Team & Player Roster Setup
Region 58 Runbook

What Changed From SportsConnect

Three differences cause nearly all the confusion. Read these before touching anything.

1. The nesting order is different

In SC, the Program was the top-level container and the season was a label on it. In PlayMetrics the Season is top-level, and it sets the date range and age classifications that everything underneath inherits.

SportsConnect	→	PlayMetrics
Organization	→	Club
(season was just a label)	→	Season — top-level; sets dates & age classifications
Program	→	Program — the registration container, now inside a Season
Division	→	Package (registration) or Division (in a League) — see below
Team	→	Team — a shell you create up front, filled via Team Assignments
Team Assignment / Allocation	→	Team Assignment — drag-and-drop sandbox

2. "Division" means two different things

3. Putting a player on a team tells nobody

Pre-Flight Checklist

Confirm all of the following before creating the league.

• Registration program is live. The Fall 2026 Core registration program exists and is open/collecting. The league and its team assignments draw players from this program's packages.
• The Fall 2026 / MY2026 season is defined with its playing dates, classification, and sport set. League creation auto-populates from this — if it's wrong here, it's wrong everywhere downstream.
• Facilities / fields are entered. Required in Phase 3 — you assign fields per division, and you can only pick from what's already in the system.
• Resource tags exist. Every region ships with birth certificate and player photo tags by default (Club Administration → Edit Settings → Player Resource Tags). Only relevant if we verify documents (Phase 9).
• Admin access confirmed for Steven and Sara, and you've agreed who will be the league owner.
• Division plan agreed. The division list, roster sizes, and formation methods (table near the end) are approved by Sara and the Division Coordinators.
• Coordinator map agreed. You know which person coordinates which age group(s) — this determines how you carve up team assignments in Phase 5, and it is awkward to change later.
• Verification decision made. If the region will verify birth certificates or photos, the sanctioning body must exist before you finish Phase 1 — do Phase 9's first half now.

Phase 1 Create the Fall 2026 In-House League

Navigation: Programs → Leagues. A league is where you centralize your teams and players — it is, in the webinar's words, "the operational feature for you within PlayMetrics for the upcoming season." If you already built this league to hold your coach-request questions during registration setup, open it with the pencil icon instead of creating a new one.

1. League Name. Use our season-naming convention so it reads unambiguously in lists and exports.
   Decision — League name Recommended default: 2026 Fall Core (matches the naming we already use in registration and data exports, e.g. "2025 Fall Core").
2. Owner. Assign a league owner.
   Decision — Owner Recommended default: Steven (Registrar) as owner, with Sara retaining admin access regionally. Whether PlayMetrics allows more than one owner per league is CONFIRM IN-PRODUCT.
3. League Type → In-House. This is the rec/core container: it unlocks team assignments, divisions, and generated game schedules.
   Decision — League type (effectively fixed) For core/rec the answer is always In-House. Travel is only for EXTRA/Alliance teams importing outside schedules. Do not select Travel.
4. Additional settings. Two optional toggles appear here: allow coaches and team staff to submit official game scores, and enable game cards for printing.
   Decision — Scores and game cards Coach-submitted scores: OFF.  Game cards for printing: ON. Region 58 results are entered by Jeff Loeb, our statistician, working directly from the physical game cards. So the cards must print, and coaches must not have a second, competing route to file a result. One authoritative source (the card), one person entering it. This does not affect the Phase 3 scoring rules — those still compute the standings; only the data-entry route changes.
5. Season and Age Classification. Four fields appear, but only the first is a choice — the other three are read-only and fill in automatically from the season you select:
   • Season — selectable. Choose the Fall 2026 / MY2026 core season. This is the only field you set here.
   • Age Classification — read-only. Inherited from the season.
   • Playing Season — read-only. Inherited from the season.
   • Sport — read-only. Inherited (expected: Soccer).
   VERIFY — if an auto-filled value looks wrong These come from the season's own definition, so the fix is upstream, not on this form: re-pick the Season, or correct the season's configuration. If the Season is right but a value still looks off, confirm with success@playmetrics.com before creating the league.
6. Sanctioning Body. This is where you attach one.
   Decision — Attach a sanctioning body to this league? Recommended default: leave the core in-house league unlinked. Confirmed in the webinar: "If your region doesn't verify players, you won't have to set this up. You'll still be able to run the league as normal." AYSO National does not currently require birth-certificate verification for core play. Teams playing outside the region are a different league, not this one — see Phase 9, which explains what a sanctioning body does and does not do, and where it belongs if an outside competition requires tracked player documents.
7. Teams. Select the team shells to include (Phase 2). You can leave this empty and add them from inside the league later.
8. Link to the program. Point the league at the 2026 Fall AYSO Core program. This is the plumbing that makes the league aware of who registered and who volunteered — without it, the league is an empty shell and Phase 4 has nothing in it.

