Glenview Youth Baseball: Streamlined Schedules for 130 Teams

In the vibrant community of Glenview, Illinois, Glenview Youth Baseball stands out as a beacon for youth sports. 

Glenview Youth Baseball (GYB) has a number of leagues, providing numerous opportunities for youth in the area to join up and experience the excitement and learning potential that comes from being part of a league. 

GYB’s House League program is for kids from 5 years old to 14 years old. Their Travel Teams are from 8 to 14 years old, and their Fall League provides the opportunity for other teams from outside communities to play at Glenview. 

Glenview Sock Puppets and their sponsors, via Facebook   

Scheduling for 130 teams and 1000 youth athletes

Serving over 1000 young athletes, the organization—under the guidance of Michael Jahns, Director of Baseball Operations—faces the mammoth task of managing diverse teams, schedules, and operations efficiently.

Through it all, parents and community members who want the best for the baseball program regularly step up to help out whenever a need arises. 

During a typical day, Michael responds to parents' questions, manages uniform orders, and other admin related updates. He also communicates any rescheduled games to the grounds crew and ensures that fields are being prepped. 

“It’s a lot of communication, a lot of back and forth... managing 130 teams with 130 different needs and wants.” The biggest challenge is ensuring smooth operations amidst changing team compositions and community needs. 

During the off-season, Michael makes sure that all planned tournaments for the following year are registered for, insured, and all documents are prepared. He finalizes travel teams, and if there are players who decline the offer, Michael must find another player to take their place. This task can be challenging, but necessary.

At the start of each season, each team must receive a schedule, and there are deadlines that must be met for when a schedule is ready to go out so that parents can plan their children’s practices, family vacations, and summer plans.

Saving time through auto-generating schedules with Diamond Scheduler

When Michael first started out with Glenview Youth Baseball, he was introduced to Diamond Scheduler. 

“I was shown what Diamond Scheduler is and was able to use it and just go from there. And honestly, if I didn't have Diamond Scheduler, my job would have been so much harder, there would have been a lot more mistakes. And I would have just taken a lot more time to figure it out and to also get it done year to year.”

Michael highlights the pivotal role of Diamond Scheduler: “It makes it a lot less stressful to create a schedule for eight different divisions... where each division has anywhere between six to 14 teams.” 

The tool has revolutionized how they handle over 450 games, turning a potentially month-long task into a matter of days.

“Being able to rely on Diamond Scheduler allows me to focus my time and energy elsewhere. Rather than having to sit down and manually enter 450 games into a computer, I can auto auto-generate a schedule, double check if there are any conflicts, and then I can upload that to our website instead of the tedious process of doing all of that manually.”

10U Red Patriots secured another championship for @glenviewyouthbaseball, via Facebook 

The scheduling process for Glenview Youth Baseball improved significantly through Diamond Scheduler, resulting in a drastic reduction in the time it takes to create schedules. 

The technology being used has been able to support managing a large number of teams with varying needs. Michael's role has evolved to focus more on strategic tasks, thanks to the reduced administrative burden.

In closing

Under Michael's leadership, Glenview Youth Baseball has adeptly navigated the complexities of managing a large youth sports organization.

"I am proud of the progress we have made so far. We are creating standard operating procedures to bring more consistency to our organization. In the past, there was a lot of turnover, which resulted in a lack of continuity and consistency in how things were run. Therefore, we are working towards creating a consistent experience for the kids and turning our community-run nonprofit organization into a trusted institution that people can count on. Our goal is to make GYBI a reliable and consistent part of the Glenview community."

The strategic implementation of tools like Diamond Scheduler has not only streamlined administrative processes but also enhanced the organization's capability to serve its community better, fostering a robust and supportive environment for youth development in sports.