How to handle SportsEngine schedules and messages

SportsEngine is often not one thing. Your club runs its website and registration on it, the coach manages the roster in one tool, the league builds the schedule in another, and you get the SportsEngine app on your phone. They share one login, but where a game lives decides where you can see it.

This guide covers the parent side: getting the schedule onto your calendar, setting up messages and reminders, and knowing what you can switch off.

The pieces a parent runs into

Get the schedule onto your calendar

There are three routes. Pick one per child, or one for the whole family, and stick with it so you don’t get duplicates.

1. From your account on the web (best for most parents)

1. Sign in and open the Schedule tab on the left of your user dashboard.
2. Click Sync Schedule in the top right.
3. For Google: choose Google Calendar, click Sync, sign in to Google, and click Add when Google asks (SportsEngine).
4. For Apple, Outlook or anything else: choose Other Calendar, click Copy, and paste the link into your calendar app as a subscribed calendar (SportsEngine).

2. From the SportsEngine app

For all your teams at once, tap Schedules, then the Subscribe to Calendar icon in the top right, pick your calendar and follow the prompts. For one team, tap the team on the Home page, then Schedule, then Subscribe in the bottom left (SportsEngine).

3. From the club website’s iCal feed

On a team page, look under the event list for the iCal icon; on the club’s Calendar page, use Show Tag Menu to filter to your team, then Subscribe to iCal Feed (SportsEngine). Once added, the feed reflects any addition or change made to the website calendar. If the calendar or event list is empty, the iCal option doesn’t appear.

On an iPhone, add the copied link under Settings as a subscribed calendar (SportsEngine’s steps go through Add Account, Other, Add Subscribed Calendar; the exact menu path varies by iOS version). On Android, add it to Google Calendar on the web first, then make sure that calendar is syncing on the phone.

RSVPs and the 48-hour reminder

Coaches send an invitation for each game or event. You can answer three ways: by clicking Going, Not Going or Maybe right in the email with no need to log in; in the app from the event’s RSVP option; or from the Schedule tab on the web. Rostered members also get a notification 48 hours before each event that shows your RSVP status, which makes a good last check.

Messages, texts and what you can turn off

SportsEngine messages come from a few places, and the settings are split between web and app.

• Messages from the club or team. On the web, go to Settings, then Communications Preferences, and tick the email addresses or phone numbers that should get messages from each organization (SportsEngine).
• Texts. Add and verify your mobile number under Settings, then tick it for each organization. SportsEngine notes the text alerts you to a message rather than showing it, so you’ll still open the email or app to read it.
• 48-hour reminders. On the web, open the Teams tab, click the three dots next to the team, then Manage Reminders, and untick an address to stop them (SportsEngine).
• App push. In the app, Game and Event Notifications and Game and Event Reminders can be switched on or off. But SportsEngine is clear that the emails keep coming: there’s no way to opt out of the game and event notification emails or the RSVP reminder emails.
• Team Chat. In the app, Team Chat messages arrive as push notifications, not texts, so you need the app installed with notifications allowed.

Because schedule emails can’t be turned off, the practical move is the opposite of muting: send them somewhere useful. You can add a secondary email to an athlete’s profile from the Household tab, so both parents get the same messages.

Two parents, two logins

SportsEngine handles a second adult through guardianship. A Manager guardian can register, buy memberships and edit the profile. A Viewer guardian can’t, but still gets team messages and reminders, can chat, see the roster and RSVP. For a co-parent or grandparent who drives on weekends, Viewer is often enough.

How Dottie fits with SportsEngine

Dottie doesn’t connect to SportsEngine. It works with what SportsEngine sends you: invitation, reminder and team emails in your inbox, and a calendar link you copy from Sync Schedule (Other Calendar) or a team’s iCal feed and give it to watch. When new dated events turn up on that feed, it texts you and asks before adding them to your Google Calendar.

You still RSVP in SportsEngine; Dottie doesn’t answer invitations for you. It can be wrong, so check anything that matters and correct it by text. For families juggling several leagues, see keeping kids’ sports schedules straight, and for game-day rides, carpool scheduling.