Program Director's Playbook

Why Summer Is the Best Time to Catch Your Next Breakout Athletes

Why Summer Is the Best Time to Catch Your Next ...

Every program has developing athletes who are easy to overlook. There's the ten-year-old who isn't on the highlight reel but outworks everyone in the drill, and the eight-year-old who spent...

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Why Summer Is the Best Time to Catch Your Next Breakout Athletes

Every program has developing athletes who are easy to overlook. There's the ten-year-old who isn't on the highlight reel but outworks everyone in the drill, and the eight-year-old who spent.

What Parents Actually Mean When They Say They Want More Updates

What Parents Actually Mean When They Say They W...

Every program survey, every parent meeting, every end-of-season conversation eventually surfaces the same complaint. We need more communication. We didn't know what was happening. We were in the dark. So...

What Parents Actually Mean When They Say They Want More Updates

Every program survey, every parent meeting, every end-of-season conversation eventually surfaces the same complaint. We need more communication. We didn't know what was happening. We were in the dark. So.

The Three Choices Every Roster Decision Is Actually About

The Three Choices Every Roster Decision Is Actu...

Every spring, somewhere between tryouts and the first practice of the season, programs sit down to make rosters. A few directors and coaches in a room with a list of...

The Three Choices Every Roster Decision Is Actually About

Every spring, somewhere between tryouts and the first practice of the season, programs sit down to make rosters. A few directors and coaches in a room with a list of.

The Pre-Fall Checklist Hidden Inside Every Summer Season

The Pre-Fall Checklist Hidden Inside Every Summ...

Mid-to-late summer is one of the highest-leverage windows on the program calendar, and it's easy to run right past it. By this point summer programming has been running long enough...

The Pre-Fall Checklist Hidden Inside Every Summer Season

Mid-to-late summer is one of the highest-leverage windows on the program calendar, and it's easy to run right past it. By this point summer programming has been running long enough.

How Programs Can Help Families Turn Down the Mid-Spring Volume

How Programs Can Help Families Turn Down the Mi...

There's a stretch every year, roughly between late March and the end of May, when sports parents start measuring their kid against everyone else's kid in ways they didn't a...

How Programs Can Help Families Turn Down the Mid-Spring Volume

There's a stretch every year, roughly between late March and the end of May, when sports parents start measuring their kid against everyone else's kid in ways they didn't a.

Why Your Best Late Bloomers Leave Before They Bloom

Why Your Best Late Bloomers Leave Before They B...

Most youth sports programs are organized around a calendar year, one season at a time: tryouts in the spring, teams formed over the summer, a season in the fall or...

Why Your Best Late Bloomers Leave Before They Bloom

Most youth sports programs are organized around a calendar year, one season at a time: tryouts in the spring, teams formed over the summer, a season in the fall or.

How to Build Long-Term Trust by Telling Families to Do Less

How to Build Long-Term Trust by Telling Familie...

Every program calendar has windows when families are most vulnerable to over-optimizing their kid. The week the season ends. The month before tryouts. The summer stretch when private lessons start...

How to Build Long-Term Trust by Telling Families to Do Less

Every program calendar has windows when families are most vulnerable to over-optimizing their kid. The week the season ends. The month before tryouts. The summer stretch when private lessons start.

Why Your Most Committed Families Can Be Your Highest Churn Risk

Why Your Most Committed Families Can Be Your Hi...

An athlete shows up to every practice, works hard, and never complains. From the stands, that looks like commitment, and most parents read it exactly that way: their child loves...

Why Your Most Committed Families Can Be Your Highest Churn Risk

An athlete shows up to every practice, works hard, and never complains. From the stands, that looks like commitment, and most parents read it exactly that way: their child loves.

How Joy-Centered Program Design Builds Long-Term Athlete Retention

How Joy-Centered Program Design Builds Long-Ter...

Many programs build their development model in a sequence that feels logical but can work against long-term engagement. They start with skill acquisition and assume joy will follow: drills first...

How Joy-Centered Program Design Builds Long-Term Athlete Retention

Many programs build their development model in a sequence that feels logical but can work against long-term engagement. They start with skill acquisition and assume joy will follow: drills first.

The Three Real Sources of Inclusion Backlash (and None of Them Are Selfishness)

The Three Real Sources of Inclusion Backlash (a...

You expanded your scholarship program. You added flexible registration options. You partnered with a community organization to bring underserved families into the program. You did the work because access matters...

The Three Real Sources of Inclusion Backlash (and None of Them Are Selfishness)

You expanded your scholarship program. You added flexible registration options. You partnered with a community organization to bring underserved families into the program. You did the work because access matters.