--- title: "Blog | SportyPlus" description: "News, product updates and stories from the SportyPlus team" lang: "en" canonical: "https://www.sporty.plus/blog" --- # Blog ## News, product updates and stories from the SportyPlus team - [![How to Run a Tennis Ladder: Formats, Rules and Ratings That Keep Players Playing](https://www.sporty.plus/_og/r/blog/tennis/how-to-run-a-tennis-ladder.png) ### How to Run a Tennis Ladder: Formats, Rules and Ratings That Keep Players Playing A tennis ladder costs almost nothing to start and is easy to let die by June. The format you pick decides how much refereeing it needs and whether players are still playing after the first month. Read more →](https://www.sporty.plus/blog/tennis/how-to-run-a-tennis-ladder) - [![AI Assistant for Sports Clubs: What It Should Do, and What It Must Never Do](https://www.sporty.plus/blog/ai-assistant/sportyplus-assistant-pricing-answer.jpg) ### AI Assistant for Sports Clubs: What It Should Do, and What It Must Never Do A chatbot that guesses is worse than none. Here is what to expect from an AI assistant in your club software, and five questions that show whether you can trust it. Read more →](https://www.sporty.plus/blog/ai-assistant-for-sports-clubs) - [![How to Run a Padel Americano: Format, Rotation, Scoring and a Full Schedule](https://www.sporty.plus/_og/r/blog/padel/how-to-run-padel-americano.png) ### How to Run a Padel Americano: Format, Rotation, Scoring and a Full Schedule An Americano is the easiest padel event to sell and the easiest to get wrong on the night. The format is simple. The rotation, the sit-outs and the scoring are where the evening falls apart. Read more →](https://www.sporty.plus/blog/padel/how-to-run-padel-americano) - [![How to Run a DUPR Pickleball League at Your Club](https://www.sporty.plus/_og/r/blog/pickleball/dupr-pickleball-league.png) ### How to Run a DUPR Pickleball League at Your Club Players want their league matches to count on DUPR. The rating is the easy part. The organising work around it is where the season either runs itself or eats your Tuesday nights. Read more →](https://www.sporty.plus/blog/pickleball/dupr-pickleball-league) - [![Age of Digital Consent by Country: What Sports Clubs Need to Know](https://www.sporty.plus/_og/r/blog/age-of-digital-consent-by-country.png) ### Age of Digital Consent by Country: What Sports Clubs Need to Know The GDPR age of digital consent is 13, 14, 15 or 16 depending on the country. Here is the full table, what the rule does and does not cover for a club, and how to handle a 12-year-old signing up online. Read more →](https://www.sporty.plus/blog/age-of-digital-consent-by-country) - [![How to Manage Junior Members and Their Parents at a Sports Club](https://www.sporty.plus/_og/r/blog/manage-junior-members-and-parents.png) ### How to Manage Junior Members and Their Parents at a Sports Club Most clubs have juniors on the books under a parent's email, a shared login, or no account at all. Here is a structure that works for the parent, the child and the club's records. Read more →](https://www.sporty.plus/blog/manage-junior-members-and-parents) - [![AI Court Booking: Letting ChatGPT and Other AI Assistants Book and Pay for Your Courts](https://www.sporty.plus/_og/r/blog/ai-court-booking.png) ### AI Court Booking: Letting ChatGPT and Other AI Assistants Book and Pay for Your Courts Players are starting to ask AI assistants to book things for them. Here is what it takes for your courts to be bookable that way, on your rules and your Stripe account. Read more →](https://www.sporty.plus/blog/ai-court-booking) - [![How to Run a Sports Club Email Newsletter: Club News, Offers and Opt-Ins](https://www.sporty.plus/blog/email-newsletter/sportyplus-campaign-kind-of-email.png) ### How to Run a Sports Club Email Newsletter: Club News, Offers and Opt-Ins Most clubs send one undifferentiated "club email". That is why members unsubscribe from everything after one sale. Split news from promotions and both get read. Read more →](https://www.sporty.plus/blog/sports-club-email-newsletter) - [![How to Record Matches on Club Courts