# Spaces & teams explained

Understand how Spaces and Teams organize your ProductiveRecruit account: who they hold, how registration links work, and when to use more than one.

Every organization account is built on two layers: **Spaces** and **Teams**. A Space is the container for your athletes, staff, and settings. Most orgs only ever need one. A Team sits inside a Space and groups athletes by sport, like "Varsity Boys Soccer." Understanding the two makes registration links, staff permissions, and rosters click into place.

## Spaces hold everything

A Space is where your athletes, staff, teams, and registration link actually live. When you sign up, ProductiveRecruit creates one Space for you automatically, and for the vast majority of clubs, high schools, and recruiting agencies, that single Space is all you'll ever use.

Each Space has its own name, sport (or sports), registration link, and **Group Code** — the code athletes enter to join. It also has its own capacity settings for how many athletes, admins, and teams it can hold, and its own **Space Settings**, visible only to Super Admins.

Larger organizations (a multi-branch club, a multi-campus school district, or a league with several member programs) can run more than one Space under a single account. If you have access to more than one, a space switcher lets you move between them; switching between Spaces is limited to Super Admins.

## Teams group athletes by sport

A Team belongs to exactly one Space and exactly one sport. You can't mix sports on a single team. When you create one, you'll set its **Team Name**, **Sport** (locked if your org only works with one sport), and optionally a **Coach**.

Every team gets its own public roster page with a shareable link and QR code — separate from your registration link, and handy for posting to a team website or sharing with parents. You can also choose how each team's roster sorts: by Jersey Number, Name, Grad Year, Grad Year & Position, or Manual order.

If you turn on **Select Team on Signup** in Space Settings, athletes registering through your link are prompted to pick their team as part of signup. Otherwise, staff assign athletes to teams after they join. Staff accounts can also be restricted to see only the athletes on their assigned teams. See [Staff roles & permissions](/docs/organizations/staff-roles-and-permissions).

## Use teams as prospect lists, not just rosters

Organization plans include **unlimited teams**, and every team comes with its own shareable public roster. Put those two together and a "team" becomes the fastest way to hand a college coach exactly the athletes they're asking about, without building anything by hand.

When a coach tells you what they need, make a team for it and send the link:

- **2028 Forwards** for the coach recruiting forwards two classes out.
- **Uncommitted Seniors** for the athletes who need eyes on them right now.
- **Summer Showcase Roster** to send ahead to every coach attending, so they know who to watch before they arrive.
- **Academic Standouts** for admissions-driven programs where GPA opens the first door.

> **An athlete can be on more than one team**
>
> Adding someone to a prospect list doesn't pull them off their real roster. Your varsity keeper can sit on **Varsity Girls Soccer** and **2028 Keepers** at the same time, and each list shows only what belongs on it.

Two things worth knowing when you build lists this way. A team is tied to one sport, so a list only ever spans athletes within that sport. And setting a list's roster sort to **Grad Year & Position** makes it read the way a coach actually scans a roster.

### Two ways to get a list in front of coaches

Every team, whether it's a real roster or a prospect list, can go out digitally or on paper:

- **Send the link.** The [team profile](/docs/team-tools/team-profiles) is a live page a coach can open without logging in, browse, and filter. Because it's live, a coach who bookmarks it in September sees updated stats and video in March. This is the one to paste into an email or a message to a coach you're already talking to.
- **Hand them a printout.** The same team prints as a [roster brochure](/docs/team-tools/printable-rosters) with a QR code on every athlete. This is what team managers and parents should have in a folder at games, tournaments, and showcases, so a coach standing on the sideline can take something with them and scan straight through to a player's full profile.

Most organizations end up using both: the link for coaches you contact, the printout for coaches you meet.

## Registration links are per Space

Your registration link and Group Code belong to the Space, not the account — if you run multiple Spaces, each has its own link and code, so athletes always land in the right one. Full details on sharing that link and what athletes see when they sign up live in [Athlete registration & group codes](/docs/organizations/athlete-registration).

## What's next

- Set up who can manage what in [Staff roles & permissions](/docs/organizations/staff-roles-and-permissions)
- Get your registration link in front of athletes with [Athlete registration & group codes](/docs/organizations/athlete-registration)
- Share a roster or prospect list with coaches in [Team profiles](/docs/team-tools/team-profiles)
- Print one to hand out at an event with [Printable rosters & QR codes](/docs/team-tools/printable-rosters)
- See how Spaces and Teams show up in [The admin dashboard](/docs/organizations/admin-dashboard)

Source: https://productiverecruit.com/docs/organizations/spaces-and-teams