Houston Stellar started using Sporfie at the end of their 2021-22 season. After getting their facility installed this summer, they started streaming their practices and games. Once teams were chosen for the 2022-23 season, they kicked their fundraising into gear and the results were incredible.

Keep scrolling to read this testimonial from Houston Stellar Owner, Scott Zanon:

"We had been looking into installing cameras on our courts since COVID hit, so our parents and members could have live streaming of practices, leagues, camps etc. However, the costs associated with this, along with the long timelines, were not in our budget or timing.  

After visiting with Robert at Sporfie and understanding the fundraising component of the program, it was an easy decision. Sporfie installed the cameras within a few weeks at no cost to Houston Stellar. We then shared the free access with our members for the remaining four months with the understanding that we would ask members to sell sponsorships the next season.

The ease of setting up online court schedules along with the quality of the viewing was fantastic. Once we formed teams for our new season, we asked all members to sell at least one sponsorship for the season. The key to our success was that we did not use this as a fundraiser for Houston Stellar, instead we chose to use the program as a way to provide back 95% of all proceeds directly to the families who sold the sponsorships to help offset their club dues.

The results were incredible. Houston Stellar had over 100 families participate, selling over 170 sponsorships and providing nearly $35,000 directly back to families. It was a win-win–our club received quality cameras installed in our gym for no cost, and our club members earned money to help with their club dues.  

The customer service at Sporfie was amazing. Robert, Dave and Jen were fantastic communicators and responded to calls, questions and inquiries in a very timely manner. A huge shoutout and thank you to my friend Adam Ellis at NPJ for introducing me to Robert and Sporfie.  I would recommend that all sports clubs needing online live viewing (with recordings as well) and fundraising work with Sporfie."

Want to learn more about how your volleyball club can live stream and fundraise with Sporfie? Reach out to us at contact@sporfie.com!

"It was a win-win–our club received quality cameras installed in our gym for no cost, and our club members earned money to help with their club dues."

For the 2022 season, Red River Infinity Volleyball chose Sporfie for their live streaming and fundraising, allowing them to stream and share home games, practices, away games and tournaments–all at no cost to their athletes and their families. Plus, it introduced a new way for them to fundraise and connect with the businesses in their local community.

The Sporfie team chatted with Alyssa LaFlamme, Director of Operations, to hear her thoughts on how their first year went. The content below was transcribed directly from a video call on August 31, 2022. 

We're really big within our club about the girls giving back to the community. The Sporfie fundraising process was a nice way for the athletes to get out into the community, put a face to the name, and actually talk to businesses about the club and their team, instead of just saying, “here's what I'm selling, and you should buy some.”

Our board thinks that this a great opportunity to fundraise for the club. They were a little unsure about it last year, something so new, but now that we've gone through it with one season, and they've gotten to see how it works, they love it and want to use it going forward. Plus, some of them were actually able to utilize the video service and watch their own athletes.

I think we're really going to condense our fundraising options and make Sporfie one of our main options just because it's a win win–the athletes get fundraising credit, but also it's a huge thing for the club from the video perspective.

As an admin, it's really nice that you can go into the system and see which athlete an ad sale is tied to, because everybody gets their own link. For fundraising tracking purposes, it was huge that we didn’t need to try and track down who sold what ad. Plus, everything updates in pretty much real-time.

A lot of us coaches for the older girls really utilized Sporfie as a way to watch film with the players.

At a two day tournament this season, I had my girls come down to the lobby one evening, and we kind of just watched. I had gone through the film and picked some different sections to watch, and I clipped some highlights myself of some things that went well and some areas that we could improve on. 

These girls are just such visual learners. They can watch a TikTok 10 times and then they can do it. But if you try to tell them how to do it, they don't always get it. Being able to see themselves in film using the highlight clipping made a big difference for them. They really liked that aspect.

I know the team that I worked with loved being able to go back and watch what they were doing and then have you walk them through it while they can watch it.

Our parents thought it was phenomenal that the streaming was free to them, especially because they could also share it with grandparents or aunts and uncles or whoever they wanted without them having to pay to set up an account. 

I know there are some different streaming services that charge a subscription for the day or season, but the fact that Sporfie was free was huge, and I think that definitely increased the number of viewers we had. 

And the quality of it–in the past we've had some parents, like last year during COVID, that had to pay to watch, so they would sit in a hotel room and put it up on a TV, but the quality wasn't there. 

It was really easy for our parents and everybody else to navigate and be able to go back and rewatch with good quality and be able to clip highlights after was, I don't know, they thought it was really worth it.

