CASE STUDY
How Utah Crew built team culture by simplifying admin with CrewLAB
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Utah Crew is a nonprofit youth rowing club based in Salt Lake City, Utah. Tori Rojo took over as head coach and program director about a year ago, running every part of the club —from lineups and travel logistics to fiberglass repairs on shells. The club runs a competitive team six days a week, plus a summer recreational program three days a week, and travels out of state for nearly every regatta.
Six sources of information, no single source of truth
Before CrewLAB, Rojo was piecing information together across six different platforms — spreadsheets, an alternative registration software, and a payment process that split off from registrations entirely.
“I had six different sources of information. I was pulling things from everywhere. We were using a software where I would send out emails to people and half the list would get them. I wasn’t really sure everyone was actually seeing what was going on.”
— Tori Rojo, Head Coach and Program Director, Utah Crew
The challenges
Registration and payment lived in two different places. This left the club’s volunteer treasurer, who works two full-time jobs, constantly matching checks, transfers, and payments back to names by hand.
There was no single flow from sign-up to cleared-to-practice. Registration, waivers, and payment were separate steps in separate platforms, so nothing confirmed that an athlete had actually finished all of them.
Communication didn’t reach the people who needed it. Messages sent through the old system didn’t reliably reach parents or athletes and there was no way to confirm who had actually seen an update.
Coaches had no read on how athletes were doing outside the boathouse. With no shared way to track sleep, mood, or day-to-day wellness, struggles a kid was having often went unnoticed.
Our solution
Profiles for parents and athletes. CrewLAB requires each parent and each athlete to create their own profile, which put an end to parents disengaging after registration.
“The big thing is that when a parent has to make their own profile and their athlete has to make their own profile as well, it really puts everyone into one place and makes sure that everyone’s staying in the loop about everything that’s going on.”
One flow from registration to cleared-to-practice. Registration, waivers, and payment now run through a single flow instead of separate steps on separate platforms.
“If you’re not showing up in the program, I know that you haven’t paid yet. And if you’ve filled your waivers and all of that, you’re in, and taken care of.”
Daily journals that surface what coaches can’t see. Athletes check in through the app regularly, which has let Rojo catch things she wouldn’t otherwise know about.
“It’s been really helpful to see, ‘Oh, this kid is struggling.’ And I know because they haven’t been sleeping well, so I can chat with them about that.”
A social space that keeps kids talking to each other, not just their coach. Rojo describes the athlete experience as a kid-friendly version of Strava, where athletes post and support each other while she uses the same feed to pass along logistics without it feeling like another chore.
“I can feed them information without them knowing it — they’re up to date on what we’re doing for practice, what travel is like, the fact that their parents need to sign racing waivers.”
RETURN ON INVESTMENT
Stronger team culture, with athletes now connecting in a digital space of their own.
Everything runs in one flow, so the busywork of manually tracking is gone—freeing Rojo up to focus on long-term projects and club growth.
Higher athlete retention, as trends CrewLAB surfaces in daily check-ins help Rojo catch and address health and wellness issues before they turn into a kid leaving the sport.