CoachUp chats with basketball coach Alli D. about her experience using the Events tool to manager her first CoachUp clinic.
CoachUp: Can you share any details on your first event on CoachUp? How many athletes attended? What kind of drills and activities did your clients do? Where was the event held? How did you feel the event went from the athletes’ perspectives?
Allie Dynes: My boyfriend and I decided to team up and run our first clinics together via Coachup. My friend created the flyer for us, and we were able to hand it out and hang it up at some local businesses. I also posted on my social media outlets and some local coaches and AAU programs helped promote it as well. Overall, we had 20 athletes show up for our boys and girls clinics.
The turnout was great for our first go round! The clinic was open to 1st-6th grade beginners and consisted of ball handling drills, shot form, passing, jump stops/ pivots etc. As much as it was a hands-on clinic, we also make sure to ask the kids questions and have them come up with the answers instead of just teaching at them. I’ve found this has a greater benefit to the child and helps them remember more if they find the answer instead of just being lectured! We held this event at an outdoor court in a community that our family members live in. I feel the event was a huge hit and we got a lot of positive feedback! We intend to do a beginner event per month and hopefully rotate locations.
CU: Have you previously run camps, clinics or group session outside of CoachUp? How did you manage those clinics in regards to registration, payment collection, communication with clients, etc.?
AD: I have previously run camps at Saint Leo University where I was an assistant coach for two years. I have worked at and helped behind the scenes at various other camps (i.e. Notre Dame, Florida State). In those instances, our media department handled a lot of the online registration and payments while we communicated with future campers.
CU: What were some of the main benefits of running the clinic through CoachUp?
AD: One of the main benefits was the ability to have the online database and background work already done for you. It’s nice to have the website and payment collection done online so we do not have to worry about collecting money at the door and the hassles that come along with that. It’s also nice to be able to attach yourself to a company and have a profile set up online for parents to view.
CU: Do you have any feedback on the CoachUp “Events” tool? Are there any improvements you can recommend for making things easier for you on future clinics?
AD: My only improvement would be to be able to sync your events with another coach on CoachUp. My boyfriend and I are both CoachUp coaches but he put the boys’ clinic on his page while I put the girls’ clinic on my page. It wasn’t really that big of a deal but it would be nice to sync the two and just automatically have the money split to two accounts. I know this is way easier said than done!
CU: Do you have plans to run additional events through CoachUp in the future? If so, would you do anything differently than the first one?
AD: We hope to run beginner clinics once a month and maybe expand to the middle school level as well! I would brainstorm other ways to promote the clinic outside of local businesses and my social media.
