Eastlake League Scheduler — User Guide

This tool builds and maintains the league schedule. It exists so that the work sits with the people closest to it: coaches enter their own availability, directors run their own program, and changes get sorted between coaches without every message routing through the league admin.

How signing in works (everyone)

Your email address is your login — there's no password for coaches or directors. There are two levels, deliberately:

• Enter your email and you're straight in to look at anything.
• To change anything, you click a one-time link we email you. That proves the address is really yours.

You'll see a yellow banner offering to send that link whenever you need it. It expires after 15 minutes; just request another if it lapses.

League Admin

Your job is the start and end of the season. The middle mostly runs itself.

1. Set up the season

Go to Season. Set:

• Season start — any date in your first week; it snaps back to that week's Monday.
• Number of weeks — typically 10–12.
• Games per team — the league default. Individual teams can ask for a different number.
• Blackout dates — holidays and anything league-wide, one date per line as YYYY-MM-DD.

The Resulting Calendar below updates as you save, so you can see exactly which weeks and Saturdays you've created before anyone relies on them.

Then add your divisions (e.g. U10 Boys, U12 Girls). A division can't be deleted while teams are still in it.

2. Add programs and directors

Go to Programs. Add a program per city or club, then add one director per program with their name, email and phone.

That's the last thing you have to do for that program's setup — the director takes it from here.

3. Let registration happen

Directors add their own fields and teams, and coaches fill in their own availability. You don't need to chase this in the tool; check the Teams tab to see how it's filling in.

4. Generate the schedule

Click Run Scheduler in the header and type run to confirm. A backup is taken automatically first, so this is always reversible.

The scheduler will:

• Put games on Saturdays wherever possible — a weekday is only ever used when no Saturday slot could take that matchup
• Give every team its requested number of games
• Keep home and away within one of each other for every team
• Respect every team's and field's availability, including single-date exceptions
• Balance travel miles as far as geography allows

Any matchup it couldn't place is reported at the top of the page. It will still schedule everything else — one awkward pairing never costs you the rest of the division.

Check the Stats view for games, home/away split and travel miles per team.

5. During the season

Coaches sort changes out between themselves. You only get pulled in when something stalls:

• A coach doesn't respond by their deadline → their director is emailed
• Still nothing two days later → you are emailed
• The two coaches keep swapping proposals without agreeing → both directors are looped in

Change Requests shows every live negotiation: which round it's on, whose turn it is, the deadline (overdue ones in red) and what's on the table. Click History on any game for the full story — who asked for what, when, and every escalation that fired.

6. Finalise

Finalize Games locks the schedule. Finalised games can't receive change requests at all. Games still mid-negotiation are deliberately left alone and reported back, so resolve those first.

Backups and restore

Backups lists your restore points. One is taken automatically before anything destructive (running the scheduler, uploading a season, importing a CSV, finalising, starting a new season), and you can take your own labelled one at any time.

Each restore point contains the season, roster, schedule and change requests together, so restoring always gives you a consistent league — never a schedule referring to teams that no longer exist.

Starting next season

Season → Start a New Season. It archives everything as a labelled restore point, keeps your programs, directors, fields and divisions (they carry over year to year), and clears teams, the schedule and any open change requests ready for fresh registration.

Program Director

You run your program: your fields, your teams, your coaches. Everything you do is scoped to your own program — you can't affect anyone else's, and they can't affect yours.

1. Sign in. Enter your email at the login page. You'll land on your program page. To make changes, click Send verification link in the yellow banner and click the link in your email.
2. Add your fields first. Teams pick their home field from this list, so it has to exist before you add teams. For each field give the name, address, and — importantly — the coordinates (paste them straight from Google Maps). Coordinates are what let the scheduler balance travel fairly.
3. Set field availability. First the weekly pattern: which days and Saturday slots this field is open to host. Then, if you need to, open a day and close individual dates — a one-off tournament or maintenance closure.
4. Add your teams. Name, division, home field, and the coach's name, email and phone. The coach's account is created automatically from that email — they never sign up separately.
5. Check availability is in. Coaches fill in their own, but you can set or correct it for any team in your program.

Keeping an eye on things

The Games section lists every game involving your teams. Any game mid-negotiation shows the live state inline — the round, what's been proposed, whose turn it is and when their response is due (red if overdue). Click History for the full timeline.

Acting for a coach

You can edit any team in your program and request changes on their behalf — useful when a coach has gone quiet. If you change a coach's email, the new address still has to confirm it before it takes effect.

Games per team

Each team can ask for a different number of games. Leave it blank to use the league default, or set it per team — your coaches can also set their own.

Coach

Two jobs: tell us when you can play, and sort out changes with the other coach when a game doesn't work.

1. Sign in with the email your director registered for you — no password, no sign-up. You'll land on your team page.
2. Check your details — team name, your name, phone. The other coach needs your phone number if a game has to change at short notice.
3. Set your availability. This is the important bit — see below.
4. Choose how many games you want, or leave it blank for the league default.
5. Save. If you're not verified yet, click the banner and click the emailed link first.

Setting availability — two stages

Stage one: your usual week. For Monday–Thursday and each of the three Saturday slots, pick one of:

Available for both	You can host or travel. Gives the scheduler the most to work with.
Available to host	You can play, but only at home.
Available to travel	You can play, but only away.
Not available	You can't play then at all.

Stage two: specific dates. Open any day (e.g. All Tuesdays) and you'll see every one of those dates in the season. Each starts on Use pattern, so you only touch the exceptions — knock out the Tuesday you're away, or open up a single Monday that happens to work even though Mondays normally don't.

Requesting a change

Find the game under Upcoming Games and click Request Change. You'll be shown only times that genuinely work for both teams — already checked against both sets of availability and the field's opening hours. Pick one, adjust the kickoff time if you want, add a short reason, and send.

1. We email you first to check you meant it. Nothing reaches the other coach until you confirm — so a mis-click costs nobody anything.
2. The other coach gets your proposal with Approve and Suggest another time.
3. If they approve, the game moves and you're both told. Done.
4. If it doesn't work for them, they pick a different time from the same list and it comes back to you. That continues until one of you accepts.

How long you have to reply

Every request email states the date you need to respond by. The window tightens as the conversation goes on, because by then you're both already engaged:

First proposal	3 days
Second	2 days
Third onwards	1 day

Miss it and your director gets a nudge; keep missing it and the league admin hears. Nothing is cancelled — it just stops being only your problem.

Changes inside 7 days

Too close to the game for email back-and-forth. The tool shows you the other coach's phone number instead — call or text them, agree it directly, then record it with Manual Override. You'll be asked who you spoke to and how. That change applies immediately, and the other coach plus both directors are notified.

Seeing what happened

Click History on any game for the full record: who asked for what, when, who agreed, and anything that got escalated.

Stuck on something this guide doesn't cover? Coaches — ask your program director. Directors — ask the league admin.