Day 7 in our Countdown to Opening Week
Dear United Families,
The word for today's newsletter is "communication". I have yet to hear a parent say "You communicate too much." As much as we try to be thorough, there is always a little detail or a person that is missed in our attempt to keep you informed. Communication excellence is something you strive for in an organization like ours but never achieve. My hope is that we just improve. The main priorities in our communication process will be to provide timely information that is convenient to access on a consistent basis.
Timely information
In every attempt to provide information, we will try to make sure you get the information with time to plan and prioritize. When we are limited to the amount of information we have, we will give you what we know. For example, we do not have league match days and times yet but we will let you know that they are to be finalized in the next two weeks. We do not know what our training times in the Spring will be but we show training beginning in April on our club calendar.
Information convenient to access
Our methods of distributing information should meet a diverse group of preferences. Here is a list of the media's we use to provide you with information:
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Sports Engine App on your phone - This is most likely will be your main tool for communications in the club. We use this app to send email and group messaging notifications by team. You are sure to hear from a United Parent or your coach within this app. You will also use this app to confirm attendance at all training, matches and other events via the calendar in the app. More information will be provided on set up once we have updated the system with all of the teams.
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Constant Contact - All newsletters will be sent via Constant Contact. This newsletter will be sent to your email and is made available on our website for easy reference. If you have not received a newsletter directly or you would like to add another email address, you can add with this LINK.
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Website - Our website url is www.SAA-Online.com/clubsoccer. We continue to update the site to keep information fresh. The front page should provide you with information on current topics. Other pages, including contacts, dues, and tryouts, will be kept up to date for your reference.
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Social Media - Our club has a presence on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. We post newsletters, celebrate wins, and other events here. Subscribe to your favorite, subscribe to them all.
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Email - Last but not least, we do use email. We send email via the registration system (Blue Sombrero), newsletters (Constant Contact) and phone app (Sports Engine). Email has become the new snail mail as many families have become more dependent on other media. My father still has a flip phone and a home phone with a cassette tape answering machine. Some things never change. Email remains the base to all of our communications.
Information on a consistent basis
Although I enjoy sharing all of this information with you, I could not keep up with a daily newsletters. I'm sure you could not keep up reading them even if my writing was Stephen King-esque. Once we get through this countdown, I will be easing back on the information overload. You can expect that I won't go silent for long. Communication you can expect to receive includes the following:
- Weekly Director Newsletters - This will provide you with information on weekly topics we will cover with the players. How do you know what to cheer for if you don't know what your child has learned? The newsletter will include upcoming events.
- Weekly match highlights
- Player of the week
- Regular communication from the Club Soccer Board
- and other fun stuff like "Did you know?" or video chat sessions with various guests.
The point to emphasize is that you can count on regular communication to meet your family scheduling needs and hopefully make your season a little more pleasurable. Please feel free to contact me with any feedback you have as it relates to communication.
