- Cap each session at your court count and keep a waitlist
- Give every booking its own payment reference
- Set a payment deadline, so an unpaid booking frees its spot
- Keep one place for news, results and photos
Where the time actually goes
I run Dalkey Pickleball Club, and the same three questions come round every week: when's the session, is there space, and how do I pay. Answer them once, and a cancelled court or a moved start time sets them all off again.
The bigger loss is the record. Someone posts a good photo from the night, and within the hour it's buried under twenty messages about next week.
A WhatsApp group is great for chatting and poor for organising. It was never built to keep a record of anything.
| Task | WhatsApp + spreadsheet | In ClubPad |
|---|---|---|
| Booking a spot | Reply "in" and hope someone is counting | Tap once and see the spot held |
| Making a change | Re-post to the whole group and wait for it to land | Edit the session; everyone sees the same thing |
| Who has paid | Scroll for a Revolut notification and guess the rest | One list, paid and owing, with a reference on every booking |
| A session photo | Gone in an hour | Kept with that night in History |
| How the night went | Nobody is counting | The Live Mixer keeps score. My Game Plus writes it up for anyone who wants that |
Getting people to sessions
An open-ended "let me know if you're coming" always ends in a scramble. Three things take the counting off you:
- Publish early, so people can plan their week around it.
- Cap the session at your court count, so you never have more players than space.
- Keep a waitlist instead of turning people away. When a spot opens, the next person on it gets in.
Decide your refund policy before anyone asks. In ClubPad, tap Policy on admin home to set it, along with whether players can hand their spot to someone else.
Payments
A two-week-old "you owe me a fiver" is much harder to collect than one from this week, so clear each session's money while the night is fresh. Whether people pay by Revolut, bank transfer or cash, three habits keep it straight:
- Give every booking its own reference, so you can match a payment to one person and one session.
- Set a payment deadline when you publish the session.
- Let an unpaid booking go when the deadline passes, so you're never the one sending reminders.
ClubPad handles the rest. Every booking gets its reference, the player is reminded halfway to their deadline, and an unpaid booking is cancelled so the next person on the waitlist gets the spot. Last-minute bookings have no deadline; those players pay on the night.
Your job is confirming what has arrived: Revolut and bank transfers before the night, cash on the night. Everything still owing is on the Confirm Payments screen.
Cash, Revolut and bank transfer are free on every plan.
Keep a record of every night
If nobody keeps a record, there's nothing to look back on, and nothing to show when someone asks how long the club has been going.
In ClubPad that record is the History tab: every night you save from the Live Mixer or record by hand, with its results and photos kept together.
Give people a reason to come back
People like knowing how they did, even in casual play. The Live Mixer keeps the scores and ends the night on a podium, with the night's highlights.
- The club runs it. No player has to buy anything.
- The free plan covers two scored mixer nights a month. Club Plus removes the limit.
- A player who wants their own nights written up (form, partners, milestones) can buy My Game Plus for themselves. The club night is the same either way.
