Adding Members to Your Club

Before you can run leagues and sessions, you need players in your club. ServeLeague gives you two main ways to build your roster: adding players one at a time or importing them in bulk from a spreadsheet.

This tutorial covers both methods, explains how players claim their profiles, and shows you how to manage your roster day to day.

Step 1: Open the People Section

From your club admin dashboard, click "People" in the sidebar, then select "Members". This is where your full player roster lives.

If your club is brand new, the list will be empty. That is expected.

Step 2: Add a Player Manually

Click the "Add Player" button at the top of the page. A form will appear with the following fields:

• First Name (required): the player's given name
• Last Name (required): the player's family name
• Pronouns (optional): select from the list or enter a custom value

Below the name fields, there is a switch labelled "I know their rating". If you know the player's current rating from another league or system, turn this on. Three rating fields will appear:

• Singles: their singles rating number
• Doubles: their doubles rating number
• Merit: their merit score (if your club uses merit scoring)

If you do not know their rating, leave the switch off. The player will start as unrated and enter your club's residual pool. They will receive a rating after playing enough matches (see Understanding Your Rating).

Click "Add Player" to save. The player appears in your roster immediately and can be assigned to leagues and sessions.

[!TIP] You can add players before they have signed up for ServeLeague. Create profiles now so you can start running leagues right away. Players can claim their profiles later to link their account (see Step 4 below).

Repeat this process for each player. After adding a few, your People page should show them listed:

Step 3: Bulk Import from a CSV File

For clubs with many existing players, adding them one by one is not practical. ServeLeague supports bulk import from a CSV (spreadsheet) file.

From the People → Members page, click "Import Players" to open the import panel. Then click "Select CSV File" and choose your spreadsheet.

Your CSV file can include these columns:

*Either firstName or name is required. If you provide name, ServeLeague will split it into first and last names automatically.

After uploading, ServeLeague shows a preview of what will be imported. Review this carefully:

• Check that names parsed correctly
• Look for any duplicates flagged by the system
• Verify that ratings mapped to the right columns

If everything looks correct, click "Import Players" to add everyone at once.

[!TIP] You can include historical rating data in your CSV by adding date-based columns (e.g., 2024 or 2024-01-15). This is useful when migrating from another system and you want to preserve rating history.

[!WARNING] Duplicate detection is based on name matching. If you have two players with the same name, review the preview carefully. You may need to adjust names slightly (e.g., "James W." and "James T.") to tell them apart.

For more advanced import options, see Importing Players in Bulk.

Step 4: How Players Claim Their Profiles

When you add players manually or via import, those profiles are unclaimed. They exist in your roster but are not linked to a ServeLeague account. This is fine for running leagues, but players get more features when they claim their profile.

Here is how the claiming process works:

1. The player signs up or signs in to ServeLeague
2. They go to your club page and find their name in the player list (or use the "Find Your Profile" option)
3. They click to submit a claim request on the matching profile
4. You (the club admin) receive a notification. Go to Settings → Team tab to see pending claims.
5. Review the claim and click "Approve" (or "Reject" with an optional reason)
6. Once approved, the player's account is linked to their profile. All historical match data, ratings, and statistics transfer to their account.

Once a player has claimed their profile, they can:

• View their personal dashboard with rating history and match results
• Check in to sessions using the PIN
• Submit their own match scores
• See head-to-head records against other players
• Track their achievements

[!NOTE] Claims are not auto-approved. An admin must review each request. This prevents players from accidentally (or intentionally) claiming the wrong profile. Check the Settings → Team tab regularly for pending claims.

[!TIP] Encourage your players to claim their profiles early. Claimed profiles give players a much richer experience.

Step 5: Let Players Join on Their Own

If your club is set to public and you have configured membership types, your club will have a public join page. Share your club's join link with prospective players and they can request membership directly.

Players who join this way submit a membership request that you can approve from your admin dashboard. This is a great way to grow your club without manual data entry.

[!TIP] Share your club's join link in group chats, social media, or printed at your venue to make onboarding effortless.

Step 6: Manage Your Player List

Once players are added, manage them from the People → Members page. Here is what you can do:

• Search and filter: find players by name using the search bar at the top
• Edit details: click on a player to update their name, pronouns, or ratings
• View profile: clicking a player opens their full profile page, which includes their match history, rating charts over time, detailed statistics, and any achievements they have earned
• View history: see their match history and ratings across all your leagues
• Merge duplicates: if the same player was added twice, you can merge their profiles (see Player Import, Merge and Management)
• Organize with tags: use member tags to group players for filtering and targeted communications. Tags are also useful for controlling access to private leagues and sending segmented email campaigns.