[About the setup process:] I know the first time they were all nervous about it. After they did it once, all of the parents were like, this is super easy. It doesn't take virtually any time to set up.They could sit down for 10 minutes the night before a tournament and set up all their matches for the next day.

It's very user friendly. It's pretty self-explanatory. It takes virtually no time to set up a game.

The kids loved it. I mean everyone from the 12’s to 18’s. Obviously the older girls appreciate it a little bit more, because some of them are looking at playing in college or being able to play beyond high school. 

I know Ethan, our volleyball recruiting coordinator, liked that he could tell some of the girls to go in and clip some highlights of themselves if they weren't already in there, giving them the option to rewatch if they wanted.

The girls love clipping highlights, and even all the way down to 12 year olds, just being able to clip their own highlights to share with friends or family was huge for them. 

And now if they want to use that film to help them get recruited, that's a big piece for them. And they don't have to try to have mom or dad record it, because we already have it set up for them.

When we talked to some of the businesses [that purchased an ad spot], they liked that, compared with other marketing, this was an affordable option that lasts for the whole year–it's not just a one time thing for one tournament or only one team. 

Plus we have 20 teams, so you're not just marketing to one team and the people watching them, your ads are seen clubwide. People had grandparents watching from Florida who were there for the winter. You're reaching a wider base of people that you might not typically reach.

Once we had set it up, it was nice to be able to show businesses what the stream looked like or send them a highlight clip and say here's what it looks like, like, here's an actual highlight. I know some of us used it to show them, here's what the logo looks like in the corner, here's what like a highlight looks like and here's the quality of the video, so they could see exactly what their ad would look like.

Sporfie Spotlight: Red River Infinity Volleyball

The newest version of the Sporfie App on iOS (1.27.7) has something for everyone: event creators, live viewers, scorekeepers, highlight clippers, and more. Plus, we have an exciting new integration for our baseball users!

Note: These features will be available on Android devices in the coming weeks.

Good news for users with spotty connections! We have added a Delayed Upload option for when you are trying to stream somewhere where you have less-than-optimal service. 

When adding a camera, switch from streaming to delayed upload to activate. Your video will record normally and automatically upload when your connection returns.

In-App Highlight Clipping on Live and Replay

Highlight clipping is now available while watching live streams and replays directly in the mobile app

Customize Your Highlight Length During Creation

It’s hard to always get the timing right when you’re capturing moments which is why we’ve added the option to adjust the start and end of your clip while you’re taking it. 

To save a regular highlight based on the clip length settings in your event, tap the orange Sporfie icon as usual. If you want to adjust your clip before saving, hold the button and drag to the left or right to open the editing screen. Once you’re done adjusting your clip, tap the orange button again to save.

Exciting news for Baseball users: Sporfie has partnered with Pocket Radar as part of the new Pocket Radar Connect product! 

Now you can add your speeds directly onto your live stream! To connect your account to Sporfie, open your Pocket Radar Sports app and authorize Sporfie in the Pocket Radar Connect settings. Important: Please make sure you are using the same email address for both apps.

Note: The Pocket Radar integration is not yet available for Android users.

New sport-specific scoreboards have been added for basketball, baseball and tennis! Plus, you can now hide the scoreboard on live/replay when no one is taking score or your event doesn’t need one.

If you're a social media fan, this next update is for you: Filming vertically is now supported in the Sporfie app! When setting up your camera, click on  "Camera" under the "Settings" section and choose "Portrait" under "Orientation".

Is there something you want in the mobile app that we don’t offer? Send us a message and tell us more.

In addition to the numerous new features and improvements in our mobile apps (scoring, teams, streaming protocols) we have rolled out in recent months, we have been hard at work revamping the Sporfie experience on the Web and we’re thrilled to share a first preview with you today!

Every corner of the application has been has received a fresh coat of paint to be more consistent and easier to use across all screen sizes. There is even a dark mode for night owls!

To improve the viewing experience, we have upgraded the video player which now supports many frequently requested features such as Airplay, Chromecast, quality selection, scrubbing on live and more.

Even with all these new features, Sporfie is even faster than before on initial page loads and subsequent navigation on all events, big and small.

We are making the new experience available to guest users to try out during the summer. Any operations that require an account can still be done on app.sporfie.com until we complete the roll-out.

We hope you enjoy it and we are looking forward to hearing your feedback!

Over the past few months, we've been hard at work on a new sporfie experience for the web. Find out about the new features and when they will be available here…

Latest Updates

Sporfie Spotlight: Houston Stellar

Sporfie Spotlight: Red River Infinity Volleyball

What’s New: August 2022

A New Sporfie Experience for the Web