Canadian gymnastics software is built to handle the unique operations of Canadian gymnastics clubs. As Canada’s most trusted gymnastics software provider, we know there are specific needs that Canadian gymnastics clubs must have met to be successful.
What’s different about Canadian gymnastics software?
As the official gymnastics software partner of Gymnastics Ontario, Gymnastics BC, Alberta Gymnastics Federation, Gymnastics Manitoba, and more, we’ve seen numerous differences between how Canadian and American clubs operate.
Below, we’ll dive into some of the specific features Canadian gymnastics clubs require. We’ll also reveal how Canadian clubs can save time, save money, and grow with the right tools.
In this article we cover:
1. Seasonal and monthly registration
2. Canadian gymnastics federation integration
3. Protecting Canadian gymnast data
4. CASL compliant emails
5. Canadian data storage
6. Canadian gymnastics waivers and policies
7. Canadian customer support
Online registration built to handle seasonal and monthly registration
Numerous gymnastics clubs in the United States use monthly recurring registration payments. This allows clubs to enjoy predictable revenue while giving gymnasts a lower upfront cost to enter their program.
We recognize the benefits of monthly payments so we’ve built this payment flexibility into our software (along with installments).
However, in Canada, most gymnastics clubs run seasonally. That’s why Canadian gymnastics software like Uplifter is designed to handle seasonal registration.
That means Canadian clubs can leverage features that save time for seasonal registration like priority registration, full season cloning, advanced seasonal waivers and policies, evaluations, pre-requisites, drop-ins and much more.
When clubs use software that’s built to handle seasons, they can enjoy features that enhance their existing processes.
For example, they can easily build pre-requisite classes into their curriculum. This automatically prevents gymnasts from registering for programs like Advanced Trampoline 3, when they haven’t completed its prerequisite, Advanced Trampoline 2.
These season-based features can drastically reduce errors, saving time (and headaches) for admins and parents alike.
Canadian gymnastics software with federation integration
How can your gymnastics software provider truly understand the intricacies of Canadian gymnastics without understanding the federations?
Uplifter is partnered with Gymnastics Ontario, GymBC, Alberta Gymnastics Federation, Manitoba Gymnastics, Gymnastics Newfoundland and Labrador, and Gymnastics Nova Scotia.
Needless to say, we know Canadian gymnastics federations and we’ve built our software to ensure clubs can easily work with their federations through Uplifter .
With our federation integration, Canadian gymnastics clubs can check a gymnasts membership status with a partner federation. Then they can collect and submit their membership fees directly to their federation using the built-in federation integration tool.
This keeps gymnast dues up to date and helps protect gymnastics clubs with proper insurance.
It’s a valuable risk management and time-saving tool only found only on Uplifter.
Protecting gymnast data with Canadian gymnastics software
Canadian gymnastics software must be able to have strict privacy and security practices to protect sensitive user data. That’s why Canadian software providers like Uplifter build in additional privacy measures and controls.
These controls allow gymnastics club owners to provide staff with tiered permission levels.
With custom permissions, you can ensure that only the most trusted admins have access to all your club’s sensitive data. Plus, you can create new custom permission levels to suit different roles at your club (see more below).
In the above example, you can see that the “Accounting” permission has been granted to Mary Oliver (not a real person) allowing her to Edit Invoices, Manage Payments and Manage Reports.
In this way, a gymnastics club can easily grant specific accounting access to a third-party accountant and not have to worry about them accessing customer data that they aren’t supposed to.
Additional permission groups can include:
- Attendance permissions – for assistant coaches, assistant admins or even volunteers to quickly take attendance
- Full admin access – for a limited number of highly trusted admins to manage all aspects of your software
- Instructor permissions – for head coaches who need more advanced athlete management capabilities than an assistant
- Legal permissions – for third-party legal counsel to access, upload or edit specific legal documents like policies and waivers
- Public site administrator access – for managing your public website, if you choose to build and host your site on Uplifter (included in our Gold plan)
- Tax permissions – for a specific admin or third-party tax professional to access payments, reports and tax receipts
- Volunteer permissions – to access limited pre-approved sections of your software in order to fulfill volunteer duties
- Website content editor – for design or content production staff that only need to update the content on your website
To take things one-step further, Canadian gymnastics software like Uplifter can also store a gymnastics club’s data on a dedicated cloud database, unlike other software providers.
This means each club has its own dedicated database. No sharing with other clubs. It’s just another extra layer of security for Canadian gymnastics clubs.
Canadian Anti-Spam Law (CASL) compliance
Anti-spam laws are different for each country. For example, United States law is generally seen as less stringent when it comes to email outreach.
In Canada, the Canadian Anti-spam Law requires that clubs have a clear opt-in from users and provide a clear unsubscribe option.
More importantly, businesses aren’t allowed to reach out to people who have not provided consent to email them.
To help gymnastics clubs abide by CASL, Uplifter’s built-in email tool requires you to select a season and then choose from 3 pre-determined email lists before sending.