   What the two coach-volunteer toggles actually do

   1. Automatically add coach volunteers. There are two ways a person becomes a coach volunteer: they tick the volunteer question during their child's registration, or they use the public coach request link we publish. With this on, both routes flow straight into the league's Coach Requests list (Phase 4) as they happen. With it off, the signups still exist on the registration side, but somebody has to bring them into the league by hand.

   2. Notify the league owner. Emails the league owner each time someone completes a coaching request, so recruitment is a live feed rather than something you audit in August.

   The payoff shows up twice later. In Phase 4 you can filter coach requests by age group and see which flights are short. In Phase 6, because a volunteer stays attached to their own child, dragging that child onto a team makes PlayMetrics offer to install the parent as head coach in the same motion — but only if the volunteer record reached the league in the first place.

   Decision — Coach volunteer automation Recommended default: both on. There is no real downside: neither toggle assigns anyone to a team or contacts the volunteer. They only populate a list and email Steven. Everything about who actually coaches which team stays a manual decision in Phase 6.
   CONFIRM IN-PRODUCT — what "add" means The webinar showed these toggles being enabled but did not spell out whether "automatically add coach volunteers" populates the Coach Requests list only, or also creates a team-staff record. Everything downstream in this guide assumes the former (a list of candidates, no team attachment). Worth a five-minute check before the first season, because if it also creates staff records, the volunteer list and the roster could disagree.
9. Save. You land in the league with its Teams / Players / Divisions / Games areas available.

Phase 2 Create Your Team Shells

PlayMetrics wants the shells of all your teams to exist before you assign anyone. They are needed twice over — once so team assignments have somewhere to drop players, and once so the division scheduler has teams to schedule. Empty teams now, players later.

The import template, column by column

From PlayMetrics' sample-teams.csv. Thirteen columns, in this order:

Column	Region 58 value	Notes
season	Fall 2026	Must match the PlayMetrics Season name exactly.
name	10UB-01	Gendered code plus sequence — the B/G already says Boys/Girls. Coach's surname appended later.
acct_code	blank	Accounting code; blank in the sample's own rows.
gender	M / F	Co-ed value for 05U is CONFIRM IN-PRODUCT — the sample shows only M and F.
level	Core	CONFIRM — sample shows "Classic" and "Academy", which are club-soccer levels.
birth_year	blank	Use either this or age_group, never both.
age_group	06U … 19U	Ours is an age-group season, so this is the one we fill.
minimum_age	blank	Blank in every sample row.
coach_first_name	blank	Leave blank at import. Coaches attach in Phase 6, where a parent volunteer can be installed as head coach in the same motion as their child is placed.
coach_last_name	blank
coach_email	blank
coach_mobile	blank
num_starting_players	4 / 5 / 7 / 9 / 11	Players on the field at kickoff — not roster size. Sample used 7 and 11.

Don't type this file — generate it

We already have the enrollment data, so the whole import is arithmetic. The automation repo has a flag for it:

Phase 3 Build Divisions & Scoring Rules

These are the league-side Divisions from the warning above. They are "the starting process to how you're going to be able to create your schedules for in-house game scheduling." Path: More Actions → Build Divisions.

Choose a build method

PlayMetrics offers three:

1. One division for each gender and age classification — pick a gender and an age range, and it generates the set. "A lot of clubs or regions will likely use" this.
2. By grouping of age classifications and gender — for combined flights like "9U to 10U Boys".
3. Manually — one at a time.

