The New Secretary's Survival Guide: Your First 90 Days Running a Grassroots Club

Congratulations, you've just become your club's secretary. Maybe you volunteered enthusiastically. Maybe someone said "we desperately need a secretary", and everyone looked at their shoes until you cracked. Either way, you're now responsible for keeping an entire grassroots sports club running.

If you're lucky, the previous secretary handed over files, explained systems, and introduced you to key contacts. If you're not lucky (and let's be honest, most aren't), you've inherited a role with minimal handover, unclear responsibilities, and a vague sense of dread about what you've taken on.

The first 90 days are crucial. Get the foundations right now, and the role becomes manageable, even rewarding. Get them wrong, and you'll spend the entire season firefighting. Here's your roadmap to not just surviving, but actually thriving as a new club secretary.

Days 1-7: Understand What You've Inherited

Right, you're officially the secretary. Your first instinct might be to dive in and start fixing things. Resist that urge. Week one is about assessment, not action.

Start by understanding what systems currently exist—or more likely, what doesn't exist. Where are member records kept? Is there a spreadsheet, a notebook, or just the previous secretary's memory? What about financial information, fixture lists, insurance documents, and safeguarding policies?

Identify your key contacts immediately. Who's the treasurer? Who are the coaches and team managers? Who else is on the committee, and what do they actually do? These are the people you'll be working with constantly, so introduce yourself properly.

Work out what's urgent versus what can wait. Are registrations due next week? Is there an upcoming fixture that needs organising? Or do you have breathing room to get organised? Knowing what's on fire helps you prioritise.

Create a master list of everything you're responsible for. Fixtures, communications, registrations, facility bookings, committee meetings, league correspondence, insurance renewals—write it all down. This feels overwhelming initially, but seeing everything laid out helps you plan.

Don't try to fix everything in week one. Just understand the landscape. Knowledge before action.

Days 8-30: Set Up Your Core Systems

Month one is about building the infrastructure that will save you hundreds of hours over the season. These core systems are your foundation.

Communication is priority number one. Establish one main channel for club-wide updates—not six different WhatsApp groups where information gets lost. Whether it's a club website, app, or newsletter system, pick something and use it consistently.

Member database needs sorting immediately. Get everyone's names, contact details, emergency information, and any relevant medical details organised in one accessible place. Chasing this information later is a nightmare, so front-load the effort.

Calendar management saves endless confusion. Fixtures, training sessions, committee meetings, registration deadlines—everything goes in one shared calendar that everyone can access. No more "I didn't know about that" excuses.

Document storage for policies, insurance certificates, registration documents, and meeting minutes needs organising. These documents are requested constantly, and you need to find them in seconds, not hours.

Setting up these systems properly takes time up front. But they'll save you more time than you can imagine over the coming months. Digital platforms designed specifically for sports clubs make this infinitely easier than trying to cobble together spreadsheets and folders.

The investment now pays dividends all season long.

Days 31-60: Build Your Network and Delegate

Here's a hard truth: you cannot do everything yourself. The secretaries who burn out are the ones who try. Month two is about building your support network and delegating effectively.

Meet individually with coaches, team managers, and committee members. Understand what they need from you and what they can help with. These conversations build relationships and clarify responsibilities.

Create clear communication channels for different groups. Coaches might need fixture information and player availability. Parents need updates about training times and kit. The committee needs meeting agendas and financial reports. Segment your communications so people get relevant information without being overwhelmed.

Delegation isn't a weakness, it's essential for sustainability. Can team managers handle player availability for their own teams? Can the treasurer manage payment reminders? Can coaches coordinate their own training schedules? Distribute responsibilities appropriately.

Build relationships beyond your club too. League officials, facility managers, local council contacts—these external relationships matter when you need help, have questions, or require approvals for events.

You're building a network of people who can support you. Smart secretaries surround themselves with capable people and let them help.

Days 61-90: Plan and Create Rhythms

By month three, you should be looking beyond immediate tasks to the bigger picture. Planning prevents crisis management.

