A service to our entire national community: An efficient and user-friendly system for FHC, PSOs and Clubs
Field Hockey Canada has had a need for a national database for some years, and over the last eighteen months we have been consulting PSO Members and other key stakeholders, researching, selecting, developing and implementing our FHC Registration and Event Database – F-RED. RAMP Interactive was our chosen vendor, securing the bid with their wide-ranging features, bilingual capabilities, user-friendly registrant interface as well as being cost-effective. We have been busy working with them over the past year to build F-RED to suit all our needs. The first live use was for coaching courses in June and July 2021, and since then more and more FHC groups and programs have been utilising F-RED. PSOs are being onboarded and are beginning their use of F-RED, with FHA already having been a Ramp customer for a few years.
Now we are in a position to announce our launch is complete.
CEO Susan Ahrens believes that “Using F-RED for an increasing number of FHC programs, payments and sign-ups over the last six months has revolutionized our internal operations. This national database is essential to a safe and quality sport environment, so it has been encouraging to see this come together slowly over the past year. My thanks to Tony Stewart and to Hailey Yhap for all their efforts towards creating the program elements within F-RED for registrants to use successfully and easily.”
With our all-in-one solution F-RED, FHC participants can create a free registration account for an entire family, where they can sign up any family member and pay for FHC programs, camps, courses, and events, and also pay their annual FHC fees. F-RED simplifies administrative work, e.g. ensuring all participants sign the FHC Code of Conduct, and makes complying with new legislation simple, allowing registrants to upload documents like Vaccination Records. F‑RED connects to the Coaching Association of Canada’s Locker, ensuring all coaches have the necessary certifications, and FHC Board Members, and others who need to, have completed SafeSport. In addition, F-RED lets registrants perform Criminal Record and Vulnerable Sector Checks. Using Ramp Interactive to host F-RED also enables multi-sport families to connect to the extended RAMP network, allowing them to view all their registrations from different sports outside of field hockey.
In reaching this strategic objective, Field Hockey Canada now has a long-awaited and key piece of infrastructure, which is essential to building a quality sport experience for all field hockey players, officials, coaches – and parents – in Canada. With F-RED, FHC now understands registrants, and will endeavour to offer better programs and events to meet their evolving needs, and to grow our sport in areas as far ranging as national championships, our new TAP program, as well as in Coach Education and Officials’ Education.
Tony Stewart, FHC Director and our resident IT specialist, has led the testing process and ensured FHC is making the best use of all F-RED’s myriad features. Stewart says of the system:
“F-RED has been a labour of love. It has been challenging and exciting to see him take shape over the course of the past year, as we added programs and expanded our use of F-RED’s feature set. FHC, PSOs and now Clubs can all benefit from F-RED.”
Indeed, PSOs and Clubs can use F-RED for free – there is only a charge if you use a merchant account to collect money online, or if Ramp Interactive runs their website. Onboarding our multiple groups into the system allows for all-round efficiencies to be made and money to be saved.
When our new membership year begins in September 1st 2022, all participants will be required to register in F-RED. FHC will continue to work with members to assist with onboarding.
Calgary Saracens are the first Club to take advantage of having a merchant account in F-RED, enabling them to create their junior program, accept registrations and fees for it, sell team uniform packages, and, best of all according to Club Treasurer David Simpson, “F-RED is great. I enter the dollar amount for our adult teams’ player fees, and watch the fees roll in. No more endlessly chasing people. Even though we’re not a big club, it’s easily worth the cost of being able to collect fees online and hassle-free.”
To learn more about registered participant fees and the value of a membership CLICK HERE
