Field hockey league scheduling software: build a field hockey league schedule that fits your turf hours

A season that fits your turf

0:00 By the end of this video, you will have a plan for your field hockey season. It fits the turf hours you really hold, and uses every one well. We will cover the four inputs, turning turf hours into game slots, a worked example, the checks before you publish, and how Play 2 Earn Sports helps.

What makes field hockey scheduling different

0:19 Field hockey has its own rhythm. Turf is scarce and often shared with other sports. Games are played in quarters, and the length changes with the age group. Short changeovers let one turf host a full day of games.

How do I make a field hockey league schedule?

0:32 Start with four inputs. First, the teams in each division, with the age groups kept apart. Second, the turf hours you hold, with the permit holder's blackout dates. Third, the season dates, with the weekends you skip.

0:46 Fourth, the dates each team is unavailable. Collect those on one form, by one deadline.

Turn turf hours into game slots

0:52 Next, turn turf hours into game slots. A slot is the game window plus the changeover. Put set-up and takedown inside the permit, then time one real game. Here is the sum.

1:05 Take the permit minutes, then take away set-up and takedown. Divide by the game window plus the changeover, and round down.

A worked example

1:13 Here is a typical example. It is illustrative, not a specific league. A division has ten teams. Each team plays every other team once: nine rounds, forty-five games, five games in each round.

1:27 The turf is booked on Saturdays from eight until four. Twenty minutes of set-up and twenty of takedown leave seven hours and twenty minutes of play. At seventy minutes a slot, that is six slots, with twenty minutes spare. Five games fit in the six slots, so one slot stays free every Saturday for a make-up.

1:46 Nine rounds need nine Saturdays, and ten playable Saturdays leave one spare weekend. A second division of six teams needs five rounds of three games. Adding those to a Saturday would make eight games, more than the six slots. So this division gets its own day.

2:02 The permit holder has Sundays from eight until one. Set-up and takedown leave four hours and twenty minutes, three slots and fifty minutes spare. Three games is one round, so five Sundays cover the season.

Check the draft before you publish

2:15 Then check the draft. Look team by team, so no team plays twice in a day without a rule for it. Look turf by turf, one game at a time, changeover included. Count early and late slots and share them fairly.

2:29 Send the draft to each club and to your umpires for a two-day review. Fix what they find, then publish once. After that, the published schedule is the only version.

Turf sharing and changeovers, in practice

2:41 The permit holder sets the turf's availability and its blackout dates, so ask for the season's dates early. Agree the weather rule and who makes the call. One more thing, plainly. Today, the league assigns the game's official in Play 2 Earn Sports, with sport, level and available-days checks. Field hockey often uses two umpires, so the second umpire stays a league process.

How Play 2 Earn Sports helps

3:07 Now, how Play 2 Earn Sports helps. You enter each turf with its available hours and a changeover buffer. A club can add a date-specific exception, such as shorter hours from October. The league sets the allowed days and the earliest and latest times.

3:21 The scheduler builds a round-robin season with home and away balance and team availability. It checks for turf and team double-bookings. Team preferences, such as rest hours and preferred days, are weighed as soft preferences. Once you publish, the schedule is not regenerated over.

3:40 You move one game at a time, and each move checks the turf, both teams, blocked dates and the season dates before it saves. When a published, upcoming league game moves, a change notice is queued for the people in it: both clubs' staff, coaches, the assigned official and linked parents. It goes to the app, by email, by push where enabled and in the team's existing chat.

Try it with your own turf

4:05 Gather the inputs, count the slots, check the draft, and publish once. The full guide is on the page linked in the description. Try it with your own turf: Starter is free for clubs with up to 10 teams. Thanks for watching.