Overview

Guardians—parents, family members, or other authorized adults—need to be connected to athletes to receive communications, view schedules, and make payments. PlayState manages this through an invitation and request system that keeps you in control of who has access to athlete information.

How Guardian Connections Work

There are two paths to connecting guardians with athletes:

Invitation Flow (Admin-Initiated)

1. An admin invites a guardian by email from the athlete’s profile
2. The guardian receives an email invitation
3. They create an account (or sign in if they have one)
4. The connection is established automatically upon acceptance

Request Flow (Guardian-Initiated)

1. A guardian creates an account or signs in
2. They request to be connected to an athlete
3. The request appears in your pending queue
4. You approve or deny the request
5. If approved, the connection is established

Understanding Request Statuses

Each guardian connection has a status that tells you where it stands:

Processing Pending Requests

Finding the Requests Queue

1. Navigate to Guardians or check your dashboard for pending request notifications
2. Look for the Pending Requests tab or filter
3. You’ll see a list of guardians waiting for approval, along with which athlete they’re requesting access to

Reviewing a Request

Before approving, verify the request is legitimate:

• Guardian name — Does it match what you expect for this athlete?
• Email domain — Is it a personal email that makes sense, or something suspicious?
• Athlete match — Is the athlete correct?

When in doubt, contact the athlete’s known guardians through existing channels to verify.

Approving a Request

1. Click on the pending request to view details
2. Click Approve
3. The guardian immediately gains access to the athlete’s information, schedules, and any guardian-facing features

Denying a Request

1. Click on the pending request
2. Click Deny
3. Optionally, add a reason (internal note or sent to guardian, depending on settings)
4. The guardian is notified their request was not approved

Use deny for requests that don’t match your records or seem incorrect. The guardian can submit a new request if there was a mistake.

Managing Invitations

Sending a Guardian Invitation

1. Navigate to the athlete’s profile
2. Find the Guardians section
3. Click Invite Guardian
4. Enter the guardian’s email address
5. Click Send Invitation

The guardian receives an email with instructions to accept the invitation.

Resending or Canceling Invitations

If an invitation is still pending:

• Resend — Sends a fresh email in case the original was missed or went to spam
• Cancel — Voids the invitation; the link will no longer work

Athlete-Level Guardian Management

Each athlete’s profile shows all connected guardians:

1. Go to Athletes and select an athlete
2. Find the Guardians section
3. You’ll see all active connections, pending invitations, and pending requests

From here you can:

• Remove a guardian — Disconnects them from this athlete
• Invite additional guardians — Add more authorized adults
• View guardian details — See contact information and connection history

Common Scenarios

“A guardian says they never received the invitation”

Check the invitation status. If it shows as sent, ask them to check spam/junk folders. You can resend the invitation or cancel and create a new one with a verified email address.

“The wrong person was approved as a guardian”

Go to the athlete’s guardian section and remove the incorrect guardian. Then invite or approve the correct person.

“A guardian needs access to multiple athletes”

Each athlete-guardian connection is separate. The guardian will need to be invited to or request access for each athlete individually. Once connected, they’ll see all their athletes from a single dashboard.

“Divorced parents need separate access”

Multiple guardians can be connected to a single athlete. Invite both parents separately; each will have their own account and access.

Best Practices

• Process requests promptly — Pending requests block guardian access to important information
• Verify before approving — A quick sanity check prevents unauthorized access
• Communicate expectations — Let families know how the guardian connection process works during onboarding
• Keep emails current — Ensure athlete records have accurate guardian emails for smooth invitations

What’s Next?

Streamline how new athletes and guardians join your organization by configuring registration and join links.