[!NOTE] Players must be in your club roster before they can be added to a league. If you are setting up a league and cannot find a player, check that they have been added to the club first.

Step 7: Use Bulk Actions

When managing a large roster, you can perform actions on multiple players at once using bulk actions.

To select players, use the checkbox on the left side of each player row. You can also use the Select All checkbox at the top of each section (Active Players or Inactive Players) to select every player in that section at once.

Once you have selected one or more players, the bulk action toolbar appears with the following options:

• Delete: permanently remove the selected players and all of their associated match history, ratings, and statistics from your club.
• Clear Selection: deselect all currently selected players.

[!WARNING] Bulk delete is irreversible. Deleted players and their entire match history cannot be recovered. Double-check your selection before confirming. If you want to remove a player from active play without losing their data, use the inactive switch instead (see Step 8).

Step 8: Active and Inactive Players

Your player roster is divided into two sections: Active Players and Inactive Players.

Each player row includes a switch that controls their active status. Flipping the switch moves the player between the Active and Inactive sections.

Inactive players:

• Do not appear in session rosters or match lists when you are running a session
• Are excluded from league player selection lists
• Retain all of their historical data: their ratings, match history, and statistics are fully preserved
• Can be reactivated at any time by flipping the switch back on

This is ideal for players who have left the club, taken a seasonal break, or are temporarily unavailable. Rather than deleting them and losing all their data, mark them as inactive. When they return, reactivate them and they pick up right where they left off.

[!TIP] At the start of a new season, review your roster and mark players who did not re-register as inactive. This keeps your active roster clean and makes session setup faster.

Step 9: Search, Sort, and Filter

The People page provides several tools for navigating large rosters:

• Search bar: located at the top of the page, it filters the player list by name as you type. Results update instantly.
• Sort options: you can sort the player list by different criteria including player name, singles rating, doubles rating, merit score, and matches played. Sort options are controlled via URL parameters, making it convenient to bookmark a specific view.
• Automatic sections: players are automatically organized into Active Players and Inactive Players sections, so you can quickly see who is currently participating and who is not.

[!TIP] Combine search with sorting to quickly find what you need. For example, sort by singles rating to see your top-rated players, then search for a specific name within that sorted list.

Step 10: The Residual Pool

When new players are added to your club without a known rating, they enter the residual pool. This is a holding area for unrated players who need to play qualifying matches before the system can assign them a starting rating.

The Residual Pool panel is visible to club admins and shows all unrated players in your club. This panel is feature-flagged and may not be visible on all plans.

Here is how the residual pool process works:

1. A new player is added without a rating (the "I know their rating" switch was left off)
2. The player participates in sessions and plays matches against rated opponents
3. After enough qualifying matches, the system calculates a recommended starting rating based on their performance against rated players
4. The admin reviews the recommendation in the Residual Pool panel
5. The admin promotes the player from the residual pool, confirming their starting rating
6. The player now appears as a fully rated player in standings and league rankings

Players can also skip the residual pool entirely if you know their rating when adding them. Turn on the "I know their rating" switch on the Add Player form and enter their singles, doubles, or merit rating directly.

[!NOTE] The number of qualifying matches required depends on your club's rating algorithm configuration. The system needs enough data points against rated opponents to produce a reliable starting rating.

Summary

You have learned two ways to build your club roster:

• Add Player button: quick for adding a few players at a time
• CSV import: fast bulk import for clubs with many existing players

Here is what you accomplished:

• Added players manually with name and optional rating
• Imported players in bulk from a CSV file
• Learned how the profile claiming process works (player requests → admin approves)
• Set up your club's join page for self-service onboarding
• Managed your roster with search, edit, and merge tools
• Used bulk actions to manage multiple players at once
• Organized players into active and inactive sections
• Understood how the residual pool works for unrated players

Next steps:

• Creating Your First League: now that you have players, create a league for them
• Importing Players in Bulk: advanced CSV import options including historical ratings
• Member Tags and Segmentation: organize players with tags for filtering
• Player Import, Merge and Management: merge duplicates and manage at scale