Before it commits, PlayMetrics shows you all the generated division names so you can edit them. Do it here — this is where our zero-padding gets applied.

After generating, every division appears in a list. If we end up without enough teams for a flight, you can delete that division individually from the list.

Per-division settings

Each division carries: number of teams, games per team, game duration, division settings, schedule status, and scoring rules. You can edit one division, or select several and use Manage Settings to set them together — the right move for us, since all our 7v7 flights share parameters.

Manage Settings covers:

• Number of games per team (the webinar used 8).
• Default arrival time — what the app tells families, e.g. "arrive 15 minutes prior to kickoff."
• Game duration.
• Game periods — set the season's start and end weekends and PlayMetrics populates the playing periods, then switch individual weekends off. The demo turned off Labor Day and Halloween weekends, leaving "nine playing periods for eight games." No games get generated for the weekends you disable.
• Game fields — pick from facilities already in the system. Assign per division so 7v7 flights only schedule onto 7v7 fields.

To change one division later: click into it, then More Actions → Division Settings.

Division assignments

Division Assignments is where teams get associated with divisions.

With auto-add on, most of this is already done. To add one by hand, add the team at its age group and it drops into the matching division. To adjust from the other direction, open Division Settings and select or remove teams at the bottom.

Scoring rules

Optional, and set per division or in bulk. Create New Rule gives you:

• Points model — the basic 3 for a win, 1 for a tie, 0 for a loss.
• Additional points per goal, optionally capped (the demo used +1 per goal up to 3).
• Or team winning percentage instead of points.
• Tiebreakers, ordered — the demo put goal difference first, then head-to-head. Reorderable during the season.

Phase 4 Review Coach Requests

Do this before team assignments, because who is coaching shapes how you build teams. League → Coach Requests collects every head and assistant coach volunteer — both those who volunteered during registration and those who used the public coach request link.

• Volunteers who came in via the public link may not be attached to a player. That is expected.
• The pencil icon opens a volunteer's question responses and the age groups they're interested in coaching.
• Filter on the right by age group to count coaches per flight. This is our early-warning system: filter 07U, see two coaches, and start recruiting in July rather than September.
• More Actions sets the region's coach request questions, and exports both the questions and the package data.

Phase 5 Create Team Assignments & Scope Your Coordinators

League → Assignments is "the tool that you're going to use to create all of your teams and roster players." Click Create Assignment.

How to carve them up

Settings when creating

1. Name it for the scope, e.g. "08U–10U Boys".
2. Assignment type → send the notification of assignment. This is what makes the assignment a sandbox: players sit in assigned status until you press Notify, at which point they are automatically rostered.
3. Program — point it at 2026 Fall AYSO Core.
4. Player placement rules — select the registration packages this assignment covers (e.g. 08U Boys, 09U Boys, 10U Boys). Anyone who registered for those packages automatically funnels into this assignment. This is the join between the registration side and the league side.
   This is where Package and Division finally meet If our packages aren't cut the same way as our divisions, this step is where it hurts. Check the package list against the division list before creating assignments.
   Region 58 setup — done 2026-09-23 Every R58 team assignment has its Player placement rules pointed at the matching program packages, so registered players (including anyone invited off the waitlist) drop into the assignment pool automatically — there is normally no need to add them by hand with Select Players. Re-set this on every new assignment each season. If a player is ever missing, add them manually (DC Roster & Waitlist guide, “Put a Player on a Team”).
5. Associate the divisional coordinator at the bottom, and set the permission for whether they may notify players.
   Decision — Let coordinators send invitations? Recommended default: off for the first season. Coordinators build and reshuffle freely while Steven or Sara controls the one moment families hear anything. With it off the coordinator has no Notify button, so they cannot fire early by accident. It is a one-click change per assignment when we're ready to delegate.
6. Continue — you land on the assignment page with Teams, Players, and Rosters tabs.

