Waitlist: The Multi-Program Admissions Engine

Managing an intake waitlist is a promise to prospective families — a guarantee that their application will be held, considered, and acted upon fairly in the order it was received. Waitlist transforms this promise from a manual, error-prone spreadsheet into a transparent, rank-ordered, and auditable professional workflow across any sport.

Modern sports clubs operate distinct athlete pathways (such as Learn-to-Swim Academies, Junior Development Squads, Senior Competitive Squads, or Adult Masters Programs). The MyAthlete Waitlist Engine gives clubs the power to run Multiple Waitlist Program Tracks side-by-side, each with dedicated age eligibility rules, queue capacity limits, automated squad placement, and custom intake questions—all backed by strict FIFO queue ranking and complete backwards compatibility.

1. Multi-Program Tracks & Setup

Clubs can operate either a single unified waitlist or multiple specialized intake tracks. Each program track operates as an independent pipeline with dedicated controls:

• Program Name & Description: Clear public display names and introductory details (e.g. "Junior Competitive Academy" or "Adult Masters").
• Dedicated URL Slug: Each track receives a distinct URL path segment (e.g. /waitlist/c/<club_slug>/<waitlist_slug>/), allowing direct linking from promotional materials, school outreach, or trial days.
• Automated Target Squad Placement: Link any program track directly to a designated club squad. When an applicant accepts an offer (or is accepted manually by an administrator), the system automatically assigns them to this squad upon creating their membership—eliminating manual post-onboarding roster adjustments.
• Age Guardrails: Set optional minimum and maximum age limits in whole years. Applicants outside the allowed age bracket are politely guided to appropriate programs.
• Queue Capacity Limits: Configure an optional maximum queue size to prevent endless, unmanageable lists and set realistic expectations for parents.
• Primary / Default Program: One program is designated as the primary track, ensuring single-program clubs operate with zero overhead and older app versions remain compatible.

2. Adaptive Public Directory & Direct Registration

The public registration experience automatically adapts to how your club is structured, ensuring zero friction for families:

• Single-Program Clubs (Instant Intake Form): If your club operates only one active program track, visiting the club's main URL (/waitlist/c/<club_slug>/) directly renders the registration form with zero extra clicks or redirects.
• Multi-Program Clubs (Interactive Program Directory): If your club operates multiple active tracks, visiting /waitlist/c/<club_slug>/ presents a modern, responsive Program Directory. Families can compare program descriptions, age eligibility requirements, and current availability before clicking directly into their chosen track.
• Direct Program URLs: Clubs can link directly to specific program registration forms via /waitlist/c/<club_slug>/<waitlist_slug>/.
• Active Intake Toggle: Clubs can open or close registration globally or per program track. When closed, visitors see a branded "Waitlist Closed" page.

3. Custom Intake Questions (Global & Program-Scoped)

Clubs define custom questions shown on the public registration form. Questions can be assigned to a specific program track (e.g. "Swim Ireland Level" for Academy vs "Current 100m Freestyle PB" for Competitive) or made club-wide across all programs.

Field Type	Use Case	Choices Required?
TEXT_SHORT	Single-line text, e.g. "Previous Club / Academy"	No
TEXT_LONG	Multi-line textarea, e.g. "Medical and dietary notes"	No
NUMBER	Numeric input, e.g. "Years of competitive experience"	No
BOOLEAN	Yes/No toggle, e.g. "Has competed in gala before?"	No
SELECT	Dropdown, e.g. "Skill Level / Stage Assessment"	Yes (non-empty list)
MULTI_SELECT	Multi-select checkboxes, e.g. "Preferred Training Days"	Yes (non-empty list)

4. Fair Rank-Ordered Queues

Admins see a fair rank-ordered queue, oldest first. Every active entry holds its fair place in line for its specific program track, ordered by application date (oldest first).

