How To Use Macs To Schedule Games, Sports Events.

Got kids? Got sports? Do you handle the schedule for sports events or team games? Stop using a spreadsheet and take a trip to Splendid City.

This little application for your Mac is the coolest tool available for scheduling games and sports. Guess what it costs?

Yes, I have ‘kid.’ Singular. The nearest she gets to sports is tearing off her diaper (within minutes of an unscheduled release), and then tearing down the hallway leaving behind everything from her behind.

My neighbor, on the other hand, has three kids that range in age from seven to 12, and they’re already trained, so don’t need a diaper. What they need is a six month supply of band-aids and disinfectant because they play every sport known to San Diegoites, and pick up the occasional cut and scrape.

I pity the poor mom, because she’s the one who schedules soccer matches, softball games, tournaments, and all these things to keep kids busy without doing illegal activities.

My neighbor is the one who bought a Mac at my suggestion, and I’ve become her next-door-tech-support-sys-admin. Last week she had a question about using Excel to set up her daughter’s soccer matches. The mom is in charge of the league. So far, Excel works OK, but I figured there’s a better way.

Splendid City is the better way. This multi-platform utility is a team sports scheduler for anyone who organizes team sports or game events (duh). That’s not me. But it is my neighbor, and I figure all the pain of a learning curve for such activities is best put on someone else first.

We downloaded the free version of Splendid City and set it up. Rather, Splendid City set itself up. Think about the complexity that goes into scheduling teams and players and tournaments and practice schedules.

I’ve been thinking about for four days and I’m ready to put a price tag on my kid, and kid-to-be. I’ll toss in a week’s supply of pampers (144 boxes).

Splendid City is the kind of utility that computers were made for. Schedule sports with any combination of times and dates. Set up tournament brackets for any sport that requires pairing. My neighbor was impressed. I was not as impressed. The woman has a van and fills it with kids. Is that what I have to look forward to?

Once we setup Splendid City we found there are other utilities that do the same kind of thing for both Mac and Windows and money. Not necessarily in that order. Splendid City Lite is free. The professional vesion is $39.60. 60-cents? Others range in price from $50 to $279 which makes the free version look like a bargain.

This is the 21st century and it’s an information world. Every team has players and other moms and dads who need to know about schedules. What better way than to export all of Splendid City’s schedule information—as a web page, as an iCal calendar (real soccer moms use Macs), or email. Splendid City Lite does all that.

The trick to any kind of scheduler is accurate data tracking and, importantly, conflict checking and resolution, both built-in to Splendid City. If I could find a conflict resolution utility for my Mac I could help my husband become more of what I want him to be and less of what he thinks of himself.

I never fully appreciated how many different sports kids are into these days, and how complex some of their schedules can be. When will they ever find time to get into mischief?

If you or someone you know has kids who play sports and the parents are involved in any of the scheduling, check out Splendid City. Don’t worry about the complexity. There’s a detailed tutorial on configuration and setup, documents, and support for beginner to expert.

Got kids? What’s the most useful Mac utility for your kids? Talk Back to Mac360 in the Comments section below.

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Off Topic Note: Guess what? Former Mac360 writer Kate Mac is back online after dumping Windows and re-embracing the Mac. Again.