Who this is for: registrars, safety officers, head coaches and board members who need to know who has signed what. Features involved: Waivers & Docs, Groups, USRowing integration, Practices, Regattas, Org Settings
The problem
The night before a regatta, the coach is asked whether every athlete has a current USRowing waiver and SafeSport training. The answer lives in a folder of signed PDFs, a spreadsheet the registrar updated in the spring and the USRowing roster, which nobody has checked since.
New athletes join mid-season and get on the water before their waiver comes back. When the insurer asks for proof, the club spends a weekend matching names.
How it works in Boathouse Connect
There are two kinds of compliance. Club documents — your own waivers and policies — are written in Boathouse Connect, assigned to groups and signed on screen, usually as part of joining the group. USRowing membership, waiver and SafeSport status is read from your club's USRowing roster (Professional plan) and matched to each member by their USRowing Membership Number. Both appear together on the Compliance page, in the lineup builder and in the regatta planner.
Boathouse Connect flags compliance problems; it does not stop athletes attending practice or being entered in a regatta. Resolving what it shows is up to your coaches.
| Step | Where | Who does it |
|---|---|---|
| Write club documents, assign groups and set signing windows | Waivers & Docs → Manage Docs | Registrar (Manage Documents and Waivers) |
| Members sign while joining a group, or later | Groups → My Groups; also Waivers & Docs → My Waivers & Docs on Professional | Member |
| Import the USRowing roster | Waivers & Docs → USRowing → Import Waivers | Registrar (Manage Documents and Waivers; Professional plan) |
| Members add their USRowing number | My Profile → My Profile | Member |
| Review compliance by group, practice, regatta or person | Waivers & Docs → Compliance | Registrar or coach (Manage Documents and Waivers) |
| Check athletes before a regatta | Planner Compliance and USRowing tabs | Planner admins |
| Remind members and keep records | Document reminders, Org Settings → Data Export | Registrar, administrator |
Step by step
Club documents
- Write the documents and assign them. Create each waiver or policy on Waivers & Docs → Manage Docs, add the groups that must sign it and choose whether it is always open or has a signing window. See Documents & waivers.
- Collect signatures at join. When a member joins a group with an open required document, they sign on screen as part of joining; they cannot join until they do. Closed documents do not block joining. See Documents & waivers and Onboarding a new class or season.
- Catch people added by hand. Members you add yourself on Groups → Manage Groups go straight in and are shown the document as outstanding afterwards. Check the document's Users tab, which lists every eligible user with the date they signed or Not Signed, or the Compliance page.
- Renew each season. Duplicate last season's document and set new dates. Signatures are not copied, so everyone signs the new version. See Documents & waivers.
USRowing and SafeSport
- Import the roster. On the Professional plan, someone with Manage Documents and Waivers starts on the Import Waivers tab of Waivers & Docs → USRowing. Boathouse Connect then imports membership, waiver and SafeSport statuses from your USRowing roster and refreshes them twice a week; you can also refresh on demand once every six hours. See USRowing & SafeSport compliance.
- Match every athlete. Matching uses the USRowing Membership Number on each member's profile. Members add it on My Profile → My Profile, or on the USRowing screen of an onboarding link. A member without a number cannot be matched to the roster, so their USRowing status will not show. See Onboarding workflows & user checklists.
Check before you go
- Before practice. The Compliance tab in the lineup builder shows the status of athletes attending the practice. See The lineup builder.
- Across the club. Waivers & Docs → Compliance has Groups, Practices, Regattas and All Accounts tabs so you can look at a squad, a session, a trip or one person. See USRowing & SafeSport compliance.
- Before a regatta. The planner's Compliance tab shows each attending athlete's USRowing status, Outstanding Documents and SafeSport Status; the USRowing tab lists waiver, membership and SafeSport expiry dates. Check USRowing Waivers on the planner's to-do list is marked complete only when every attending athlete has a current waiver and membership. See Regatta planner and Running a regatta weekend.
Follow up and keep records
- Remind members. Members with unsigned club documents who have used the organization in the last 60 days are emailed reminders. For anything else, message the group from Communications → Send Message. See Documents & waivers and Sending email & text.
- Fixing USRowing problems. Athletes renew their membership or sign the USRowing waiver on USRowing's own site; the change appears after the next refresh. See Finding & attending regattas.
- Keep a record. Each document's Users tab shows who has signed and opens each signed copy. Org Settings → Data Export exports member profiles and group membership with USRowing details to Excel or CSV. There is no export of document signatures, so for an insurer use the Users tab and signed copies. See Data export.
What each person sees
| Person | What they see |
|---|---|
| Registrar / administrator (Manage Documents and Waivers) | Every document and its signers, the USRowing roster and user list, and the Compliance page — that menu item is only shown to people with this permission. |
| Coach | Compliance for their practices in the lineup builder, and the planner's Compliance and USRowing tabs for planners they administer. |
| Member | Documents to sign while joining a group, their own documents and USRowing status on My Waivers & Docs (Professional), and the USRowing tab of each regatta dashboard. |
| Parent or stakeholder | Nothing in Waivers & Docs. A parent with their own account signs only their own documents. |
Tips
- Attach every required waiver to the groups people join; signing at join is the only point where Boathouse Connect withholds something until a document is signed.
- Make the USRowing number part of onboarding. An unmatched athlete looks non-compliant even when their USRowing status is fine.
- Check the planner's Compliance tab when the attendance lock passes, not the morning you leave.
- Give Manage Documents and Waivers to your head coach or safety officer as well as the registrar; without it the Compliance page is not in their menu.
- Duplicate documents for the new season instead of editing the old one, so last season's signatures stay on record against the text people actually signed.
FAQ
Will Boathouse Connect stop a non-compliant athlete from racing? No. It does not enter crews or block entries; entries stay on RegattaCentral. It flags expired or missing waivers, memberships and SafeSport status so your coaches can act.
What if we are not on the Professional plan? You can still write club documents and have members sign them when they join a group; on Small Teams and Standard the My Waivers & Docs and USRowing menu items are hidden. The USRowing integration and the regatta planner are Professional features. See pricing.
Can a parent sign for a minor? Each signature is recorded against the person signed in. The athlete signs from their own account; parents do not sign in as the athlete.
What if someone joins mid-season? If they join through Groups → My Groups, they sign before they are added, exactly as at the start of the season. If you add them yourself, they appear as Not Signed until they sign.
Can we upload signed paper waivers? The guides do not describe uploading signed copies. Use a user checklist to track paper forms; see Onboarding workflows & user checklists.