the same email to see what they paid, get their receipt, fix their phone number and check whether their jersey is ready for pickup. On my side I need a registrar screen listing every registration by division showing who has paid and who still owes, so I can message the families who owe, put kids on teams, mark jerseys handed out, and close a division once it is full. An Android app for parents would be good too.