It takes many people to pull off a season of sports successfully.
It is ironic that, often in my observation, the better the contribution to that successful sports season the less recognition that contribution gets.
For example; the first four years my son was in soccer all of the soccer fields he played on were mud pits by the last half of the season because we live in the rainy pacific northwest. At some point the fields mostly seems to stay relatively mud free through most or all of each season. The value of this to all concerned was huge. Despite this value the contribution was not noticed at a conscious level and it certainly got no recognition or thanks.
The point is that while we may “get away” with not giving recognition for contributions, both the team spirit and the likelihood that the contribution will continue are much less without recognition in my experience.
At Bonzi we know our role and our contribution in most of the sports organizations we serve and only need one kind of recognition; that our teams continue to use our software every year. Sure, we like and want other forms of recognition but we really only need and hope for continued use of the software. Continued use really says it all to us.
Consider taking a look around at all that it takes to run a successful sports season and making that extra effort if you don’t already to acknowledge and recognize the wide variety of contributions that made the season possible. I have been impressed by some of the coaches and parents at the season end pizza parties that lightly but thoroughly cover many and maybe even most of the contributions, large and small, that made a season possible. I’ve also notices the smiles and glow coming from people who thought that their minor contribution had not been seen when to their delight they got a bit of recognition.
Labels can deceive. There are pedestrian bridges over small creeks and then there is the Golden Gate Bridge; both called bridges but oh so very, very different.
If you choose your sports scheduling software based upon the label “sports scheduling software” and look no deeper we suggest that you might want to borrow Dirty Harry’s line from the famous movie scene and ask yourself if you feel lucky. Will you get the capabilities in sports scheduling software that you and your organization really need? Unless you are a very small organization, going by the label alone will almost certainly leave you so disappointed that you’ll likely need to bolt on a separate, costly and often difficult to use stand alone sports scheduling software.
With Bonzi you can get both the best sports software in the world, according to nearly everyone who has ever gotten a demo, AND you can get what is easily the most convenient and powerful sports scheduling software all nicely integrated and ready to roll… or you can risk being deeply disappointed. So, “Do You Feel Lucky”?
I’ve done it, maybe you’ve done it too; searched for something free on the internet. After all, isn’t that one of the foundations of the internet ethic, that good things can be had for free?
The puzzle is that there are some very good things on the internet that are truly free, such as sites like Wikipedia. But while there are some “free” things of value on the internet, in my observation, there are many, many cases where free turns out to be a sucker punch.
For example take the search term “free soccer software”, it’s searched for over 1,300 times per month on average last time I looked.
Let’s take the cotton candy metaphor for example, and let’s consider that sugar is to cotton candy as free is to soccer software. Cotton candy is almost pure sugar with a bit of color tossed in for interest. Free soccer software might be nominally free but actually offer little else of use and like cotton candy, after the initial thrill is gone you are left with at best little nutrition and possibly cavities. Here’s why…
Free does not get you these important things if you have a real need for soccer software… or any other kind of real sports software for that matter:
Live, available, skilled and dedicated support; when you get into a ditch, you are truly stuck and may have just wasted a huge amount of time because you can’t get any help.
Ease of use may be lacking because there is no team of dedicated developers keeping the soccer software code up-to-date and compatible to say nothing of easy to use from a non technical person’s point of view.
Rich and necessary features – lousy features can usually only be tolerated by soccer software users who only have very, very limited needs. Even the smallest club… maybe particularly the smallest club needs the features they need because they can’t make up the difference with manpower.
Registration; when money is involved and things go south you’ll need help… that is if free soccer software even have a real and reliable registration feature.
Scheduling; I suspect that there are some free soccer software scheduling applications out there but when most of the paid soccer scheduling applications have serious limitation it seems to be a stretch of the imagination that a free application would reliably return a satisfactory result for the critical task of scheduling teams, venues, coaches and so on.
Email; free soccer software without an automated email notification system is, in my opinion, practically worthless as you miss half the point of any sports software and that is to be able to efficiently communicate with the right sub-set of parents, coaches and team members about a specific issue, event or situation.
Web pages; this seems to be what many really mean when they say free soccer software. The price you pay here is that first they’ll charge you if you need anything beyond a stupid set of minimums and you’ll have to pay if you don’t want them to advertise as they see fit to your visitors.