Look forward to next season. When do registrations open? When do you need to order new equipment? When's the AGM? Getting these dates in your calendar now means they don't sneak up on you.

Establish regular rhythms that create predictability. Weekly fixture updates every Thursday. Monthly committee meetings are on the first Tuesday. End-of-month financial reviews with the treasurer. Rhythms reduce mental load because everyone knows what to expect and when.

Create templates for recurring communications. Fixture announcements, training reminders, payment requests—you'll send these dozens of times, so template them. Change the details, but keep the structure consistent.

Set up calendar reminders for important deadlines. League registrations, insurance renewals, facility bookings—these matter enormously and missing them creates massive problems. Automated reminders ensure nothing falls through the cracks.

Work with your treasurer on financial planning. What needs funding over the next few months? Are there big expenses coming up? Planning prevents panic when invoices arrive.

Document everything. Write down processes, keep notes on decisions, and record who's responsible for what. Your successor will thank you, and frankly, you'll thank yourself when you forget something three months from now.

The Most Common Pitfalls (And How to Avoid Them)

Let's talk about where new secretaries typically go wrong, so you can avoid these traps.

Trying to do everything yourself is the fastest route to burnout. You will not last a full season if you insist on handling every single task personally. Delegate, distribute, share the load.

Not asking for help when you need it stems from not wanting to look incompetent. But every secretary before you needed help. Your committee, fellow volunteers, even your league officials—most people will help if you just ask.

Letting communication slip creates chaos exponentially. Miss one fixture update and you'll spend hours fielding confused messages. Consistent, clear communication prevents 90% of problems before they start.

Assuming everyone knows what you know causes frustration on both sides. Information in your head needs sharing. Over-communicate rather than under-communicate.

Not keeping records means you'll repeat mistakes and struggle to answer questions. Document decisions, keep meeting minutes, and maintain an audit trail. Future you will be grateful.

Saying yes to everything rather than prioritising leads to spreading yourself impossibly thin. Learn to say "that's not a priority right now" or "we don't have capacity for that this season."

Awareness of these pitfalls is half the battle. The other half is actively avoiding them.

Tools That Make Your Life Easier

Let's be practical: the right tools transform the secretary role from overwhelming to manageable.

Club management platforms centralise everything—member databases, communications, calendars, documents, and payments in one system. Instead of juggling spreadsheets, WhatsApp groups, emails, and folders, you have one place where everything lives.

Digital communication removes the WhatsApp chaos. Proper club websites or apps mean information is accessible, searchable, and permanent. No more scrolling through hundreds of messages trying to find that fixture change from three weeks ago.

Automated payment tracking saves hours chasing membership subs. Systems that send reminders, track who's paid, and flag outstanding amounts mean you're not manually checking who owes what every week.

Shared calendars keep everyone aligned without constant messages.

Coaches see training schedules, parents see match fixtures, committee members see meeting dates—all updated in real-time.

These aren't luxury items for professional clubs. They're survival tools for volunteer secretaries drowning in admin. The time invested in setting up proper systems pays back tenfold over the season.

Yes, there might be a learning curve. Yes, it requires initial effort. But compared to the alternative—chaotic WhatsApp groups, lost information, and constant firefighting—it's not even close.

You've Got This

The first 90 days as club secretary set the foundation for your entire tenure. Get your core systems in place, build your support network, delegate effectively, and create sustainable rhythms. Do this, and you won't just survive—you'll actually thrive in the role.

Being the club secretary is demanding. There will be frustrating moments, last-minute panics, and weekends spent sorting things out. But there's also real satisfaction in keeping your club running smoothly, supporting coaches and players, and being part of something that matters to your community.

You're not just keeping the club running; you're building something better. With the right approach, proper systems, and willingness to ask for help, you can make this role manageable rather than overwhelming.

Take it one day at a time. Focus on foundations first. And remember: every successful club secretary started exactly where you are now—slightly terrified but willing to give it a go.

Ready to make club administration easier? Explore Pitchero and discover tools designed specifically for grassroots sports club secretaries.