Located in British Columbia, Canada, the BCSSA has been in operation since 1958, and has grown to more than 60 clubs offering speed swimming, diving, water polo and synchronized swimming to 5000-plus athletes. The Okanagan region specifically serves about 800 swimmers ranging in age 5 to 21 years old.
Ross Hoshizaki has been the Okanagan Regional Director for four years and helped facilitate the association’s transition to ACTIVE Swim Manager.
Unique Needs
A big challenge the BCSSA faced was having year-and-a-half divisions, and different categories within divisions. When trying to find the right swim software solution for its clubs, it found that many providers did not have the capability to adapt to BCSSA’s needs.
“A lot of companies flat-out refused to work with and adapt to our needs,” Hoshizaki says. “But that didn’t change the fact we desperately needed help with registrations and form collection.”
Stepping Up to the Plate
Although ACTIVE Swim Manager initially didn’t have all the functionality that Hoshizaki’s team needed, he says the ACTIVE team did everything in its power to change that.
“ACTIVE Network’s whole group of programmers, account managers and team in general really helped me get the entire province moved over to Swim Manager,” he says.
“ACTIVE really bent over backwards to get their system to work within our system. That was the reason we choose ACTIVE.”
Unprecedented Time-Savings
Prior to using ACTIVE Swim Manager, BCSSA did not have a mandated program. Teams were using many different solutions to take registrations, build rosters and manage waivers/forms. This meant the regional registrars were spending hours upon hours making sure rosters were correct.
“It used to take regional registrars 30 to 40 hours a month to make sure rosters were consistent for insurance purposes,” Hoshizaki says. “Now—I’m not kidding—it probably only takes them about an hour and a half.”
“The amount of time it saves our volunteers with registrations is just huge.”
Continued Innovation
Over the three years BCSSA has been using ACTIVE Swim Manager, there have been many instances where Hoshizaki relied on ACTIVE’s support staff and product managers to help him get what he needs.
“[Product Manager] Carson [Marston] always listens to my feedback,” he says. “He seems to genuinely want to continue improving the system and making adjustments, so it can meet our needs.”
Looking Ahead
BCSSA plans to continue reaching as many swimmers as possible as the largest multi-aquatic association in British Columbia.“At this point, the only thing limiting our growth is pool space and volunteer base,” Hoshizaki says. “ACTIVE Swim Manager allows our program to easily grow without cumbersome administrative tasks. Overall, things have been absolutely fantastic.”
