Our Mission & Our Founder
Empowering Local Sports Clubs. Enabling Community, Growth & Play.
ClubAssemble was born out of a simple insight: local sports clubs do fantastic work—coaching players, building teams, hosting events, making friendships—but too often, their administration slows them down. Multiple chat groups, email chains, spreadsheets... volunteers and coaches spend precious time chasing availability or reminders instead of being on the pitch.
That’s where the idea for ClubAssemble took root: a digital clubhouse for the club world. But this platform isn't just an idea; it's a solution built by an expert with first-hand experience of the problem.
Meet Our Founder: Matthew D. Lightfoot
ClubAssemble is founded and led by Matthew D. Lightfoot, the platform's Co-Founder, CTO, and lead architect.
Like many in the club world, Matthew is a coach, parent, and active club member. He watched his child grow in confidence, made new friends, and saw how team spirit was as important as the matches. But he also saw the admin burden: tracking availability, booking facilities, and communicating across teams.
He was uniquely positioned to build the solution.
With over a decade of experience as a Senior Engineering Manager and Head of Engineering, Matthew has led teams at global tech companies. He is a specialist in the exact, modern technologies that power ClubAssemble: Typescript, React, Google Cloud Platform (GCP), Firebase, and Serverless architecture.
This combination of real-world club experience and elite technical expertise is the foundation of ClubAssemble. Matthew built the platform he wished he had—one that is both powerful for administrators and simple for parents.
Our Mission
To give sports clubs one central, intuitive platform that allows them to:
- Define and manage their teams, fixtures, and events with ease.
- Enable members (players, parents, coaches) to access the information they need seamlessly.
- Provide flexible tools for facilities, bookings, and messages so clubs can focus on what matters: sport, community, and growth.
Our Approach (Why We Built It)
- Simplicity: Every volunteer, coach, or parent should be able to use the system. If it takes more than five minutes to understand, it’s too complex.
- Centralisation: Instead of scattered chats and mixed tools, everything—fixtures, events, bookings, messages—lives in one place.
- Scalability & Security: Built using modern, best-in-class infrastructure (serverless back-end, region-aware data, strong authentication) so the club can grow without growing pain.
- A Living Platform: We built ClubAssemble as a living platform, not a fixed product. By leveraging cloud technologies, we iterate quickly, respond to feedback, and continuously improve.
What We Offer
- Team & Fixture Management: Set up teams, define squad rules, track availability, and post match results.
- Events & Bookings: Organise club events, facility bookings (pitches, nets, courts), and guest invites.
- Messaging & Engagement: A unified messaging hub, polls, announcements, and direct chat.
- Coaching & Development: Assign coaches, create development plans, and track progress.
- Facilities Management: Define time slots, manage bookable periods, and view utilisation analytics.
- Fun Extras: Engage members with themed mini-games and club challenges.
Our Vision
We believe that digital tools should amplify the human side of sport, not replace it. Team spirit happens on the pitch and in the changing room. But when the admin is smoother and communication is clearer, the club can spend more time on what’s meaningful.
We aim to support local sport everywhere—because sport isn’t just about the game: it’s about the community.
Get In Touch
We’d love to hear from you. Drop us a message, and together, let’s make club life a little easier and a lot more fun.