This Week’s Playbook. Thanks for reading our Program Director’s Playbook. Today we launch our new design that incorporates all the things you asked for: helpful tips for all aspects of your program, better readability and easier ways for you to share feedback and share our newsletter with friends. So let us know what you think below. Here’s what else we have tee’d up for you this week:

“The sideline teaches more about your program than the scoreboard ever will.”

— Chad Henry, Signature Locker | Read more →

You're juggling registration, payment tracking, volunteer recruitment, equipment inventory, and roughly 600 other urgent tasks while the metaphorical floor is on fire. The difference between programs that thrive and programs held together with duct tape and prayer? Seven unglamorous systems that do the heavy lifting so you don't have to. Spoiler: your email inbox is about to get a lot quieter. Stop firefighting and start coaching.

— Chad Henry

Or add some other ops tools to your toolbox:

It’s Week 4 and your phone buzzes with a novel-length text from an angry parent about playing time. You spend an hour mediating a situation that has already escalated. The parent is frustrated, the coach is defensive, and you are wondering how you became a family therapist when you just wanted to run a sports program. Most coach-parent conflicts come from expectations that were never aligned early on. Parents assume one thing, coaches assume another, and by the time the gap becomes obvious, emotions are already high. The good news is that three simple pre-season conversations about playing time, communication boundaries, and season goals prevent about 90% of this drama. Programs that implement these alignment conversations report 60 to 80 percent fewer conflicts and far less director stress. Stop firefighting and start preventing.

— Ricky Reyes

Or check out more ideas for staffing and coaches:

A parent walks into your office panicking about college recruiting. "Everyone's doing elite travel teams and showcases. Should we be spending more? We can't really afford it, but..." Stop right there. Here's the secret the recruiting industrial complex doesn't want you to know: a 3.5 GPA opens more college sports doors than another $3,000 showcase tournament. Hundreds of D2, D3, and NAIA coaches are actively hunting for solid players with strong grades—not because they're settling, but because student-athletes who can handle a 3.5 tend to stick around all four years. Meanwhile, skill development happens in your local gym for $500, not on a travel team for $5,000. And character? Totally free, shockingly rare, massive differentiator. The expensive pathway works for about 2% of athletes while financially gutting everyone else. Show families the affordable route that actually works.

— Ian Goldberg

Or check out more ideas for staffing and coaches:

Have a great sports week,

Chad Henry and the Signature Locker Team

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