• Waiting applicants hold a fixed place in line (1, 2, 3, ...) within their program track.
• Applicants who have been offered, accepted, rejected, or expired leave the active waiting queue.
• The queue order is always based on application date (oldest first) — even when admins sort the screen differently for review.

5. Inter-Program Applicant Transfers

Athletes often apply for one pathway but are better suited for another following a trial or assessment (for instance, moving a swimmer from the general waitlist to the Junior Competitive Squad). The engine allows administrators to transfer applicants between program tracks with a single click:

• Keep original place in line: Retains the applicant's original registration date and time. The athlete keeps their fair place in the new program queue based on when they originally applied.
• Move to back of new queue: Resets the application date to the moment of transfer, placing the applicant at the end of the new program's waiting list.

6. The Offer Lifecycle & Automated Squad Placement

When an admin identifies an applicant to admit, a single action triggers the entire offer workflow — no manual email composition, no deadline tracking, and no separate follow-up spreadsheets.

1. Status Transition: Admin moves the entry to Offered via the management dashboard.
2. Automatic Timestamps: The system sets send and expiry dates automatically and sends a branded email.
3. Branded Email: The system sends an offer email to the guardian containing a secure, time-limited acceptance link with optional custom instructions from the coach or secretary.
4. Parent Acceptance: Parent clicks the link, confirms guardian details, sets a password, and accepts.
5. One-Go Setup & Squad Assignment: The system creates login, family, athlete and squad place in one go.
6. Welcome Email: Once setup completes, a welcome email is sent to the guardian with immediate portal access instructions.

7. Status State Machine

Every entry moves through a strict, well-defined state machine with automated notifications and audit logging at each step.

Transition	Trigger	System Side Effects
Waiting → Offered	Admin sends offer	Sets send and expiry dates automatically, sends branded offer email
Waiting → Transferred	Admin transfers to different program	Moves entry to new program, optionally keeps queue seniority
Waiting → Rejected	Admin rejects application	Sends polite notification email with optional reason
Offered → Accepted	Parent accepts offer via secure link	Creates all club membership, billing records, and squad place in one go
Offered → Expired	Automatic hourly expiry check	Sends expiry notification email to guardian and frees slot for next in line
Offered → Rejected	Admin cancels active offer	Sends cancellation notice and updates audit history

8. Manual Acceptance & Admin Override

For families who cannot use the online portal (e.g. no internet access or on-site walk-ins), or when an admin needs to accept an applicant immediately:

• Admins can accept on behalf of a family from the dashboard, bypassing the parent self-serve flow.
• The same one-go setup runs — login, family, athlete, membership, and squad place are created instantly.
• No password is required — the admin's verified login authorizes the setup.
• The welcome email is sent automatically once setup completes.

9. Sibling Detection

At registration time, the system automatically checks whether an active athlete already exists in the club under the guardian's email address. If a match is found, the new entry is automatically tagged as a sibling.

This gives administrators immediate visibility into family connections during review — a critical signal when keeping families together or applying sibling admission priority.

10. Program Filtering, Search & Manual Intake

The pipeline management view supports rich filtering to narrow down large applicant pools:

• Filter applicants by specific waitlist program track
• Filter by application status
• Filter by athlete gender
• Filter by tags (e.g. active siblings, priority academy)
• Filter by date of birth range for squad/age-group targeting
• Search across athlete names, guardian names, and emails
• Sort visually by date, names, status, or age without changing queue order

11. Automatic Offer Expiry

Automatic expiry checks run hourly across all program tracks and:

1. Find all offered entries past their expiry date.
2. Mark them as expired.
3. Send an expiry notification email to the guardian.

This requires zero manual babysitting. If a family does not accept in time, the slot automatically becomes available for the next applicant in the queue.

12. 100% Backwards Compatibility Guarantee

Clubs upgrading from single-track waitlists experience zero downtime. Older requests without program details automatically map to the club's designated primary program. Older mobile and desktop app versions continue to submit, query, and transition waitlist entries seamlessly.