Attach the teams

The Players tab is already populated from the packages. Go to Teams, filter on the right by age group and gender, select the team shells, and Save. The Rosters tab gives the holistic view once assigning starts, and its view options can include assistant coaches and team staff.

Phase 6 Put Players on Teams Coordinator

Open the assignment and click the blue Edit Assignment button. Teams on the left, players on the right, drag between them.

1. Filter both sides. Age-group filter on the left narrows teams; the right-hand filters narrow players. Working one age group at a time is far less error-prone.
2. Configure Columns — do this first. It pulls registration answers onto the player list: buddy requests, coach requests, and any other question we ask. You can promote the ones that matter to the top of the list and remove noise like default jersey number or date of birth.
   This is the feature that replaces our SC paperwork Buddy and coach requests become sortable, searchable columns right next to the player while you're placing them. Type a name into the search — the demo typed "Adams" and immediately saw that Benny had requested Melissa Adams as coach. This is better than what we had.

   

3. Watch for the volunteer icon. An icon beside a player means someone volunteered alongside them — typically a parent. Use the ellipses → View Responses to see what they signed up for.
   Volunteers travel with their player Drag a player whose parent volunteered as head coach and PlayMetrics offers to assign that coach to the team at the same moment. Take it — it is how a team gets its coach without a second pass. Then rename the team to the coach's surname, exactly as we did in SC.

   

4. Drag players onto teams. Multi-select works — grab several and drop them together.
5. Save changes. Then check the Rosters tab to see the division as a whole.

Phase 7 Balance Teams Coordinator

This is what stands in for SC's automatic team builder.

Until then, or if a coordinator prefers it:

1. Score the players — individually in the assignment, or in bulk by exporting the assignment, adding notes and scores in the spreadsheet, and re-importing.
2. In Edit Assignment, use the right-hand filters to filter by score.
3. Drag players onto teams working down the score bands so each team draws evenly from each.

Phase 8 Notify Families

The deliberate act. Until this happens, no family knows anything.

Set up templates first (once per season)

Teams → Team Assignments → More Actions → Manage Notification Templates. Save custom wording for:

• Invite — the main one.
• Reminder — for families invited who haven't responded.
• "Rejected" — for a player who did not make a team. The system calls it that internally, but the word never appears in the message. Write this one carefully; for us it most likely means a waitlist or a move to another division.

Saving these means you pull a template in at send time instead of retyping.

Send

1. From the assignment, click Notify Players.
2. Select recipients — all in bulk, or narrowed by team, level, gender, or age group. Send one division at a time, in line with the freeze rule above.



3. A pre-populated message appears. Edit Message and use the template guide to insert variables — player name, team name, and head coach details.
4. Send. Those players are automatically rostered, and the family gains app access to the team and its schedule.

• Division's rosters are final and reviewed by the coordinator.
• Every team in the division has its head coach assigned and is renamed accordingly.
• Notification templates reviewed and saved.
• Steven or Sara sends, filtered to that division only.
• Spot-check that a test family received it and can see the team in the app.

Phase 9 Player Verifications & Sanctioning Body

If we do verify — set up the sanctioning body first

A sanctioning body "functions more like a ledger within our system. It's not submitting anything externally" — it is a centralized place to track required documentation. It must exist before you can attach it in Phase 1.

1. Programs → Leagues → Create Sanctioning Body. Name it, e.g. "AYSO Region 58 Core".
2. Add Verification Requirement for birth certificate. It keys off the registration tag — so if the registration question carries the birth certificate tag, uploads sync across automatically.
3. Set the effective date (seasons starting after this date require it), the view permissions (who among directors, coaches, and team staff can see the document), and the expiry — do not expire is right for a birth certificate.
4. Repeat for player photo, but set it to expire every two years so a long-tenured player refreshes their photo. As the webinar put it, this is what "ensures the right player is on the right team."

Verifying players

Work from League → Players.

