WAYS & TeamSnap: Developing Well-Rounded Female Athletes

Washington Area Youth Sports (WAYS) is a not-for-profit organization designed to develop the female athlete both on and off the field. Through its Wildcats lacrosse teams and Sharks field hockey teams, WAYS is able to foster a lifelong love of sports and to successfully build the confidence of every young female player. What a great mission! 🏃‍♀️💪

We spoke to coach and director Raymond Krouse to learn more about the organization and how they use TeamSnap.

TeamSnap: What can you tell us about WAYS?

Raymond: WAYS strives to help every athlete improve as a player, teammate, and person. We believe in developing the whole person by providing a positive, hard-working atmosphere, but by also protecting their love of the game. Our unique and mindful approach to sports encourages our young athletes to push beyond their comfort zone and to hold themselves and their teammates to a higher standard.

TeamSnap: How long have you been with WAYS?

Raymond: I have been with WAYS since we started in 2018. I am one of three directors of the nonprofit organization, as well as a coach on our lacrosse, field hockey and basketball teams. I started coaching for my daughter’s teams and have a passion for coaching, so I continued to learn and commit to coach various sports after starting WAYS.

TeamSnap: What made you decide you needed something like TeamSnap?
Raymond: Our organization runs multiple teams across multiple sports, and we have a small group of coaches who are responsible for keeping the administration of those teams organized. We would find it difficult without a tool like TeamSnap.

TeamSnap: How does WAYS use TeamSnap?
Raymond: We use TeamSnap to manage our rosters, organize practice and games schedules, and to communicate with families via email and text messaging.

At tournaments when we are trying to get the team together before the first game at a new location, TeamSnap has been really useful for getting out real-time communications, so we get all the players to the right spot on time.

TeamSnap: How does TeamSnap make your life easier?
TeamSnap provides the platform for all of our players and parents to have a single access point for information about the team. The communication tools make it simple to communicate, especially when there is a change in plans, fields, and other information.

I have used other applications for sport team management and TeamSnap is easy to implement and user-friendly for the players’ families. Import functionality and archiving of old seasons to start new ones make the continued use effective.

WAYS advocates falling in love with the game comes from trusting your teammates and coaches to work hard both on and off the field to achieve success. TeamSnap is proud to be WAYS’ trusted tool to help their players, families and coaches work together in this mission.

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Lisa Hope is a product marketing manager with TeamSnap and a marketing professor at the University of Florida.