I’ve absolutely loved coaching AYSO/recreational soccer for the last 15 years or so, first for our daughter and later for our son. I truly believe in the benefits of youth soccer – the development of skills, sportsmanship, respect, teamwork and the maturity that kids develop from both winning and losing - and the guidelines that foster that development, such as equal playing time for everyone on the team. Within that framework, I also want to field the best team possible and was proud that in 2021 and 2022 I coached our son’s Under-19 team to win the area finals.
Creating a balanced yet competitive team, within the constraints of equal playing time, meant that in addition to the joy of on-field coaching, I also spent hours at my desk each week crafting the team rosters. And the amount of time that I spent increased each year, as my teams’ skills developed, players became more specialized in different positions, and play became more competitive. You’d think it would get easier to do as the season goes on, but given how busy kids are with various competing time commitments, every week seemed to have a different set of kids unavailable, which made optimizing the lineup even trickier.
And then, inevitably, after all that effort to craft the “perfect” lineup, on game day there would be a last-minute change (e.g. a player unexpectedly can’t make it) and so I would have to hastily redo the roster. Making sure the team stays competitive, within the constraints of equal playing time, is a lot of logic and math to handle at the last minute.
It took me a few years but I finally realized that there must be a better way, so I created mylineupmaker to save time on my rosters…and quickly realized how much time it could save other people as well, hopefully with equally good results. I just wish I had developed mylineupmaker earlier in my coaching career - it would have saved me so much time and heartache. Please give it a try and let me know how you get on - we’re only just getting started, so if you have suggestions for how to make it even better please let me know.
Coach Rodney