Blue Sombrero

Blue Sombrero
Online registration is not new sports technology but the way Blue Sombrero operates as a company with humility and love for the game of soccer sets them apart from their competitors. As a former National Sales Director for Count Me In, I know exactly what benefits they offer and can say in this blog with confidence that either SombreroReg or SombreroWeb will fit many of your youth sports management needs as a soccer org or team. See http://www.bluesombrero.com/

SAAS
These types of software programs are known in the techie world as ‘SAAS’ or service-as-a-software. You may have heard the term “Cloud Computing.” What that means is Blue Sombrero has the infrastructure in place to “host” your data on their servers which eliminates the cost of IT to you, the end-user. It also gives you the flexibility to go online from anywhere in the world and work with your secure data that is magically hosted in the Clouds.

Online Registration
What Blue SombreroReg provides are sports technology tools that give you the ability to have online registration, email communication, team and order management, reporting, game and practice schedulers and volunteer management. The cost is a $500 activation fee and $3.50 per registration. To be able to take the administration burden off a team, this is a reasonable pricing structure.

Their SombreroPro offers a “Club Management Pack’ that is tiered with many useful advanced features developed from years of soccer administration experience. Whether its Birth certificate tracking, the clone program for quick setup, or, advanced game and scheduler tools, plus dozens of other options, it may be worth the upgrade if you have the allocated funds to buy SombreroPro. Read about here: http://www.bluesombrero.com/Pricing/SombreroRegPricing.aspx.

Both SombreroReg and SombreroPro offer credit card processing fees with your existing merchant account or one that is provided by Blue Sombrero.

Web Design
SombreroWeb is set up to conceptualize and design your web site look and feel. With SombreroWeb you get the option of a Bronze, Silver of Gold Package that are all robust and include a one-time design fee, monthly hosting and maintenance, and features such as a Contact Management Solution (CMS). You can start with the base template that the Bronze provides or ramp up to the Silver and Gold options for customization. All packages come with a dedicated account manager, 1 GB on storage, and full support via online videos and online forums.

Another significant advantage to using any Blue Sombrero program is the seamless migration of existing data from a competitors program into theirs.

SombreroPay
Blue Sombrero just launched the new SombreroPay http://www.sombreropay.com/ . This new service gives youth sports an online payment option for team managers, parents and coaches. SombreroPay makes it easy to e-mail user-friendly invoices, collect various fees and track all payment data via a secure processing web site. No longer will you have to write checks to field administrators or use spreadsheets to calculate who has paid team dues, all that information is available now in any browser that runs on a PC or Mac. Uniforms, training gear and team pictures can be purchased with SombreroPay. It truly is a one-stop financial tool for sports admin’s.

Club Store
Another brand new software product is ‘ClubStore” powered by Eurosport http://www.bluesombrero.com/Features/SombreroREG/ClubStore.aspx. Here you have the ability to earn your club income via an online store partnership with Eurosport provided by Blue Sombrero. Instead of having your players spend money at retailers, you can know now offer the Eurosport catalog of products and rewards directly to your team, league and fans, through this exciting partnership. Once again, there are no IT costs associated with ClubStore; it is all done via the Clouds.

Erik Stadler
Erik Stadler is the President and founder of Blue Sombrero. They began business in 2002 and are located in Atlanta, GA. I lived the Atlanta in 2001 and know how much passion there is for soccer in these diverse communities, much like here is Washington State.

Erik shared that the Sombrero is in fact the name of a move that Brazilian soccer superstar Ronaldinho has perfected. See the Ronaldinho soccer flick here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYUQYOTZzqc.

I enjoyed hearing about Erik’s background as a home-grown soccer player from Atlanta. He is also a fellow South American. His foosball skills are apparently top-notch. After playing professionally overseas, he started a company that ran soccer camps. From this hands-on experience spending too much time using paper to run his business, he saw the light for Blue Sombrero software.

Integrity and honesty are core company competencies. Erik has tremendous confidence in Blue Sombrero and his team. As a result of his faith, Upward is a company that provides 2,600 church leagues with youth management services thru either Blue Sombrero or one other company.

Sports Technology
The engineering and source coding for Blue Sombrero products was developed locally by App Theory.

At the NSCAA http://twitter.com/NSCAA soccer convention in January, Blue Sombrero has a significant exhibitor presence. They run a ‘User Forum’ at the event in order to get feedback which is collected for product enhancements. In 2010, they had over 100 new features in Blue Sombrero products.

Another way they upgrade their wares in by having a ‘Round Table’ at their corporate headquarters. They discuss product methodology with the sales and marketing team who are the front-line users of Blue Sombrero software.

Look for a Mobile App somewhere down the development road said Erik. He was excited to report that they recently heard a testimonial of a happy customer who used an iPod to make needed changes on the fly.

Social Media
I enjoyed the Blue Sombrero Youtube videos. Check them out because they are easy to understand, lively and have good tunes mixed in: http://www.youtube.com/user/BlueSombreroTV. They also have a Facebook page and Twitter user account here: http://twitter.com/Blue_Sombrero.

C21
Big thanks to Communications 21 for introducing Blue Sombrero to Sports Techie. C21 is a marketing, public relations and design firm located in Atlanta and can be found here: http://www.c21pr.com/

Sports Techie
Yes, Blue Sombrero passes the Sports Techie test with flying colors and so does Erik. Be sure to keep them in mind for all your online youth sports management needs.

I will see ya when I see ya Sports Techie @sportstechieNET.