Case Study: Melbourne City Football School

How to run a successful club youth academy program

Image Source: Melbourne City FC Football School

Explore how one of the biggest football clubs in Australia worked alongside Register Now to establish and grow it’s coaching program that now includes:

• 3 venues
• Operating 12 months a year - offerings during term and holiday programs
• And now with a database of over 2,000 individual players registered

The Melbourne City Football School provides authentic and creative football coaching programs for boys and girls aged U5 - U14 utilising the training philosophy and methodology of Melbourne City FC and our sister English Premier League club Manchester City.

It is dedicated to providing young players of all abilities with the coaching support, insight and football education they need to help take their game to the next level. It's an excellent display of an organisation maximising its assets (players, coaches, knowledge) whilst also providing an avenue to identify future talent and building their brand through engaging the participants.

Register Now was originally brought in to Melbourne City FC to assist with their community events and registrations. The Melbourne City Football School program director attended the initial meeting as they were about to launch their program and needed a registration solution. The requirements were outlined and were fairly complicated with players having the option of 1 or 2 classes per week, various session times with set capacities, uniform size data required plus specific financial reconciliation requirements.

Register Now’s method for onboarding new clients is to work closely and extract as much detail about their requirements as possible. We don’t expect clients to know the system and potential as well as we do, but we also understand we’ll never know the client’s program/event as well as they do.

Simon Zappia: City Football School ‑ Program Coordinator

We asked Simon what he thinks are the most important factors to consider when evaluating different product options for event registrations.

“Flexibility in the product. Ability to build in different modes that work for our unique program set-up. Also the personal service is essential which has been a big help as we often need things resolved quickly.”

And what features or service within Register Now do you rely on the most?

“The fact that staff from Register Now are on hand to help with our needs is a big help. Every time I have called with a question or issue it has been resolved quickly from one of their helpful staff members. In terms of the product itself I rely heavily on the ‘participant search’ aspect. The detail in financial reporting is also very useful.

And what are your future plans for the program?

“Continue to grow our program and start to really build out registration sites that are very tailored to our customers using the healthy database we have created through Register Now.”

At Register Now we believe that club led programs like the above are an incredible opportunity for all clubs to engage with their members and maximise the use of their assets.

To discuss how we can assist you with your event or program today contact Ben Muldoon, Growth Hustler, via 0433 225 014 or ben@registernow.io to chat!