> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://sportsindex.mintlify.site/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Create Your Account

> Sign up for Sports Index in under a minute

All core surfaces — Explore, the Leaderboard, Stats, athlete pages — are public and need no account. An account unlocks the deeper tools.

## What an account unlocks

* **Newsroom filtering** — search and filter the full coverage corpus by player, school, conference, source, and date
* **Following** — keep up with the athletes and programs you care about
* **Page claiming** — athletes and organizations verify and take editorial control of their page

## Sign up

<Steps>
  <Step title="Go to the signup page">
    Visit [sportsindex.io/signup](https://sportsindex.io/signup).
  </Step>

  <Step title="Enter your email">
    Provide a valid email address. You will need to verify it before your account is fully active.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Choose a username">
    Usernames must be between 3 and 30 characters: letters, numbers, dashes, and underscores.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Set a password">
    Create a strong password, then confirm your email from the verification message we send.
  </Step>
</Steps>

## Claiming a page

If you're an athlete or organization with an existing Sports Index page, you can claim it for editorial control — see [Claiming Your Page](/guide/topics/claiming).