Athletic department launches mobile app for enhanced fan experience

Leonor Rivas, Staff Reporter • Apr 24, 2024

Community has been working with Snap!, the company behind the mobile app, since 2015 to manage athletics registration and fundraising.

The NCHS Ironmen athletics app launched in February, allowing Community sports fans to access Ironmen athletics information on mobile devices.

The app is a new feature from Snap! Mobile Inc., the company the athletic department uses to manage it’s website, Athletic Director Mr. Nic Kearfott said.

The NCHS Ironmen app provides “all of our athletic information,” Kearfott said, “ in the palm of any person’s hand”: schedules, rosters, registration and ticketing information.

The app’s convenience, Kearfott said, will hopefully benefit Ironmen fans and spectators.

It can get information into students, players and fans hands much more effectively than the department’s website, Kearfott said.

“Instead of clicking 75 buttons to go through a website,” Kearfott said, fans can find what they are looking for through the app with “one button.”

Community isn’t currently using all of the app’s available features, the school will be rolling out more features, like push notifications, to improve the fan experience.

Those notifications allow the athletics office to instantly send cancellation notices to anyone’s phone.

“I could send something right now,” Kearfott said, “and you would receive it within seconds.”

That feature is essential during the spring sports season where schedules change with little notice.

“Sometimes cancellations or postponements or reschedules,” the athletic director said, “happen at the very last second.”

The app will give Community “a better option to communicate directly with spectators, fans and parents much faster,” Kearfott said.

The NCHS Ironmen app is another step the Athletic department is taking to meet Ironmen spectators where they are: the digital world.

The department increased it’s social media presence under Kearfott in the last two years, employing student interns to post game and score notifications to Twitter and Instagram.

“That’s where kids get all their information,” Kearfott said. “The world that we live in is driven by technology.”

Kearfott recognizes that “parents,” “grandparents,” “older generations” might be reluctant to adopt the technology.

“They are quickly learning that to get information they have to get involved in technology,” Kearfott said.

Between the app, the website and social media, Kearfott hopes that these places can reach all of Community’s audiences.

NCHS Ironmen app is available for download through the Apple App Store or Google Play.

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About the Contributor

Leonor Rivas, Staff Reporter

Leonor Rivas is a senior at Normal Community High School. She is a staff reporter for the Inkspot. My favorite film is "Heathers." A book that moved me is "One For Sorrow."