Hey everyone, I’m in a bit of a pickle here. I coach a team sport and make these play wristbands for my players. Right now, I’m using Google Sheets to create 11 different position bands. Each one has 4 rows with 25 plays. It’s a lot of work!
I’ve heard about Airtable and thought it might make this whole process easier. But I’m totally new to it and can’t figure out how to set it up. Or maybe there’s an even better tool out there?
Has anyone dealt with something like this before? I’d love to hear your suggestions on how to make this faster and simpler. What tools do you use for organizing plays or creating quick reference guides for your team?
Thanks in advance for any tips or tricks you can share!
I’ve been in your shoes, Coach. After years of juggling spreadsheets and wristbands, I stumbled upon a game-changer: Trello. It’s visual, intuitive, and perfect for organizing plays.
Here’s how I use it: Create a board for each position, with lists for different play categories. Each card represents a play, complete with diagrams and notes. The beauty is in the drag-and-drop interface - rearranging plays is a breeze.
For wristbands, I export the plays to a simple PDF. Trello’s power-ups allow for easy printing or sharing to mobile devices.
The learning curve is gentler than Airtable, and it’s more flexible than Sheets. Plus, players can access it on their phones during practice. Give it a shot - it might just revolutionize your coaching workflow.
As someone who’s been in a similar situation, I’d recommend sticking with Google Sheets for now. It’s familiar and has powerful features that can streamline your process. Have you considered using formulas and conditional formatting to automate some of the work? You could set up a master sheet with all plays, then use VLOOKUP or INDEX-MATCH to populate position-specific sheets automatically. This approach could significantly reduce your manual input time.
For quick reference during games, you might want to explore creating a mobile app that pulls data from your Google Sheet. There are platforms like AppSheet that integrate directly with Google Sheets and don’t require coding knowledge. This could give your players a more user-friendly interface on their phones or tablets during practice and games.
hey coach, have u tried notion? its pretty cool for organizing stuff like this. u can make databases for plays and link em to different positions. plus it looks nicer than sheets. might take a bit to set up but could save u time in the long run. just a thought!