I’ll stop here but the list goes on and on and on. You get the idea. Free soccer software can easily end up wasting precious time, money and give you a major league case of indigestion and embarrassment if you are the one who innocently recommended going down this problem strewn path with the simple and honorable intent of saving a few bucks.
Bonzi sports software gives you everything you could ever want to support soccer and any other sport all on one ultra high quality and supported platform. The best thing is that Bonzi is the next best thing to free as it’s the lowest overall cost soccer software on the market and is viewed by its customers as far and away the best sports software available in the north american market today.
Bonzi league software offers, according to our clients who have used virtually every alternative league software, the easiest to use and most comprehensive Registration Process.
Player and Team Registration
You can register players, teams, parents and referees. Once registered, any of the data can be edited by authorized volunteers and board members. There are multiple levels of registration so you can allow authorization limits appropriate to a volunteer’s job.
Automated Schedule and Scheduling Management
Online Web Based Schedule Creation & Management
You will be able to quickly and easily generate a centralized online schedule that can organize and optimize any size league, club or organization. The schedule will be visible to parents, players and coaches when they login to the system from any internet connected computer. Any change to the schedule will be automatically updated for all users.
Games & Referees Scheduling
You can automatically generate a game schedule for all sports and little leagues. After configuration, your volunteers, administrators and board members can easily generate schedules by division or level in a few minutes.
League Volunteer Registration & Scheduling
Parents can register their children or players 24 hours a day and seven days a week; whenever it is convenient for them.
Rain Out / Reschedule Tool Emailer
Schedule changes, including cancellations and rescheduling, are a breeze with Bonzi league software. The players, parents and coaches impacted will be automatically emailed the change and given the new game information (time and location).
Automated Broadcast Email –Unlimited, free and effective
Email Players and Parents by Level, Team, and Season
You will be able to quickly and efficiently create a group to send broadcast emails to your Parents based on their level, team, season, or their answer to a custom field question.
Secure Administrative League Access
Administrative Access can be give by Menu, Access Level, and League
We put the power in your hands to give volunteers just the level of authorization they need to do their job and no more.
Secure Portal for Parent, Players, and Coaches
Secure Login for Parents and Coaches to view Roster and Schedule
Parents can login to get secure access to the rosters, schedules, photo galleries and the ability to edit their contact information: Address, Phone and Email Address.
Secure Portal for Coaches
Coaches can log in and enter Game Scores, Player Stats, Player Evaluations, and Email their team. They can also update the contact information for their players and parents if changes occur after initial registration.
Parent Portal provides secure access to their children’s information
When parents log in, they get access to their children’s data and their children’s data only including their roster, schedule, and team photo gallery.
Customizable Registration Process & Online Fee Collection
Add Steps, Text, and Custom Fields
You can fully customize your registration to fit any need. You can add custom fields to do, among many things, collect volunteer signups, jersey size, coach signup, residency, or any data you would like to collect for players, parents, and coaches.
Customizable Fee Collection
The fee structure allows you to give family or quantity discounts and to collect residency fees, sponsorship fees, payment schedule or any other payment arrangement to meet your needs.
Secure Credit Cards Processing
Your own merchant account – No fees added on
No worries if the thought of setting up a merchant account gives you a headache; we will set you up with your own merchant account. We do not charge extra processing fees in addition to your merchant. The best part is our merchant account vendor provides the service to you for the lowest fee we have ever heard of… it is very, very low.
Content Management Software
Edit Your League’s Website – No HTML
With a simple to use content management editor, your authorized board members and volunteers will be able to easily and intuitively add, edit, and delete web pages with no or little knowledge of HTML. This drag and drop system goes well beyond most content management systems on the market in terms of its ease of use and speed of results not to mention how much money it can save you.
Unlimited Years and Seasons of History
Lookup and Email Previous Year and Seasons
We keep unlimited number of years of your history so looking back and see anything you want from previously collected data.
Finally, Bonzi is the most constantly updated and modern league software on the market.
Finally, our dedicated support staff will get you up and running quickly and painlessly, no matter what your technical skill might be. These patient and helpful people have done this thousands of times and love to help volunteers, parents and administrators actually have fun with the process. When we are done with the setup, we will import your data and get you ready to register.
The world of sports, especially boxing, soccer and football, for both children and adults is only recently becoming broadly aware of the causes and effects of brain damage in sports. With this new awareness parents, coaches, volunteers and organizers are now realizing the following about Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE):
It is a result of concussions, particularly multiple concussions
Most CTE happens to people who sustain trauma over many years – but can also develop from repeated trauma in rapid succession where the brain has not had time to heal between events.
