Scheduling Sport Activities

This Scheduling package has been developed to provide the sports community with schedule formats that are compatible a all levels of competition. The schedules can be used for competitive leagues (12 - 15 games),and for recreational and early recreational leagues (8 - 11 games) and for long recreational leagues (10 - 13 games). All leagues start with Game 1 except the recreational league which starts one game later (Game 2).

LEAGUE STRUCTURE

The structure of these leagues is such that team pairs can share the same field with the same starting time and never have a home field conflict. This is accomplished by having complementary schedules (one team is home while the other team is away). This allows a team designated '1' in any league to be paired with a team from the same or any other league that is designated '2', '12' or '22' (just as '14' can be paired with '3', '13' or '23'). The team pairs are as follows:

This technique allows scheduling 2 teams on the same field in a single time slot for the entire season rather than scheduling the teams on an individual game basis. Using this method, scheduling time is greatly reduced.

The different number sets, (i.e. 1-10, 11-20 and 21-30) indicate league divisions and are used for CROSS, TOUCH and MIXED leagues. In most divisional leagues, all teams in your division are played equally, while teams in the other divisions) may be played equally or a lesser amount. Determination of league winner criteria for divisional leagues should be announced before league play starts.

1	Home with Away at	6 -	5 -	- 4	- 3	2 -	- 6	- 5	4 -	3 -	- 2
2	Home with Away at	- 3	- 6	5 -	4 -	- 1	3 -	6 -	- 5	- 4	1 -
3	Home with Away at	2 -	- 4	- 6	1 -	5 -	- 2	4 -	6 -	- 1	- 5
4	Home with Away at	- 5	3 -	1 -	- 2	- 6	5 -	- 3	- 1	2 -	6 -
5	Home with Away at	4 -	- 1	- 2	6 -	- 3	- 4	1 -	2 -	- 6	3 -
6	Home with Away at	- 1	2 -	3 -	- 5	4 -	1 -	- 2	- 3	5 -	- 4

LEAGUE FORMAT

The standard season is 14 weeks. Each game during this period is designated as a NUMBER game. Some leagues have additional games required to complete league play. These games are designated by a letter and are called ALPHA games. ALPHA games must be played during the season (preferably during daylight savings time) as mid-week or off-day on the weekend games. These games can either be scheduled by the scheduling group prior to league play or be played at the discretion of the affected coaches.

LEAGUE FORMS

A wide variety of league forms have been provided in this web site to accommodate leagues from 4 to 18 teams.

The competitive leagues are organized by league size from 4 team to 10 team leagues with crossover leagues from 4x4 to 6x6x6 teams. These leagues typically provide 14 to 15 games. A league description and an index are provided.

The recreational leagues are organized by league size from 4 team to 10 team leagues with crossover leagues from 4x4 to 6x6 teams. These leagues typically provide ten games and start one week later than the competitive leagues. A league description and an index are provided.

The early recreational leagues are organized by league size from 4 to 10 team leagues with crossover leagues from 4x4 to 6x6 teams. These leagues typically provide ten games and start at the same time as the competitive leagues. A league description and an index are provided.

The long recreational leagues are organized by league size from 4 to 10 team leagues with crossover leagues from 4x4 to 6x6 teams. These leagues typically provide twelve games and start at the same time as the competitive leagues. A league description and an index are provided.

SUPPLEMENTAL FORMS

In addition to the leagues forms, several additional forms have been provided. A general description of these forms is provided below. Detailed form information is provided.

League Work Sheet - This form can be used to record last seasons results and to indicate the new placement of teams. This form is of particular value during preliminary scheduling meetings.

Age Group Preliminary Schedule - This form can be used to provide the involved coaches with a preliminary look at the league structure and to allow them to determine if any inequities exist in the leagues.

League Revision Record - This form can be used to provide a record of the up-to-date league revision status for all leagues.

Typical Field Utilization, Referee, Scorekeeper and Coach sheets are provided for your reference.

PRINTING SCHEDULES

In order to print the schedules without extra information and word wrap set your PAGE SETUP, MARGINS to 0.5 inches and set PAGE SETUP, HEADER and FOOTER to null. Alternately, you can SELECT the image you want to print and get what you want on a page.

USING SCHEDULES

Schedule development, schedule forms and special forms were automated on an earlier program. This program was written in 1984 in QuickBasic for a specific printer. The program can be updated to a Windows 95 format (VisualBasic 5.0) if there is enough interest. Individual implementation can be made using a spread sheet and database combination.

Schedules should be developed for the highest user of the fields first. This information should be entered into the next level to indicate existing field loading. Schedules can be then developed for the lower users in a tiered order. These schedules were initially developed for a fall soccer league in Washington state. The leagues were scheduled to have games between Labor Day and Christmas. All of the leagues played a complete schedule. After standing out in the rain (western Washington) and snow (eastern Washington) it was determined that the recreational (without fanatical parents) should play a shorter schedule (ending before Thanksgiving). It was also noted that these leagues were more volatile than the competitive leagues (with fanatical parents) and were not ready to start immediately after Labor Day, thus the one week delay. Things to remember:

SCHEDULE USAGE

Some of the schedules provided may not be used by your organization on a regular basis but are provided to accommodate that odd circumstance that may occur. The 6 and 8 team leagues should be used wherever possible. If your organization finds need for any additional league type or develops additional league types, Please notify the undersigned so that this information can be provided in subsequent web updates.

GENERAL