Self-scheduling is great in general. Teams can avoid tournament weekends and spring breaks, for example. But the process can be a bit overwhelming. Here are a few “pro tips” for managing these meetings like a champ (and keeping road trips to a minimum):

  • Before the meeting, make sure you know what tournaments your team will attend. If you’re not sure, ask a club director.
  • Before the meeting, send out a quick survey like this one to get the dates when players will be unavailable (but avoid making promises about not missing any games).
  • Before the meeting, create a printed weekend schedule like this template (or the “Month View” of your team’s Google Calendar with any blackout days for tourneys, coach weddings, etc. works too. You probably won’t have access to WiFi though, so don’t plan to use a computer.)
  • Arrive 30 minutes early. A lot of the scheduling takes place before the official meeting starts (some also may occur days before by email).
  • At the meeting, it helps to have a 2nd person as a runner to go to the field schedule tables.
  • Schedule the farther away teams first before you and they run out of available weekends/fields. The local teams can usually be squeezed in on a weeknight at Clear Creek.
  • By playing in Buckeye, we know there will be some travel to Dayton and Columbus. When deciding where to play, don’t be a jerk, but don’t be a pushover either. Propose Clear Creek or Turpin or somewhere else near us as a field first. For Columbus and Dayton teams, a good “halfway” point is Lebanon (:40 from our training field) or Ankeney (1:10)
  • Let the other team know we are navy or orange and ask the other team what they would like to wear. Saves you the trouble of looking it up or emailing them later.
  • Consider whether you’d be ok playing 2 games in Columbus or Dayton in a day or weekend as it may come up.
  • Mention The EPIC Cup (in Oxford in May), but only to people that seem super-cool.
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