Instead of typing every parent's email, a coach can share one link in the team's group chat (GroupMe, a group text, an email). Each person opens it, says who they are, and a coach approves them. Nobody gets into the team until a coach approves.
For coaches
Make the link
Open Members from the top menu. At the top, under Invite link, select Create invite link. You get:
- Copy link, to paste into your group chat.
- Share…, on phones, to send it straight to an app.
- Show QR code, for parents at practice or on the sideline to scan with their phone camera.
Enter the roster first, so parents can pick their player when they ask to join.
Approve people
When someone asks to join, a number appears next to Members in the top menu. Open it to see the Waiting to join list. Each request shows the person's name, email, and the players they said are theirs. Everyone who joins through the link asks as a parent.
- Tap players to add or remove them. If the person is actually a coach, set their role to coach. Fix anything before you approve.
- Select Approve. They get the normal Sideline invitation email with a temporary password, and they join the team with the role and players you set.
- Select Deny for anyone you don't know. They aren't told; they just don't get in.
- With several people waiting, Approve all approves everyone with the roles and players shown.
You can also make someone a coach any time after they join: in the Members table, change their Role to coach.
Someone who already has a Sideline account, on another team say, is added to this one when you approve them and sees it next time they sign in.
Turn it off or make a new one
- Turn off stops the link working right away, for example once the whole team has joined. Turn back on brings the same link back.
- Make a new link replaces it. The old link stops working, so use this if the link was shared somewhere it shouldn't have been.
- A link lasts about a season (120 days). When it expires, make a new one.
- Requests nobody answers disappear after 30 days.
For parents joining
- Open the link your coach shared, or scan the QR code.
- Enter your name and the email you want to sign in with.
- Tap your player (more than one if you have more than one kid on the team).
- Select Ask to join.
That's it until a coach approves you. Then an email from team@sidelinemoments.com arrives with a temporary password and the steps to sign in; see Signing in. If it doesn't arrive, check spam, then ask your coach to look at Members.
If the page says This invite link isn't active, the coach turned the link off or made a new one. Ask them for the current link.