CrewLAB Research · 2026
The state of club payments: endurance sports survey
We surveyed 172 coaches across rowing, swimming, and running and asked them how they collect money, who does the chasing, and what are the biggest pain points.
Different tools in use
Coaches surveyed
Sports
Section I · The Payment Landscape
No one established system.
When we asked 172 coaches how they collect and track membership fees, we didn’t find a dominant tool or method. We found a patchwork of workarounds — each one creating its own gap for something to fall through.
The most common answer? "Something we figured out ourselves."
23% of coaches gave an answer that didn’t fit any standard category. They’ve built something bespoke — which means it only works while they’re the one running it.
Parents have to be hounded to get their swimmers registered, and it is not an intuitive process.
Section II · The Burden
Across the clubs,
this is happening.
80% of coaches are the primary buyer for their program. 36% are also the person chasing late payments. If you’re running a club with multiple programs, that means payment problems are scattered across coaches who each have their own spreadsheet— and you won’t find out it’s off-track until it lands on your desk.
%
Head coaches chases payments
%
Head coaches Make purchasing decisions
%
programs are volunteer run
The problem is that overdue balances and notifications don’t get sent out to those who haven’t paid.
Section III · Pricing Model vs. Pain
How you price your program determines how much you suffer
We cross-referenced each club’s pricing model against their self-reported payment tracking difficulty. The result was stark: hybrid programs — the most common model for rowing and swimming clubs — carry the highest payment difficulty of any pricing model, scoring 43% above all-in programs.
Rowing
3.36
avg payment difficulty
Predominantly hybrid model
Swimming
2.44
Multi-platform chaos
Running
2.95
avg payment difficulty
Predominantly an all-in flat fee model
Masters
4.50
avg payment difficulty
Highest of any group
The Fix
Every team. One system. Full visibility.
CrewLAB Club Management platform is built for clubs running multiple programs, replacing the spreadsheets, checks, and paper waivers holding your club together. Payments, registration, and compliance — built into the platform your coaches will love.
CrewLAB Payments & Registrations
One platform for everything.
One system that actually talks to itself. Same roster, same profile, same data everywhere.
Registrations
Sign people up in minutes.
Unified online registration for seasons, camps, events, and programs. Integrated waivers. Live rosters that auto-update. Athlete-level compliance tracking from day one.
Payments
Stop chasing money.
Modern payment processing via Stripe — CC, ACH, Apple Pay. Recurring billing, payment plans, discount codes and bulk refunds. Transaction-level reporting. Pass fees to members or absorb them.
Communications
Complete club communication.
Cross-club messaging in the app athletes already check daily. Club-wide calendar and scheduling. SafeSport / MAAPP-compliant moderation. Engagement tracking, read receipts, and follow-ups.
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