Liberty Hill Athletics (LHA) is a community-based athletic training facility located in Liberty Hill, Texas, a small but growing town in the outskirts of Austin. LHA rents out much-needed courts and training facilities to youth leagues, individual coaches and athletes, and other members of the community.
Liberty Hill, Texas
Athletic Facility
Liberty Hill, one of the fastest-growing towns in Texas, has experienced a 233% population increase since 2020. Young families—attracted by its affordability, strong school system, and proximity to Austin—continue to move to the area. This growth has led to a surge in the school-age population. Over the last five years, the district has added five elementary schools and a second middle school in an attempt to keep up with the student population, with plans to expand further.
Charles Himmer, a longtime resident and co-founder of Liberty Hill Athletics, identified the need for more quality spaces for youth sports in Liberty Hill. Himmer often coached his kids’ youth sports teams, especially basketball, and saw his league struggling to find practice space as the town grew.
“Our little town league usually had around 150 kids playing rec basketball during the season, and this year we’re up to almost 600. Finding indoor athletic facilities for basketball and volleyball became a real issue. We had to drive to neighboring towns or rent school gyms at a premium from the district. Even then, we often had no space to practice,”
This challenge inspired Himmer to launch Liberty Hill Athletics (LHA), an indoor athletic facility and gym with courts available for booking and a weight training area. Himmer envisioned LHA as a gym that required minimal staffing and operated like a “giant vending machine.” To make this vision a reality, he needed a booking system that could:
As a software engineer, Himmer had high expectations for the software he needed.
“I wanted to limit employee costs and create a largely autonomous experience, so software that could drive all the processes was very important to me. I was prepared to write all the software if I needed to, but I didn’t want to."
After testing 15 different solutions that failed to meet his needs, Himmer chose AllBooked by Skedda.
Unlike its competitors, AllBooked’s flexible, customizable rules allowed LHA to create booking policies that worked for its unique needs. Users could book half basketball courts for volleyball teams or individual shooting practice, or reserve the full court for community basketball teams. AllBooked’s space-sharing rules automatically blocked the full court when someone booked half a court and vice versa.
AllBooked’s pricing rules helped LHA set different rates depending on the hour. “Monday through Thursday, 5 to 9 PM, is what we call our premium time. That’s when people are out of school or work, and everyone wants to hold practice, so demand is high. But other times are less in demand,” explained Himmer.
“We needed software nuanced enough to handle bookings at 6 AM on a Monday versus 6 PM on a Tuesday. AllBooked was the only solution that could handle that complexity.”
Additionally, LHA uses AllBooked’s user tags to offer discounts to members during off-peak hours that aren’t booked by higher-paying sports leagues. Individual members can book 24/7 and pay below-market rates for court space. Only members tagged in AllBooked’s system see these lower price points.
“Members pay 90% less than the normal rate, but they also pay a flat monthly fee, which gives us steady, predictable income. With AllBooked, we can set booking window rules based on membership tags.”
LHA stays open 24/7 so that community members can access the facilities whenever it it fits their schedules. “Some people come at 1 AM because it’s self-service, like a vending machine. Night shift workers, for example, might sleep during the day, wake up at 1 or 2 AM, and work out before heading to work,” explained Himmer.
Himmer used AllBooked’s booking data to integrate reservation times with APIs for smart locks and HVAC systems. When a user books an off-peak time, like 1 AM, the system automatically unlocks the door and turns on the HVAC system, making LHA a fully self-service, software-driven facility.
Both individuals and sports programs can book LHA’s courts. LHA uses AllBooked’s native integration with Stripe to process payments upfront.
This setup delivers several benefits:
It only takes a quick glance through Liberty Hill Athletics’ many 5-star Google reviews to grasp how impactful this gym has been for the community since its opening. LHA has provided much needed space for local basketball and volleyball teams, summer camps, martial arts schools, birthday parties, and for individual practice or training, among others. By using AllBooked to manage court reservations, LHA operates seamlessly for all community members, “24/7, 365 days a year.”
“Choosing AllBooked saved me 200 hours upfront that I would have spent writing my own software to handle the complexities of our facility. The end result is better than what I could have created, and it’s been completely worth it.”
