Features › Team communication app
Team communication

Sports team communication app for clubs and coaches

One message reaches the right players and parents – as a push notification, an email or a post in the club feed. No group chat to maintain.

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★★★★★ 4.3/5 on Capterra · 16 reviews
46,000+ clubs 2M+ members Free Basic plan
Team chats in the SportMember app, with one chat per team across the club
Kick-off moved
Sent to U14s & parents
Read by 34 of 38
Within 20 minutes
One channel, not five group chats

One place for everything the club needs to say

Most clubs communicate across a WhatsApp group per team, a Facebook page, an email list somebody exported last season, and a coach's private phone. Nobody knows which one a message went out on, and the parent who most needed it was never added. SportMember replaces all of it: the audience for every message comes from the member list, so it is right by default and stays right when players move team.

  • Push notification, email or a post in the club feed
  • Recipients come from the member database, not a copied list
  • Parents included, or messaged on their own
  • Free on the Basic plan, on iOS, Android and web
The Communication menu in the SportMember web admin with email, news, newsletter and banner management, showing published club news
Features

What the team communication app does

Built for the coach who just needs everyone to know the pitch has changed.

Push notifications

Changes reach people before they leave home

Move a training session, cancel a match or change the meeting point, and everyone invited gets a push notification straight away. The same goes for reminders before an activity and for anyone who still has not said whether they are coming. It happens automatically from the calendar – the coach does not have to write a separate message.

  • Automatic alerts on changes and cancellations
  • Reminders before training and matches
  • Nudges to anyone who has not replied in the attendance tracker
The notifications list in the SportMember app, with alerts sent to members
Targeting

Write to the group it concerns, not the whole club

Pick the audience first: one team, one age group, all coaches, the parents of a squad, or everyone who has not paid their subs. Because the list comes from the club's own records, a player who moves up an age group is in the right audience the next day without anyone editing a group.

  • Team, age group, role or payment status
  • Players only, parents only, or both
  • Audiences update themselves as members move
Departments in the SportMember web admin, with each department listing its teams and coaches so messages can be sent to one group at a time
Chat & news

Team chat for the day to day, club news for everyone

Each team gets its own chat for lifts, kit and the small stuff, so it does not clog up the club's announcements. Club news is the other direction: one post from the committee that everybody sees in the feed, with photos, and it stays there instead of scrolling away after an hour.

  • A chat per team, kept separate from club news
  • Club news posts with photos stay in the feed
  • Same app as the team app and the calendar
Team chats in the SportMember web admin: chat list, a team conversation and the member list side by side

Parents are in the loop

Under-18 members are linked to a parent profile, so messages about lifts, kit and fees reach the adult who has to act on them – without putting parents in the players' chat.

Nobody misses out

Members with the app get a push notification. Anyone who has not installed it yet still gets the same message by email, and the club feed is readable in a browser.

Attached to the calendar

Messages about an activity sit with the activity. Change a time in the training schedule and the notification goes out on its own.

Reviews

What clubs say about SportMember

★★★★☆

“We communicate far more effectively now, and the shared calendar is simple for everyone.”

G
Greig
★★★★★

“Chats, messages and payments are all in one place, and it’s genuinely user-friendly.”

H
Heather
★★★★★

“A great app for our club to communicate and stay connected.”

S
Stephen

Why clubs move their communication into SportMember

A group chat is free and instant, and it works right up until someone leaves the team, a parent is never added, or a message about Saturday disappears under forty replies about a lost water bottle.

The difference here is that the audience is not something a volunteer maintains – it is the club's own member list. That is also why it stays correct as people join, move team and leave.

Create your club free Compare the plans
Push and emailNobody left out
Right audienceStraight from the member list
Free Basic planChat, feed, email and push
46,000+
clubs use SportMember
2M+
members on the platform
All devices
iOS, Android and web
4.3/5 ★
from 16 reviews on Capterra
Plans

Free Basic plan, paid PRO plan

Team communication is in the free plan. PRO adds the club-wide channels the committee needs.

Basic

£0per member / month

Everything a coach needs to reach the squad

  • Team chat
  • Club news feed
  • Emails and push notifications
  • Parent profiles included
  • Member register and roles
  • Basic calendar and activity planning
Create your club free
For the committee

PRO

from £22a month · £0.16 per member / month

For club-wide communication

Everything in Basic, plus:

  • Central club communication and newsletters
  • Club banner management
  • Departments, one per section
  • Complete calendar and facility booking
  • Extended support and no system ads
  • Onboarding and data import assistance
See full price list

All prices exclude VAT. PRO starts at £22 a month and is priced at £0.16 per member per month – a 250-member club pays £40 a month, about £1.92 per member per year. Above 500 members you get a tailored quote.

For coaches

Choosing a sports team communication app — answered

Straight answers to what coaches ask before moving the team off WhatsApp.

What is the best free app for sports team communication?

The honest test is not which app has the nicest chat — it is which app knows who is on the team. A general messaging app needs a volunteer to add and remove people by hand, and that is where it quietly goes wrong: the new player is missing, last season's leaver is still there, and a parent never got added at all.

SportMember is free on the Basic plan and takes the audience from the club's own member list. Team chat, the club news feed, emails and push notifications are all included at £0 per member per month, on iOS, Android and web.

How is it different from a WhatsApp or Facebook group?

Three things. The group maintains itself, because it is the squad list. Parents can be included or messaged separately instead of sitting in the players' chat. And a message about Saturday is attached to Saturday's activity, so it does not scroll away under unrelated replies.

There is also a practical safeguarding point: coaches do not need players' or parents' private phone numbers to reach them.

Can we send a message to just one age group or the parents?

Yes. You choose the audience before writing: a team, an age group, all coaches, the parents of a squad, or everyone whose subs are outstanding. The message goes out as a push notification and an email, and members who have not installed the app still receive it.

What does team communication cost?

Nothing on the Basic plan — chat, feed, email and push notifications are included at £0 per member per month. PRO starts at £22 a month and is priced at £0.16 per member per month, and adds central club communication such as club news and newsletters from the committee, plus departments and the full calendar. All prices exclude VAT.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions about team communication

What is the best free app for sports team communication?
The best free option is the one already attached to the squad list, because then the right people are in the right group without anyone maintaining it. SportMember’s Basic plan is free at £0 per member per month and includes team chat, the club news feed, email and push notifications, with parent profiles linked to under-18 members.
How is this different from a WhatsApp group?
A group chat has no connection to the club. Someone has to add and remove people by hand, parents and players end up mixed together, and nothing you send is linked to an activity. In SportMember the audience comes from the member list, so a player who leaves the team stops receiving messages the moment they are moved.
Can we message only part of the club?
Yes. You choose the audience before you write: one team, one age group, all coaches, the parents of a squad, or everyone attending a particular activity. Nobody gets a message that has nothing to do with them, which is what keeps people reading.
Do parents get the messages too?
Yes. Under-18 members are linked to a parent profile, so you can include parents in a message, send only to parents, or write to the players alone. Reminders about kit, lifts and fees reach the adult who has to act on them.
Does everyone need the app?
No. Members with the app get push notifications, and anyone without it still receives messages by email. The club news feed is also readable in a browser, so nobody is cut off because they have not installed anything yet.
Is team communication included in the free plan?
Yes. Basic member communication – team chat, the news feed, emails and push notifications – is part of the free Basic plan. PRO adds central club communication such as club news and newsletters from the committee, and starts at £22 a month.
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