Coaches, fans and settings

There are three roles and no custom permissions to set up. They're built on one idea: your formations and play names are the only thing in the app a rival would want, and the score, the play-by-play and a player's stat line are things a parent has every reason to see.

The three roles

Who can see and do what

A coach who opens the Team tab still sees the Team settings row, with a note saying only the owner can change them. That's on purpose. A note a coach can find beats a button that does nothing when you tap it.

The invite code

It's under Team → Staff. The row is named for your staff, and the screen it opens is Staff and fans. The code is six characters, and anyone who enters it joins your team as a fan. If an owner makes the team private, anyone who enters it asks to join instead, and you or a co-owner lets each one in from Staff and fans. While a request waits, the team's owners can see the person's name and email address; coaches and fans cannot.

Hand it out early, and to everybody

There's nothing to think over on this one. A parent with the code gets the live score, the whole play-by-play in plain English and their kid's stat line updating through the game, and it costs them nothing, now or later. There's no fan tier to upgrade to, no per-parent charge and no ads. If they want to know what they're joining first, send them what a fan sees.

Most coaches paste it into the team group chat once and forget about it. Do it before your first Friday. A parent who joins on Thursday follows that week's game. A parent who joins in week six has already missed five.

Use Send invite to share it however you normally reach parents. If it ends up somewhere you didn't intend, tap Generate a new code: the old one stops working right away, everyone on the team sees the new one, and coaches who already joined aren't affected. Nobody gets kicked out.

Joining a team

1. Download the app and sign in.

2. Tap Join a team with a code. It's on the welcome screen if you're new, or on the Team tab if you're already on a team.

3. Enter the six-character code and tap Look up code. The app shows you which team it belongs to before you commit.

4. Tap Join. You're in, as a fan. If you're staff, ask the owner to move you up.

Joining is free. Only creating a team needs a subscription.

Promoting a parent to coach

Team → Staff. Everyone who joined with the code is under Fans, and your staff is under Staff. Change someone's role to Coach and they move up the screen into the staff list, so you can see it worked.

The two lists are kept apart on purpose. A staff of four buried in a list of ninety parents isn't much of a staff list.

Removing someone

From the same screen, Remove from team. They lose access. Plays they entered are kept. Removing a coach in October doesn't delete September.

Team Settings, switch by switch

Owner only, behind the gear icon on the home screen. Everything here is saved with the Save button in the corner.

Identity

• Team name
• Acronym: up to six characters, always in capitals.
• Mascot: optional.
• Chant: optional. Something your program shouts.

If you paste something too long, the app does not cut it short behind your back. It tells you which box is over and by how many characters, and won't save until you fix it.

Look

Logo, Primary color and Secondary color. These drive the crest and the score bug.

Season

The season year, and Quarter length in minutes (anything from 4 to 20). Quarter length is used for clock entry.

Coach's Read

A switch, on by default. Turning it off hides the screen for your whole staff. It doesn't change who can see your playbook. That's set by the fan role, which this switch doesn't touch. See Coach's Read.

The Booth

A switch, on by default. The shared staff notepad shows up for everyone on the team. Turn it off and the feature isn't in the app at all for this team. It's coaches only and is never shown to fans. See The Booth.

Your own name

Team → Your name. This is how you appear in the staff list, and on Booth notes, so your coordinator knows who saw what.

It belongs to you, so changing it updates every team you're on at once.

Also in the You section is the rule set you keep stats under. It sets where kickoffs start. Nothing else in the app reads it yet.

What a parent actually sees

It's worth signing in as a fan once so you can answer when a parent asks. They get:

• The live score, updating as you enter plays.
• The play-by-play as plain sentences, without the coach's shorthand, because the shorthand is the formation and the play call.
• Player statistics, including their kid's.

They don't get formation names, play names, key-player stars, Coach's Read, Scouting, or the Booth.

A parent who hasn't confirmed their email address sees a Confirm your email address banner on the Team tab until they do.

There's a version of this written for parents: For parents and players. Send that link along with the code.

Who can see your team's information

Your team's information is visible to your team. The developer can also see every team, to run the service: to check it is working, to answer support, to fix and administer accounts, and where the law requires. It is never used for marketing, profiling or training any machine-learning system. It goes to other companies only to run the service, and the developer's own alerts carry team names and email addresses but no player names; the Privacy Policy lists who receives what. The app has a short version of this on the Team tab, so nobody has to come to a website to find it.

The Privacy Policy has the detail.

Leaving, deleting, and the danger zone