In most cases the onset of CTE happens later in life
In our culture we value being competitive to such a degree that both children and adults often feel internal and external pressure to just “shake off” the experience and “get back in there” only to take another hit often due to now slowed reflexes.
I’ve heard neurologists suggest that a solid concussion essentially tears portions of the brain apart. In many cases a player may not suffer adverse effects if they are allowed to take the weeks or months for the brain to recover. All too often though a lack of understanding has coaches and parents allowing, and even encouraging, a child to get back into the game long before their brain is fully healed.
Sadly these oversights can set up a child for a long term struggle with pain and loss of function that doesn’t always show up until long after the event and is therefore often not directly tied to the events that caused the condition. In some cases children have been known to suddenly collapse and die, while in other cases it can take from 12 – 16 years before major symptoms appear.
Boxing and football get the most attention as sports that have a high incidence of CTE. The condition was originally thought of as mainly a risk of a long boxing career. Football has had its share of CTE with the advances in helmets dramatically limiting skull fracture but doing little to limit CTE. At least 5 prep football players are reported to die each year during the season with an undetermined number suffering symptoms long after the football season.
With the World Cup taking center stage it is appropriate to also mention that there is a rapidly growing awareness of concussion in soccer and its potential for causing CTE.
Sadly a true diagnosis for CTE can only occur after death as the result of a brain autopsy.
Please do your homework for the sake of all the sports participants in your life and on your teams.
Then again, sometimes it does or at least seems like it “kills” you.
So what does this have to do with sports software, soccer software, football sports software, volleyball software and so on? At Bonzi sports software we’ve been tested over the last decade by clients who run some of the largest and most complex sports organizations in the country. We’ve been tested by volunteers and parents who are software experts. We’ve even been tested by very small clients. The win is that with each sport, each part of the country and each new test we feel like we get better and our sports registration, website and scheduling software gets better.
When you have it easy in your life you often have no real reason to grow, improve and test your limits. We like to say that our most demanding customers – some would say the biggest pain-in-the-neck customers – are our very best clients in terms of making us better. Why? Because they are brave enough to stand up for what they want and to communicate it to us.
Sports software that serves tens of thousands of people every hour of every day is complex stuff. Add to that this software must be constantly updated to stay aligned with new browsers, new operating systems, new requirements and innovations and you could go crazy just trying to figure out what to do next. That’s where our customers help us out.
In our observation when people share their concerns, desires, wants and needs with us they are doing a number of good things:
We’ve learned that behind every concern, desire, want and need is a value of some sort. By expressing those concerns, desires, wants and needs we can get a better idea of what our customers values are. We are confident that if we the people of Bonzi and our sports software are aligned and stay aligned with our customers that we will be one of the fastest growing sports software companies in the world.
We get a chance to find out if those concerns, desires, wants and needs are for action or if they are just blowing off a little steam and don’t actually want us to do anything or if they do want action. Nobody has enough money, not even Microsoft, to blindly respond to every request. Just simply listening to our clients view of sports software goes a very long way. What’s even better is when we just ask “what action would you like us to take”?
We learned that customers who are willing to share their concerns, desires, wants and needs are usually not the kind of customer who abandons you every time a new shiny toy comes out from a competitor.
No, all this listening is not always fun… but it sure is productive. We love it when people say things like “Wow, you took care of that request fast – my old sports software provider basically charged us more, barely listened and never took any action to address our concerns.”
So what doesn’t kill us does seem to make us stronger. Got a concern, complaint or a suggestion; please let us know. After all, if it doesn’t kill us it will make us better.
One of the most startling things my father ever said to me as I was growing up was “Your eyes are bigger than your stomach”. Being very visual this statement hit me with both the “Yuck” factor of the image and the conviction that the metaphor was spot on in the situation at hand in my life.
24 – 7 – 365; All any of us has is 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and 365 days in a year. Exactly how many years each of us might be lucky enough to get persists as one of the primary questions in any life. Given all this we can only accomplish so much with our precious time. If this is so then why are we so loath to write down and commit to goals… that are somewhat realistic AND that we reasonably might have the resources to accomplish?
