Text Messaging for Coaches and Sports Teams
Improve communications channels between coaches, players, and parents with text messaging. In this guide, we break down best practices and how to get started.
If you’re a coach for a youth or amateur sports team, you know that your job involves a lot more than just preparing athletes for their next game.
You have to set a vision for your team, come up with training exercises, build rapport with parents, set goals, motivate players, and probably most tedious of all, communicate with everyone who’s involved with the team.
This means staying in touch with administrators, parents, players, volunteers, bus drivers, and more. Luckily, sports team communication doesn’t have to be complicated.
Text messages allow coaches to reach anyone, anytime. And with a group text messaging service, you can cut down on the tedious task of sending endless messages from your personal phone.
What is a Sports Team Text Messaging App?
SMS platforms such as SimpleTexting are built for mass communication. A sports team text messaging app is simply the platform you choose to communicate with those involved in your team.
Coordinating matches, carpooling, training and volunteer opportunities require maximum communication with everyone involved. As a sports team or coach, you can use a text messaging app for one-to-one text messaging with your players, bulk messaging your team, or sending out training and updates to parents.
Try Text Marketing for Free
The Benefits of Text Messaging for Sports Teams
Organization is key to building a successful sports team. For coaches, text messaging is the quickest and most effective way to share updates and information with your team – and we’re not just saying that.
Text messaging has a 98% open rate, making it the best way to reach contacts. Without a spam folder, SMS goes straight into the recipient’s inbox. If you’re a coach for young people, text messaging is the number one way to ensure your messages aren’t ignored. In fact, 75% would rather communicate via message than talk.
Moreover, phoning everyone up just isn’t an option when you have limited time. Sending emails has little guarantee of being opened by the recipient (21% is the current average open rate), and anyone who has ever sent home a letter with a child knows that the chances of it reaching their parents are close to zero.
Here’s how you can use text messaging to build an effective communication network as a sports coach.
How Can Coaches Use Text Messaging?
From sending last-minute game cancellation alerts to sharing congratulatory messages, there are many ways texting can make your life as a coach easier. Not to mention safer and more efficient.
Send Bulk Messages
Keep everyone updated by sending messages to a whole group all at once. You can select a specific list of people to text, such as parents, players, or volunteers.
Inform your team of important changes or let parents know that practice is going to run a little later than usual.
Ask Volunteers to RSVP
Texting isn’t just for sending messages, you can receive them too. Send out a bulk message to volunteers or coaching assistants asking who’s available.
Their responses will be sent right to your SimpleTexting inbox, which you can manage from your phone or computer.
Send Links to Game Schedules
Don’t let a player miss another game, or worse, show up to the wrong field. As soon as there has been an update to the game schedule, send out a link to the revised calendar by text.
You can even track who hasn’t clicked on the link and send an automated reminder to review the calendar.
Collect Payments for Fees and Dues
Hounding players and parents for cash or checks can be awkward. Instead, collect money for membership fees and dues by sending online payment links.
Creating a payment link using your preferred platform, whether it’s PayPal, Square or Venmo, then send it via text.
Share Photos
Have an ESPN-worthy photo of the game-winning goal or a photo of the team where no one is blinking? Pass it along to all the players and parents! Our platform allows you to send photos as well as text.
Request Contact Information
When you send home paper forms they either get lost or are filled out with illegible handwriting. Our Data Collection feature lets you quickly request details such as first and last name, email, date of birth, or anything else you may need to know.
All you have to do is create a keyword and decide what info you’d like to collect. We’ll do the rest. All the info is safely stored in our platform where you can export it anytime.
Try Text Marketing for Free
No credit card required
Team Text Messaging Features
As you can see from the examples above, a sports team communication app like SimpleTexting lets you do a lot more than just send texts. Before you sign up for a group messaging service, make sure it has the features you need to simplify your communications.
Unlimited Contacts and Lists
With SimpleTexting, you can add as many people as you need to our platform. Plus, you can organize them into lists such as volunteers, administrators, team captains, players, etc. This way you only send the right messages to the right people.
Schedule Messages
Send a message right away, or better yet, be proactive and schedule texts for the entire season at once. Set up texts that send out the night before a big game with all the details your players and parents need.
Import Contacts or Use Keyword Opt-In
There are many ways to add your athletes’ contact information into our system. If you already have their info in a spreadsheet, you can upload it right away. You can also create a custom keyword that they can text to your number to opt-in to text messages. Create unlimited keywords for different groups. Your keyword confirmation, which can be an SMS or MMS message, also gives you a great opportunity to welcome new subscribers right off the bat!
MMS Messages
When searching for a sports team communication app or bulk text messaging service, you’ll come across two terms: SMS and MMS. SMS stands for Short Message Service and it’s what allows you to send plain text messages. MMS, on the other hand, stands for Multimedia Messaging Service. With MMS, you can send photos, short videos, audio clips and more. Use MMS to send photos from the last game or a screenshot of the latest schedule.
Templates
No one likes to repeat themselves. With templates, you don’t have to! Create canned replies for your most common messages like weather cancellations and practice reminders so you never have to type out the same text twice.
2-Way Text Messaging
With SimpleTexting, all inbound SMS messages are free. This means you can open up texting as a channel to receive questions from players, parents, or even fans! Get back to inquires right away with a simple text.
Mobile App for iOS and Android
Manage your messages from wherever you are with our app. Send messages, schedule campaigns, view replies and more, all from your phone.
Improve Your Sports Team Messaging with Texts
We’re confident you’ll love using text messages to connect with your team. It’s quick to get started, and even better, we have a free trial. No credit card needed. Sign up for your two-week trial today.