Picking up a sport later in life can be difficult, especially when that sport involves skates and a hard sheet of ice. Talbot McInnis, Founder of Super Audio-Video Ice Hockey, is passionate about creating an environment where new skaters feel welcome and supported within the world of competitive skating. Because of this passion, Talbot shoulders a lot of responsibility within his role.

Talbot handles the management of the ice rink contracts, paying invoices to the city, collecting membership dues, arranging insurance for each skating event, and coordinating event attendance. Perhaps his most important responsibilities include setting the pace and tone for each skate, and prioritizing safety and fun for the members, while also serving as a backup goalie.

To handle these mounting responsibilities, Super Audio-Video Ice Hockey began communicating through group text messaging and then transitioned to Teamstuff, utilizing the app until it shut down a few years ago. 

“I work in technology and felt we had a young enough membership base that finding another technology-driven solution was essential,” Talbot said.

After researching alternative platforms, Talbot came across Spond in early 2021. Spond’s cost-free, ad-free, and user-friendly interface instantly made it the easy choice to implement for the ice hockey team. Integration was effortless and user adoption happened immediately. 

Through Spond, Talbot and his coaching team can maintain their roster within the app, including both full-time and part-time players. Weekly skates are automatically scheduled on the platform and each member can record their attendance. Members are also able to easily check the skating schedule to ensure they’re aware of off-weeks and can communicate with one another and with coaches via the app.

After members confirm attendance for each event with Spond, coaches are able to confirm they have a sufficient number of players and goaltenders for each scheduled skate. The coaches could send team invites for free within Spond and issue reminders when they needed to hear back.

“Spond removes a lot of the need to send out communications at all,” said Talbot. “All the information our team members need is housed right in the app at the touch of their fingers. We can use polls to give members a voice in decision-making, encouraging chats and comments to build a sense of community, and have real-time messaging so we can notify members of any changes as soon as they happen.”

Talbot is grateful Spond allows him to do what he loves, spending more time getting new skaters on the ice, allowing them to become competent, confident skaters.

“At Super Audio-Video Ice Hockey, we’re huge fans of Spond. We know technology doesn’t come easy to everyone, but Spond makes it simple no matter how experienced a user is. Running our group is significantly more streamlined with Spond and we would recommend the app to anyone who wants to improve their team communication!”

Let Spond help your team skate their way to success! Download the Spond App for free and change the way you manage your time from today.