The power of “and”. Last summer I sent my then 16 year old son on a three week Outward Bound adventure. We were warned that the adventure would entail carrying a heavy pack for 10 + miles each day over rugged terrain. To get him ready I thought of all sorts of complicated exercise routines but in the end decided to opt for something simple that had a high likelihood of actually happening often enough that the end result would be a level of conditioning that would allow my moderately sedentary son to have a good time and not hate me the rest of his long life. At first I was just going to have him walk home from school each day; nice, simple and likely to happen. The magic was the power of the “and”. Each day he took a pack with him to school and each week we added 5 pounds to the pack so by the last week prior to his Outward Bound departure he was carrying 60 lbs for 2.5 miles each day.
So why am I telling you this? Because for once in my life I got real about the: 1) goal, 2) resources and 3) time that we had to accomplish something. Had I made this complex my son would not have been prepared for what turned out to often be 10+ hours of walking each day and often more than 10 miles over steep terrain including snow. As it turned out my son was by far the most physically fit kid on the trip and as a result he had a truly life changing experience.
The key was two-fold; first we got real and clear about what our goal, resources and time was for the mission at hand, second we kept it simple enough to get done but not so simple that it didn’t meet the need; we included the powerful “and” of both the walking and the gradually increasing weight in the pack.
Too often I fail and see others fail when we don’t get real with people in sports and recognize the reality of our goals, resources and time… and as a result we don’t accomplish anything other than creating chaos and frustration. Workout routines that are simple and have limited objectives can often achieve most of our goals for a sport while staying within our resource limits and the little time most modern schedules can allocate.
At Bonzi sports software we too are faced with being real about our goals, resources and time. As one of the fastest growing sports software companies in the world (according to our consultant) our growth consumes resources and time along with our commitment to world-class support, providing the best sports registration software, sports scheduling software, team website software enabled with an easy-to-use content manager all in a no contract customer relationship. All this comes back to our goal; a great and frustration free experience for our dedicated volunteers, administrators and parents associated with sports such as soccer, football, basketball, baseball, softball, lacrosse, hockey , little league and volley ball.
We have found that if we keep it simple and real we can leverage the power of the “and” thereby both delivering a great experience every day for our clients and growing faster than any of our competitors without losing clients.
So what do you think? Are we achieving our objective?
For many who have worked around the quest to improve performance in baseball, football, lacrosse, basketball… or any other endeavor in life we know that often the foundation of performance amounts to the combination of willing and able.
Simply put is the person performing both willing to perform and able?
The Heath brothers, Chip and Dan, in their amazing book “Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard” suggest that change, in this example changing from good performance to great performance, may require two critical things; clarity of what is required to make the change i.e. more exercise or better nutrition… and a specific and simple action that can be taken to get there.
In our experiences with performance it also helps to have both clarity of an inspiring win in personal terms and an internally or externally imposed “what by when” or “butt on the line” to take a specific action by a specific date.
Also from our experience we’ve learned that often the first step towards performance is a “what by when” for execution of an activity or more specifically an outcome i.e. run five miles. The next step and a step often regarded as an order of magnitude more difficult is to sign-up for an outcome instead of just an activity i.e. run five miles in under 30 minutes. I like to say that the professionals sign-up for outcomes while the amateurs sign-up for activities.
In the sports software or sports registration and scheduling software market Bonzi is well known as the company and I do mean the company that signs-up to lead and perform on all fronts; Bonzi signs-up for outcomes for our clients vs. just going through the activities. So what do I mean? In the following categories:
league scheduling software
league management software
sports tournament software
sports website software
sports registration software
online league software
with versions for every sport played on this earth (or at least so it seems)… Bonzi sports software has signed-up to meet or exceed our users expectations on the following fronts just to name a few:
Free, ultra high quality, friendly and available support – even one-on-one training.
Super easy to use yet easily the most powerful application on the market… and the only sports software that has a fully functioning content manager for website creation and management.
Lowest overall cost and no forced advertising on your site and in your emails.
Your money in your bank account every day.
No contracts, no surprises and no games to have to explain to your board of directors after they’ve made the initial authorization – you’ll never feel like a dummy with Bonzi
And about a million other goodies we know you’ll love like iPhone access and broader browser support than any other.
So we started this post speaking about “willing and able”. At Bonzi our performance rests on our being willing and able to give you the best sports software money can buy at the lowest cost… all so we can support your willing and able to perform in the sport you love.
