Netball Academy Management Software

Squads from juniors to seniors

Most netball academies start girls young on a modified game with smaller courts, lower posts or fewer players, then move them into age-group squads through their teens. Within an age group there is often a development squad and a more competitive one, and the best players train with both.

In AcademyPro each squad is a group with its own coaches, sessions and fee. Moving a player up is a click, and her parents are told. A player who trains with two squads belongs to both groups, so each coach has her on the register.

Courts, evenings and weekends

Netball is played on a hard court, usually at a school or community sports centre, with training on weekday evenings and matches or longer sessions at the weekend. Add your venues and their courts, then schedule each squad's recurring sessions for the term. Clashes are flagged before a session is saved.

Outdoor courts get rained off. Cancel or postpone the session and every family in that squad gets a notification, so nobody turns up to a locked gate.

What coaches record

Coaches take attendance in the AcademyPro app: present, absent, or excused with a reason. They can add photos from the session and lock the sheet for your sign-off, and you can print attendance reports for each squad, each player and your staff from the dashboard.

After a session coaches can rate each player, and skill and fitness programmes can sit on her profile. Netball's quick landings and changes of direction put ankles and knees at risk, so injuries are recorded on the profile and marked as active, being monitored or recovered.

Parents who want to know

Netball parents are often heavily involved: driving to sessions, washing bibs and helping at tournaments. Notices go to the whole academy, one squad or a list you choose, now or scheduled, with a notification on every parent's phone. You can see who has read each notice.

Parents request leave in their own app, and approved absences are marked as excused automatically. They also see their invoices and upload payment receipts there, instead of sending screenshots to a coach.

Fees and kit

Set one monthly fee for the academy with a sibling discount, which matters for netball families with sisters in different squads. Override it for a squad, make a group free, or give a player her own fee or a full sponsorship. Invoices go out each month and unpaid ones get reminders on the 5th, 7th and 10th.

Kit sizes can be collected on the registration form, and dresses, bibs and training tops can be sold through the shop in the app. Tournament entries are a one-off invoice to the players going.

Volunteer and part-time coaches

Many netball coaches are volunteers, parents or part-time coaches who fit training around a day job. They each get the AcademyPro app, where they see the sessions they're coaching and take attendance, with nothing to install on a laptop. Where coaches are paid, keep their contract on file and AcademyPro works out their pay, whether it's a fixed amount, a quota or per session coached. Expenses like umpiring courses or tournament travel are submitted with receipts and approved before payout.