5 Useful Apps and Websites for Cheer Coaches

How do you keep in contact with your squad? Texts? Emails? What about upcoming events and games? How do you make sure your team has access to times, locations, and what bow or uniform to wear? Here are some great apps and websites that have helped my team have the information they need at their fingertips! 1. First Touch App. This is a free app the whole team can download, regardless of what kind of phone they have. This app has everything a coach needs to get in touch with their team: a team calendar, alerts, group chats, photo sharing, and news. In the past, I received countless text messages and emails asking, “Where is the event again? ” or “When do we meet? ” Instead of continuously having to search for the address or find the email with all the information to copy and paste, I found my responses had changed to, “Please view the team calendar on the app, thank you! ” My team is well aware of our new system, and it seems to be working quite well! Parents can even stay well informed by using this app. It makes it easy to send quick alerts to inform squad members of a cancelled practice or a sudden location change. Unlike text messaging, no one is accidentally left out of an alert. 2. Facebook. Most teams now have a Facebook page that the coach has created. If not, this is a great way to keep squad members and the community informed. It is also a great tool to showcase pictures and videos of your team! Parents will love to take part on their child’s sports page, and will enjoy watching videos and looking at squad pictures. You can get a lot of support from the school and fans, as well. We also use Facebook as a way to connect with our community when we have a fundraising event or tryouts approaching. Most people have Facebook today and are typically connected by phone‚ receiving alerts and messages from pages they follow. Add the Pages App on your phone to access your page quickly and easily! 3. Twitter. Twitter is popular in the high school world. This is a great social media tool to use for quick reminders for your team. Twitter is great, however tweets can only contain 140 characters. If you want to announce an event to the public or to your team, Twitter is probably not your best route. I typically will use Twitter as an advertisement to our website, for new members to learn about what we offer. 4. Freeteams.com. This is a website that allows coaches to make their own site for their team. It is fully customizable, and such a great resource for your cheerleaders and their parents. I have added everything my team needs on this website, including cheer and chant lists, videos, photos, a team calendar, parent info page, tryout information, and so much more! It is easy to use, and fun to make the site fit your team’s needs. My team is required to use this site as their main source of information. If they need to print something out, they can click on “Handouts’ and get what they need. I have a parent’s page to make sure they are also fully informed, and know where to find important information. 5. TeachAide App. I use this app to take attendance for my squad. Although it is not specifically designed for teams, I still find this app a helpful tool. You can easily input your students through your contact list. When we have practice, I add a date and mark those who are absent, tardy, or present. By clicking reports, you can see their attendance up to that date. It also has a feature that allows you to randomly pick athletes for whatever purpose you need it for. Sometimes, I have to pick someone to run an errand, and using this tool is AWESOME! There are no arguments! It can randomly select groups as well, which is great! Again, no arguments! Those are a few helpful apps I have found throughout my coaching experience that have helped me to stay organized and keep team members, parents, and other coaches informed. What are some handy tech tools you’ve found to work for your team? Tell us in the comments!