Customer Story
How FCO Sports filled their NFL Flag Football program in 2 weeks — it used to take months
Hurdle's AI agents replaced months of volunteer phone trees, Facebook posts, and manual outreach — filling every spot in their spring flag football season in just 14 days.
FCO Sports
Louisville, Kentucky · Since 1968
The Fern Creek Optimist Club has been a cornerstone of Louisville youth sports for over 50 years. They run JRNBA basketball, MLS Go youth soccer, NFL Flag Football, and more — hosting between 2,000 and 3,000 players every year across multiple seasons.
As a volunteer-driven nonprofit, every hour matters. When registration season came around, the clock started ticking — and the work fell on the shoulders of parent volunteers.
The Challenge
Months of manual outreach to fill a single season
Every season, FCO faced the same grind. Filling their NFL Flag Football program meant 2–3 months of manual work: parent volunteers making phone calls, posting on Facebook groups, handing out flyers at schools, and sending one-off emails to last year's families.
There was no system. No follow-up. No way to know which families had seen the registration notice and which hadn't. The club was growing, but the process wasn't — and it was burning out the volunteers who made everything run.
With multiple sports programs and thousands of families to reach, FCO needed something that could do the work of a marketing team without adding headcount or cost.
"Between the great looking website they built for us and the backend that allows us to easily advertise registration notices to the public, they have made handling registrations, advertisements through Facebook, email, and more much easier. And with the built-in AI tool, this company is second to none."
"Making the decision to move to Hurdle has made this a very rewarding and simple change — one we feel very confident about."
The Solution
Hurdle's AI agents did what a team of volunteers couldn't
FCO turned on Hurdle and let the AI take it from there. No ad agency. No extra staff. Here's what happened.
AI built the campaigns automatically
Hurdle's AI agents generated registration campaigns tailored to FCO's programs — email sequences, text messages, and Facebook-ready content — without anyone writing a word.
Targeted the right families
Instead of blasting everyone, the AI identified and prioritized families most likely to register — past participants, nearby households, and parents who'd shown interest.
Followed up with parents who didn't register
Parents who opened an email but didn't complete registration got automated, well-timed follow-ups. No volunteer had to remember who to chase.
All-in-one: website, registration, and marketing
Hurdle built FCO a professional website (fcosports.com), handled online registration, and ran the marketing — all from one platform.
Before Hurdle
- 2–3 months to fill a program
- Parent volunteers making calls & posting
- No follow-up on interested families
- Separate tools for website, registration, marketing
- Manual flyers and word-of-mouth
With Hurdle
- Program filled in 14 days
- AI agents run the entire campaign
- Automatic follow-ups with non-registrants
- Website, registration, and marketing in one place
- Zero extra staff or ad spend
Results
From months of scrambling to 2 weeks and done
FCO didn't just fill their flag football program faster — they transformed how they run registrations across every sport. The same AI that filled spring flag football now handles their JRNBA basketball, MLS Go soccer, and other programs, giving volunteers their time back and keeping the club growing.
Fill your programs faster — without the volunteer burnout
Join FCO Sports and hundreds of organizations who let AI handle registrations and marketing.