For this week's post, I wanted to explore what programs are available for A.D.s to use. I remember life as an assistant athletic director all of the paperwork involved into a high school's athletic program. From the time making phone calls to other schools looking for games, the transportation of the teams to and from the contests, and the contracts that needed to be sent out to the referees. It was a never ending cycle, work on the fall sports in the spring, the winter sports at the beginning of the school year, and the spring sports as soon as the fall seasons were completed. The behind the scenes work that was necessary to make every coach's life as well as the lives of their respective staffs and athletes, was a very busy one at best.
During my tenure, the athletic director was working with a programming company to streamline and organize all of the paperwork. This ultimately became League Central, a one stop shop for ADs and coaches to complete schedules, update player information, request officials and buses, etc.
For this post, I wanted to take a look at what is available today. What I found was fairly limited, but I included links to them below. If you know of any others that schools in the area are using please let me know. I know that some of us in the class are looking to become ADs so I wanted to expose you to some of the products available, this is not an endorsement of any kind. Hopefully, this can be used as a starting point. Let me know what you think.
Athletic Director software
Park Enterprises cost $199.95
Allows people to create budgets, control inventory, calendars of events, etc. Not sure if the $199.95 is a one time only fee or if it is annual. Each individual program there are 7 total.
Schedule Star
Another service, however, this one is web based and has programs for iphones, blackberry and other smartphones.
Here is the link to the fees, which are annual.
SportsPak
Another software program that will provide ADs with all the necessary supports to operate and maintain athletic programs at the middle and high school level.
Wow! There is a lot of great information and insight to the world of being an Athletic Director. I have never really looked into being an AD other then only have an interest in sports. This truly is a great starting point! Thanks!!
ReplyDeleteVery helpful. The thought has entered my mind of maybe going down this route...we'll see what happens but it's good to hear thoughts and suggestions from someone with experience.
ReplyDeleteI know we have some of the same issues at my school. There is a real market for programs. The programs could prove especially effective if they free time from the administrator as they may double as the AD.
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