Tell families your retention decisions

Once a squad's decisions are confirmed, the families hear. The released families first, by phone and then in writing, and then everyone else in one send that you check family by family before anything goes.

Deciding and confirming the squad come first, on Run your retention round.

• The squad shows as confirmed on the Retention board. Until then, Send… isn't there.
• The letters are your club's own wording, under Settings, in Offers & Release Messaging, and the deposit and how long families have to accept are under Payments. Read both before your first send.

Nobody should learn by email that their child hasn't been kept. If the squad has releases, a Calling list button appears on the confirmed squad. It opens Release calls for that squad, counting how many of the squad's released families you've called so far. Each player's card holds:

• the family's contact details
• Context for the call: the player's matches, minutes, goals, assists and attendance, so the conversation rests on the season's facts
• Log the call, recording who you spoke with, for example "Maria (mum)", and notes from the conversation
• Where are they going?, optional, and it counts towards the club's FNSW progression score.

To release a single player on their own, Begin release on their row walks you through three steps. Step 1 asks about the conversation: choose "We've spoken with the family" and record the date and who you spoke with, or send without a call and tick that you understand the family will hear by email first. Step 2 shows the email exactly as the family will read it, with + Add a personal note for a line of your own. Step 3 names everyone the email goes to, repeats its subject and opening, and sends one email to the family, with no notification and nothing in the app. The button counts them, such as Send kindly to 2 people.

Select Send… on the confirmed squad. The window that opens, such as Send BYL U15 decisions, says plainly "This tells families. It can't be undone.", and lays out exactly what will happen:

1. Release emails go first, by email only. Nothing appears in the family's app. Every released player is named.
2. Offers to retained families follow. Parents receive the offer in the app, as a notification and by email, with the deposit that secures the place. Every family is named, with the deposit they'll be asked for.
3. Families have until sets the deadline. Leave it blank to use the club's default, or pick a date between tomorrow and 60 days away. The whole final day counts.
4. If any released family hasn't had a call logged, they're named, with Open calling list beside them.

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1. Select Review and send. Clubhouse checks the squad again and lists every family it will tell, released families first, with how each is reached (by email, in the app, or both). Where a retained family will get it in the app, it shows that notification word for word, and it names anyone it can't reach. Nothing goes until you select Send decisions and notify, which counts the families, for example Send decisions and notify 15 families.

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For a single player, such as a late decision, Offer on their row opens the offer for just that family. Send offer asks before anything goes: it names each parent it will reach and how (in the app, by email, or both), and shows the notification word for word. The family hears nothing until you select Send offer and notify, which counts them, for example Send offer and notify 2 people.

The offer arrives on each parent's phone as a notification that leads with the good news. For Milan it reads:

Congratulations — Milan is retained for 2027 Season Harbourview FC has offered Milan a place for 2027 Season. Accept and pay the $300.00 deposit to secure it.

Parents with an email address also get the full letter by email, and a reply comes straight to you. Tapping the notification opens the offer:

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What the family is asked to do depends on the place:

• A place with a fee. The family taps Accept & pay deposit. The deposit secures the place, so there's no accept-now-pay-later option, and it comes off the full season fee. Every payment method charges the same amount.
• A senior place with nothing to pay. The letter names no deposit, the notification says "Confirm the place — there's nothing to pay.", and the button reads Confirm Milan's place.
• A place with a player agreement. Signing is the acceptance: the button reads Review & sign the agreement. Your board shows Contract sent · awaiting signature, then Signed · nothing to pay.

Clubhouse reminds families twice before their deadline, and the reminder matches what they've done. The usual one says the place "is being held until" the closing date. A family who opened the bank-transfer details is asked whether they've "already transferred the deposit" rather than chased for it, and a family whose card was declined is told "nothing was charged" and offered another way to pay.

Read the whole thing from the family's side before your first round: Accept (or decline) your place walks through the offer screen, paying the deposit, and what declining looks like.

• After a send, the squad heading shows the date it went, how many offers and releases were sent, and when replies are due. If a family couldn't be reached, Review send names them so you can follow up.
• Every released family has a call logged on the calling list before the squad was sent.
• Replies, reminders and expired offers are handled from each row: see Follow up retention offers.