Evidence note: iClassPro first-party docs cover level organization, skill tracking, family and sibling profiles, enrollment, and payments; USA Gymnastics says a parent or guardian registers a minor athlete and competition requires Member Club affiliation. These sources do not prove generic platforms cannot model gymnastics or that every program needs every listed feature. Present the requirements as a gymnastics-program evaluation checklist and verify plan coverage. Sources: iClassPro Class Management; iClassPro Customer Portal; USA Gymnastics Athlete Membership.
If you run a rec program, a team program, open gym and birthday parties out of the same building, you have already discovered that gym software built around adult memberships describes almost none of that.
A gym membership is one thing you either have or don't. A gymnastics program is a ladder.
Athletes sit at a level, progress through skills, and move up when they're ready — which means enrolment is tied to ability, not just to a payment. Software needs to hold the level, the skills worked, and what's still outstanding before a move-up.
The practical consequences:
Here's the thing people actually search for, and it's specific: parent portals in this category tend to be powerful and painful. Weeks of configuration, a separate app, a login parents forget, and a support burden that lands on your front desk.
What a parent portal has to do is short:
What it must not do is require you to build it. If setup means mapping every class, level and fee structure by hand before a single parent can log in, the portal becomes a project rather than a feature — and projects get abandoned in week three.
The question worth asking any vendor: how long from signing to a parent successfully logging in and paying? Not "can it do a portal." Everyone says yes to that. Ask for the number in days.
Gymnastics enrols siblings constantly. Two or three kids, different levels, different days, one parent paying.
We've written up the same mechanics for dance studios, where the structure is nearly identical, in dance school billing software.
Gymnastics revenue is not a monthly subscription. It's usually:
If your software only understands recurring monthly billing, you are running at least three of those out of a spreadsheet. Ask specifically whether one-off calendared charges can be applied to a family account rather than chased as separate transactions.
Evidence note: USA Gymnastics official policy requires member-club safety programs, reporting, prevention policies, and applicable screening and training; its background program covers criminal, registry, and identity checks. The cited policy does not establish universal annual waiver, medical-record, emergency-contact, or software-renewal requirements for every gymnastics business. Tell clubs to verify governing-body, insurer, state, and local requirements and use software to track the records actually required. Sources: USA Gymnastics Safety and Response Policy; USA Gymnastics Criminal Background Check Program.
Get the requirements from your own governing body and insurer rather than from a software vendor. USA Gymnastics publishes member club requirements including safety and certification expectations, and your insurance carrier will have its own. What software should do is collect the waiver digitally, timestamp it, tie it to the athlete, and flag when it's due for renewal — so the answer to "is everyone in this gym covered?" takes a click rather than a filing cabinet.
Evidence note: Mako first-party docs show customer profiles with documents and activity, timestamped digital waivers, class attendance, revenue per service, and service margins. Gymnastics-specific athlete skill fields, emergency contacts, program-level margins, and compliance coverage are not all documented. Describe the verified generic records, waivers, attendance, and service-margin views and confirm gymnastics fields before publishing. Sources: Mako first-party: Mako CRM; Mako first-party: Mako Classes and Memberships; Mako first-party: Mako Analytics.
Rec classes fill and feel busy. Team is prestigious and expensive to run — coaching hours, competition travel, gym time that can't be sold to anyone else.
Evidence note: Mako’s first-party pricing page lists Pulse free, Basic at $139 monthly with 3 team members, Team at $249 with 15, and month-to-month monthly plans. Vendor pricing and included seats are date-sensitive, plan-specific, and do not establish that Team is the right tier or that no payment or optional costs apply. Sources: Mako first-party: Mako Pricing.
For the head-to-head against the platforms you're probably also looking at, see our gym management software comparison.
