The Catholic Athletic Association (CAA) is a Minnesota-based school district back office that manages assignments across multiple sports (from basketball to baseball) for youth leagues. For years, CAA’s scheduling was entirely manual and internal. Officials were assigned by phone calls, paper schedules, or spreadsheets.
As Megan Jacobson recalls, CAA “worked quite heavily off of phone calling and paper and pencil schedules”. Crucially, the old system could not handle communication or updates – “there was no way to communicate through it – so officials had to confirm everything by text or phone.” CAA began using Refr Sports in August 2024 and has just completed its first full season on the platform, achieving outstanding results.
Before Refr, CAA faced several operational pains:
Assignments were handled by phone, paper and a simple website. In Megan’s words, the old system “had no way to communicate through it”, so officials only found out about games via separate texts or calls.
Any change (time or location) required manually informing officials. Megan notes that they “used to have to call every single referee on the phone” to relay updates, a time-consuming process.
The fragmented setup made it hard to see who was covering which game. Gaps in the schedule weren’t obvious until an assignor checked individual spreadsheets or heard back from officials.
Paying officials was a major chore done only once or twice a season. Megan explains that in past years CAA ran “maybe two payroll cycles throughout the season” because the process was entirely manual.
Refr Sports immediately addressed these issues with centralized tools and automations:
Refr’s bulk-update feature lets CAA schedule entire seasons at once. Megan says she “can just bulk update all [her] games,” which she calls her new favorite tool. Now all assignors and officials can see the full schedule in Refr, and quickly manage scheduling nuances and conflicts.
The mobile app sends real-time notifications to officials whenever assignments change. Each official now gets a clear confirmation showing the game’s time, location and address. As Megan explains, officials “most appreciated just the confirmation that they know like, ‘okay, I’m actually assigned to this place at this location at this time, with an address’”. This replaces the old system of one-off texts and ensures everyone has consistent information.
Even officials who aren’t tech-savvy have adopted Refr. Megan notes that “even my lower-end tech guys have really been able to understand how to use the app and accept and verify that they have games”. The intuitive mobile interface means officials can check assignments, ask questions and confirm games without help, which saves the assignors from endless follow-up.
With Refr handling game logs and pay rates, CAA can now run payroll automatically on a weekly basis. Eliminating prolonged payroll delays and hours of manual bookkeeping.
Moving everything into one platform has made CAA’s scheduling more organized and much less stressful. Assignments no longer live on random spreadsheets; changes are handled in Refr and everyone sees them instantly. The team can now plan games weeks in advance instead of reacting day-to-day, which further reduces last-minute scrambling.
After one season with Refr, CAA is seeing clear improvements. All of their previously internal processes have been automated and systematized. Specifically, manual, error-prone processes have been replaced by automated tools and clear communication channels. The assignors report being far less reactive – in Megan’s words, much less on the fly – and more in control of their schedule. Officials get reliable, clear information, and administrative headaches have largely vanished. Overall, Refr has made CAA’s officiating program more efficient, organized and sustainable, freeing time and energy for everyone involved.
