Hey, coaches and team parents: Your roster of responsibilities is pretty full — sub us in for your behind-the-scenes youth sports team management tasks.
Cheddar Up’s free online software collects and tracks payments and team information automatically so you can spend less time money-counting and more time play-calling.
Here are a few reasons your team might use Cheddar Up:
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Sport and tournament registration
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Youth sport sponsorships
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Team fees
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Team fundraising
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Tournament logistics
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Uniform orders
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Banquets
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Team apparel store
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Coach gifts
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Booster club memberships
But really, the list is endless. Our platform is extremely easy to use and versatile — and it’s loaded with exclusive features.
We think these are some of our most helpful features for sports teams and coaches.
Collect registration (or other team) fees and custom forms in one transaction
This is what we do best! You can collect all the necessary information and payments at one URL — and all inputs are automatically organized by the payer in your backend reporting center. (Plus, download a spreadsheet of all the collection details for an at-a-glance look.) The forms are as flexible as you need them to be too. Need player contact info? You can do that. Or parent signatures for minors? Included. Speaking of …
Create sports liability waivers and permission slips
If you’re transporting players by bus, or they’re traveling to tournaments and camps without parents present, it’s essential to have signed permission slips at your fingertips. This is one of the many types of forms we offer, and all electronic signatures are stored right in your account. Bonus: We have a phone app for both Apple and Android — so they’ll all fit in your pocket too.
Stick to signup and payment deadlines with automatic collection closing
Youth sports team management means you have a lot coming at you, at different times — league registration then uniform payments then tournament signups, and on and on and on. Help prevent stragglers with our timing and access features, which will automatically end your collection on the date and time you choose.
Offer payment plans with recurring payments
Sports at any competition level cost money. Parents may appreciate the option to pay in increments instead of everything upfront. Enter our recurring payments feature. You can set the amount or allow the payer to choose. For more details and examples, check out this blog post.
Assign multiple account managers
Do you and another coach split organizational duties? Simply assign more managers through your account dashboard, and you’ll stay on the same page — because everything recorded for your team will be on this one page. (Not separate files on separate computers.)
Use our messaging center for your sport team’s communication
You can send invitations, reminders, and messages directly through your Cheddar Up account. Maybe you have a collection for concessions sign-ups — this is a simple way to remind parents of their dates! Or you need to send everyone tournament site information. This is the spot to do it to make sure you don’t miss anyone. Learn more about messaging features (including history and creating an address book) here.
Set up a group page as your team’s very own website!
A Cheddar Up group page lists all of your team’s created collections at one URL. (As opposed to having separate URLs for each collection.) This is helpful for coaches and team parents as a home base for communication, but it’s equally helpful for other parents and players because they can see current and upcoming payment needs.
Organize collections with categories
We think this feature is prime for youth sports team management. Take uniform orders, for instance: You may sell uniforms, bags, equipment, and spiritwear at the same time. Categories allow you to break that one collection into many parts — and helps your players clearly see all the pieces they need to purchase. This could also be helpful for travel sports teams: For each tournament, you may need to manage entry fees, hotel needs, or food costs in one place.
Set up an online team store for both uniforms and team apparel
Set up an online team store with quantities tracked by size, thanks to item variations, which are kind of the professional organizers for Cheddar Up collections. Instead of creating separate items for every size you offer, you can create one item with multiple sub items.
For example, you’ve set up a collection for players to choose their uniforms. Instead of listing every single uniform number available as a separate item, you can create an item for Large uniforms, then create an item variation for each number available in that size. When players choose, they’ll pick their size first, then see which numbers are still free. If a number is taken, it will show “Sold Out”.
Boost team fundraising
We’ve got two great features to help boost team fundraising. Number One: Our fundraising progress bar shows all page visitors how much more money you need to meet your fundraising goal — which could incentivize more donations to get you closer.
Number Two: We offer flexible fee options. Transactional fees are added to all payments made on Cheddar Up, and the default setting requires donors to pay them, which could help maximize the dollars you keep. However, if you think the lack of fees will help incentivize more people to donate, you can give payers an option to pay fees instead of a requirement. Or, encourage people to pay by e-check, which has a flat fee, not a percentage.
Team Tip
You can also offer recurring payments, which may allow payers more freedom to give and give your team a steady cash flow. You can set the amount or allow the payer to decide.
Accept credit cards for tickets and concessions with our mobile payments and point-of-sale app for your team
Yep! You can run credit cards on the spot. And, if you also pre-sell tickets through your collection, whatever you sell at the door will add to your overall quantity. Everything syncs up — and is automatically tracked and quantified in our reporting center.
Filter by athlete or event in our detailed reporting center
Need to see which players have registered for the awards banquet, or check to see which tournament fees are still outstanding for each athlete? Our report filters make it simple to find this — and loads more. You can view the payments and information you’ve received across the account, or just for one collection.
Download account-wide data for a team payment tracker that simplifies accounting and promotes transparency
Account-wide reporting will especially be helpful if you coach a school sports team or report to a parent organization. With our account-wide data, you can download comprehensive, customized reports detailing the financials across all your collections. If you’ve kept all records through Cheddar Up, you likely won’t need additional number-crunching!
In short, before you go
Cheddar Up takes the stressing and guessing out of youth sports team management. You can collect money and customized forms for, well, pretty much anything, and we’ll automatically organize all details in your backend reporting center. League signups — check. Uniform sales — check. Tournament logistics — check. Payment plans — check. Credit card payments for tickets and concessions — check and check. And all of the above in one convenient, easy-to-navigate dashboard.