1. More Actions → Configure Columns — click this first. Add the birth certificate and player photo sources from registration so uploads appear here.
   Turn it on so you can verify before rostering The presenter recommended enabling it "because you can start verifying players before you roster them to teams if this is on." Note the Q&A separately said this player list "populates from the teams that you've added to the league… once the players are rostered." Those sit in tension; assume pre-roster verification requires the configured registration source, and CONFIRM IN-PRODUCT if the list looks empty before rostering.
2. The list shows at a glance who has uploaded and who hasn't.
3. Verify Players on an individual opens their details, lets you view the uploaded document and image, and Approve each.
4. Approving locks the player's date of birth — the parent can no longer change it on their profile.
   The DOB lock is the real prize Directly asked in the Q&A: yes, verification locks the birth date against parent edits, and an admin can unlock and re-lock it. For a region that has ever had an age-group dispute, this alone may justify verifying.
5. Approve offline for a player whose document you saw in person but who never uploaded.
6. Request a specific missing item with a custom message — it notifies the player contact to upload, and the file lands back here for approval.
7. Bulk request: select multiple players, then More Actions → Request Missing Resources. The demo fired requests at 36 and 35 players in one go.

Non-Team Programs — 5U Schoolyard & KickStart

Handled differently: no teams, no rosters, no draft. Capacity is governed by a registration cap on the program itself.

Per-Division Checklist

Tick each division as it's created. Fill target # teams once registration numbers are firm (≈ registrations ÷ roster size).

✓	Division	Gender	Roster	Formation	Target Teams
☐	06U Boys	Boys	6	Director-formed	—
☐	06U Girls	Girls	6	Director-formed	—
☐	07U Boys	Boys	7	Director-formed	—
☐	07U Girls	Girls	7	Director-formed	—
☐	08U Boys	Boys	7	Director-formed	—
☐	08U Girls	Girls	7	Director-formed	—
☐	10U Boys	Boys	9	Draft	—
☐	10U Girls	Girls	9	Draft	—
☐	12U Boys	Boys	12	Draft	—
☐	12U Girls	Girls	12	Draft	—
☐	14U Boys	Boys	14	Draft	—
☐	14U Girls	Girls	14	Draft	—
☐	16U Boys	Boys	14	Draft	—
☐	16U Girls	Girls	14	Draft	—
☐	19U Boys	Boys	22	Draft	—
☐	19U Girls	Girls	22	Draft	—
☐	05U Schoolyard	Mixed	—	Non-team (cap ~20/group)	n/a
☐	KickStart (if offered)	Mixed	—	Non-team jamboree (reg. cap)	n/a

16 team divisions (8 age groups × Boys/Girls) plus 2 non-team programs. Roster sizes are our planning figures — see the Phase 3 note on whether PlayMetrics enforces them.

One-Page Card for Division Coordinators

Everything a coordinator needs, once Steven and Sara have finished Phases 1–5. Print this page alone.

Final Verification Before opening play

• All 16 team divisions exist under the 2026 Fall Core In-House league — both Boys and Girls for every age group.
• Names sort youngest-to-oldest: 05U, 06U, 07U, 08U, 10U, 12U, 14U, 16U, 19U. Any "10U" before "06U" means a missing leading zero.
• "Automatically add new teams" is on, and the dashboard icon legend confirms it per division.
• Game periods exclude the weekends we're not playing, and the remaining period count is ≥ the games-per-team figure.
• Fields are attached to every division that will be scheduled, and small-sided flights point only at small-sided fields.
• Scoring rules applied from 10U up, none below; tiebreakers ordered goal difference then head-to-head.
• Every package maps to a division and vice versa — no orphans on either side.
• Every team assignment has its coordinator attached, is under 40 teams, and has the notify permission set as decided (default: off).
• Every team has exactly one primary director and a named head coach.
• No player is left unassigned in any assignment's Players tab.
• Team counts are sane: target teams ≈ registrations ÷ roster size, none over cap.
• Notification templates (invite, reminder, "rejected") are written and saved before the first send.
• Invitations sent exactly once per division, after that division was frozen, with a test family confirming receipt and app access.
• Non-team programs carry a registration cap and have no teams, no draft, no roster.
• Verification decision applied: either no sanctioning body (recommended), or one linked with Clearance Tracking left untouched.
• Sara has reviewed the division list and team targets with the Division Coordinators.

Reference Links