Sports Software, league software, youth sports software… whatever you call it doesn’t matter as much as what your perspective is when you think of it. What do I mean?
Sports software (or whatever you wish to call it) and it’s impact on your life differs by the job or role you have when you encounter it. Your role gives you certain experiences and experiences give you a unique set of distinctions… meaning you can see things that others can’t. No kidding.
For example, a referee see’s a sports activity with one set of eyes while a participant see’s it with another set of eyes and an observer/fan see’s it with yet another set of eyes. No perspective is wrong… they’re just different.
If you have never used sports software then at first glance they all look about the same… therein lies some danger that you might make a choice based upon limited distinctions and your development of distinctions might come from having a lousy first experience using sports software, league software and youth sports software. This can be especially painful if you get signed up for a multi-year contract that locks you in because you were told that “everybody” requires a multi-year contract.
If you have used sports software then you have developed some distinctions related to how you interacted with that software and the comments you heard from others. The painful thing is that it is all to easy to either have your contract with your current provider “auto” extend for a year or two… the details around this are usually in the fine print of your contract, or jump from a bad experience with your current provider to another equally difficult experience with a new provider.
Finally, it often happens that the sports software you are using may be OK for a volunteer who just does rostering or registration but a nightmare for your coaches, the person who manages the team web site or the person who is responsible for generating reports each week. The bottom line is that it is very difficult to gain enough sports software distinctions fast enough for any one person to understand all of the questions to ask to make sure that you and your organization get the best sports software for the unique needs of your club, league or organization.
Bonzi sports software knows this oh so well because our friendly team of sports software support experts speak with both Bonzi sports software users and people who are frustrated with other brands of sports software not just daily but hourly. From that experience has come something called the Bonzi sports software “Best Choice Tool Kit” and the “Bonzi Challenge”. Essentially Bonzi sports software knows that if you ask all the right questions that you’ll be in a great position to make the best choice for your and your organization. Bonzi also has good reason to believe that if you do ask all the right questions that you’ll quickly see that Bonzi, according to our customers, has what most clubs, leagues and organizations feel is the best sports software for most them.
Are you curious? Is your sports software contract going to expire soon? Are you doing it all with Excel and sheer determination? If so then you might want to check out our free, fair, and easy to use tools to help you and your organization make the best sports software choice for you and your club, league or organization by going here: http://www.bonzicentral.com/bonzichallenge
Knowing or discovering what your market wants and then providing it is an obvious key to business and life success. But, like so many things in life, it’s far easier said than done. At Bonzi we know you want the following basics from a sports software provider because our clients tell us or otherwise confirm these things every hour of every day:
Friendly, unlimited, free support… even one-on-one training from people you know, like and trust to have your best interests at heart.
Lowest overall cost
Easy to use but with all the features and functions you need to do it your way
Your money in your bank account within 24 hours of a transaction
No surprises, no hidden costs and no contracts
The best registration, website, scheduling and email communications software available that will run with almost any browser
Speed; all of the above needs to happen fast no mater how many other people might be online
While those are all great things we’ve also realized that there are a few other elements that are also critical but at times hard to pin down:
Reliable; we do what we say we will do when we say we’ll do it
Good relationships; you treat me like a person, are appropriately warm and friendly and are willing to speak frankly when things need to be addressed
Well run business; Bonzi sports software runs a tight ship business wise so that you can count on us being both efficient and around for the long haul
Fit; you understand and give me what I need and beyond to run my club, league or organization
Listen; we ask questions and don’t assume – we get to know you and your situation by asking good questions and listening well to the answer
Research and innovation; you know best practices in sports software and are constantly working to keep the gap narrow
Caution; we’ve done our homework so that our suggestions and direction are valid and reliable
Available; you can reach us when you need us and we’ll respond
Education; you’ll help us understand how things work and give us the tips that come from over a decade of working with organizations and the sports software that supports them
Alignment; we have the features and functions you need to do your business – if we don’t have what you need we won’t hesitate to tell you so you can find a better alternative – we won’t waste your time if we aren’t aligned
Deadline oriented; let’s face it, play starts on a certain date, standings must be posted by a certain date and your email has to get delivered so your plans stay on track – at Bonzi sports software your deadlines are our deadlines
All these may seem like subtle distinctions in a sports software provider… but they are distinctions that our customers tell us make all the difference in the world to their lives using sports software.