Other software providers may group all contacts into one big list. However, this is a recipe for lower quality email engagement.
More importantly, with one big list, your club may end up spamming past clients from several years prior. These clients can be more likely to report your email practices as spam.
Uplifter’s pre-defined email lists help ensure that clubs send their message to the right contacts and maintain the overall quality of their email list.
Canadian servers for all your data and your built-in website
Gymnastics clubs are responsible for protecting their gymnasts’ data. If clubs choose to store their data in another country, their data is at the whims of a different governing environment.
That governing environment may not adhere to the same strict standards that we have in Canada.
As a result, your club could unknowingly breach Canadian data privacy laws.
Canadian gymnastics software that allows you to store data in Canada can help keep your gymnastics club adhering to Canadian rules and regulations. Make sure you ask your software provider if your data can be stored in Canada if you have concerns about data storage locations.
Canadian gymnastics software with intelligent waivers and policies
Not all waivers and policy tools are built alike. If you’re using software that’s built for another country’s gymnastics environment, you may find your gymnastics club missing key tools that help you abide by Canadian governance.
For example, when the province of Ontario introduced Rowan’s Law that required every sports organization to present concussion policies, obtain signatures, and securely store them, Uplifter was at the forefront of adherence.
We proactively reviewed and updated any necessary tools and began presenting webinars to ensure Ontario clubs understood how to smoothly implement this new process into their registration and club management.
Because we were proactive, this process was seamless. While other software may have needed to patch more add-ons to their solution, our solution was built into the core of Uplifter.
Canadian gymnastics software like Uplifter can easily present waivers and policies during registration. Then it can securely store signed policies on individual participant profiles, and even prevent registration until policies are signed.
To take things a step further, policies and waivers can be set to recur. So, gymnasts can be prompted to review important policies or waivers on a set recurring time.
Of course, policies and waivers aren’t static documents.
When these documents are updated to include new guidance, clubs can easily prompt gymnasts and their parents to review and sign-off on new updates.
Lastly, unlike a standard clip-art and text waiver tool, Uplifter’s tool is built with fully customizable policies and waivers that can adapt to only show content relevant to a user’s age.
Meaning that someone under the age of majority only sees content applicable to them, while a parent or guardian can review and agree to all aspects with digital signatures and initials.
Bilingual Canadian customer support
Customer service can be tricky if you’re working with a third-party call center and trying to navigate software here in Canada.
Good Canadian gymnastics software has customer support operating in Ontario and Quebec, serving both English and French speakers. For extra benefit, look for software like Uplifter, where the support team is full of coaches, sports club volunteers and sports parents.
When it comes down to it, if a Canadian gymnastics club has a question, they can trust that a Canadian gymnastics software provider will understand the environment they’re operating in. They won’t have to explain how they operate differently than clubs in other countries.
This is a big benefit because it makes support interactions faster and easier.
Get trusted Canadian gymnastics software with advanced automations
When you pick a Canadian gymnastics software provider like Uplifter, you’re not only protecting your organization, you’re also fast-tracking your success.
Uplifter comes with dozens of automations to save time and grow your Canadian gymnastics club. Get automated tools like:
- Set-it and forget-it club registration with automated waitlist creation and automated waitlist notifications to ensure your enrollment remains full.
- Class restriction automations that eliminate signup errors, delivering better customer experiences and saving admin time.
- Automated discounting to drive limited time incentives, increase class registrations and reward loyal members.
- Intuitive automated scheduling that streamlines drop-in registration while keeping your staff up to date.
- Automated customizable prorated registration fees for easier bookkeeping and to encourage signups after a class begins.
- Automated overdue fee reminders to save admin time while helping clubs get paid faster.
- Season cloning for blazing fast registration setup.
Frequently Asked Questions:
Why is Canadian gymnastics software different?
Canadian gymnastics clubs often require more stringent data security and storage measures. They also must abide by laws that are specific to Canada, like the Canadian Anti-Spam Law (CASL). Beyond the governing environment, Canadian clubs operate differently. Although some are moving to monthly subscriptions, most run seasonal registration. Canadian gymnastics software like Uplifter, supports clubs with seasonal tools and features along with bilingual local support, direct federation connection, local data storage, and more.
What are some Canadian gymnastics software providers?
Canadian gymnastics software providers include Uplifter, Amilia, and Sportzsoft. Each platform offers online registration, payment processing and invoicing. However, only Uplifter has earned official partnerships with 6 provincial gymnastics federations in Canada, including GO, GymBC, AGF, MGA, GNS, and GNL.
Why choose Canadian gymnastics software?
If you’re a Canadian gymnastics club, then choosing gymnastics software that’s been specifically made to serve Canadian clubs makes a lot of sense. Not only do you get bilingual local support, you get software built to navigate Canadian security and privacy laws. Furthermore, you get features and automations that make a real difference for Canadian gymnastics clubs.