Automatically](https://www.sporty.plus/blog/court-camera-recording/sportyplus-member-recording-page.jpg) ### How to Record Matches on Club Courts Automatically A camera on the court is easy. Getting the right 90 minutes of it onto the right player's phone is the hard part — and that is the part the booking system should be doing. Read more →](https://www.sporty.plus/blog/record-matches-on-club-courts) - [![Court Access Control and Lighting: How SportyPlus Opens the Gate and Turns On the Lights](https://www.sporty.plus/_og/r/blog/court-access-control-and-lighting.png) ### Court Access Control and Lighting: How SportyPlus Opens the Gate and Turns On the Lights A booking is a promise that the gate will open and the lights will be on. Here is how that promise is actually wired — WebLock for access, Shelly for switching, Tweener for the light itself. Read more →](https://www.sporty.plus/blog/court-access-control-and-lighting) - [![Social Media for Sports Clubs: What to Post and How to Post It Everywhere at Once](https://www.sporty.plus/_og/r/blog/social-media-for-sports-clubs.png) ### Social Media for Sports Clubs: What to Post and How to Post It Everywhere at Once Most clubs end up with a Facebook Page, an Instagram account and a members' chat group. The hard part is not the content — it is posting the same thing everywhere. Read more →](https://www.sporty.plus/blog/social-media-for-sports-clubs) - [![How to Handle Refunds for Cancelled Court Bookings Automatically](https://www.sporty.plus/_og/r/blog/automatic-refunds-court-bookings.png) ### How to Handle Refunds for Cancelled Court Bookings Automatically A clear cancellation rule plus an automatic club wallet credit removes one repetitive task from every cancellation. Read more →](https://www.sporty.plus/blog/automatic-refunds-court-bookings) - [![How to Manage Court Bookings Without Spreadsheets, Messages and Manual Work](https://www.sporty.plus/_og/r/blog/court-booking-management.png) ### How to Manage Court Bookings Without Spreadsheets, Messages and Manual Work A complete guide to replacing spreadsheets, WhatsApp groups and manual scheduling with booking rules the system enforces on its own. Read more →](https://www.sporty.plus/blog/court-booking-management) - [![How Far in Advance Should Members Be Allowed to Book Courts?](https://www.sporty.plus/_og/r/blog/how-far-in-advance-should-members-book-courts.png) ### How Far in Advance Should Members Be Allowed to Book Courts? Too long and the best slots vanish a month out. Too short and nobody can organise a match. How to pick the number deliberately. Read more →](https://www.sporty.plus/blog/how-far-in-advance-should-members-book-courts) - [![How to Prevent 30-Minute Gaps Between Court Bookings](https://www.sporty.plus/_og/r/blog/prevent-30-minute-gaps-court-bookings.png) ### How to Prevent 30-Minute Gaps Between Court Bookings The 30 minutes between two reservations is real availability that almost never gets booked. One simple rule prevents it. Read more →](https://www.sporty.plus/blog/prevent-30-minute-gaps-court-bookings) - [![How to Prevent Players From Booking Too Many Courts](https://www.sporty.plus/_og/r/blog/prevent-players-booking-too-many-courts.png) ### How to Prevent Players From Booking Too Many Courts A few members holding most of the prime-time slots is rarely bad behaviour. It is usually a missing rule. Read more →](https://www.sporty.plus/blog/prevent-players-booking-too-many-courts) - [![Welcome to the SportyPlus blog](https://www.sporty.plus/_og/r/blog/welcome-to-the-sportyplus-blog.png) ### Welcome to the SportyPlus blog What this blog is for, and what club managers can expect to find here. Read more →](https://www.sporty.plus/blog/welcome-to-the-sportyplus-blog) - [![Five signs your club needs online court booking](https://www.sporty.plus/_og/r/blog/five-signs-your-club-needs-online-court-booking.png) ### Five signs your club needs online court booking Five warning signs that phone-and-notebook court booking is costing your club time and money. Read more →](https://www.sporty.plus/blog/five-signs-your-club-needs-online-court-booking)