Creating a fair roster

Vanessa FitzgeraldCoach, New Zealand

i have used an excel spreadsheet which works well.... a little bit of planning for the weekly game but easy to see who has played what and how long they have played......

Jude JohnsonCoach, Australia

I use a spreadsheet as well. With 9 players try to keep the positions they are playing to only 2 different ones. 1 x 1/4 in 1 position, off and return to 2 x 1/4s in the second position. Use the 1/4 off the break the thinking about one position and refocus on the new position.

Simon ThomasonCoach, Australia

Agree mostly with both the answers above. My two cents added:

9 players means 8 play 3/4 and 1 plays a full game each week. I usually match that with a captain for the younger age group players were being captain is largely ceremonial about doing the toss etc.

I usually also try and rotate who is off for which quarter to even up the 1st 1/4 and last 1/4 on the bench as these seem to be the least popular.

Obviously they can`t always have a break 1/4 break between switching positions depending on how it fits with who is off, but certainly limiting to only one or two different positions within a game is a good idea so they don`t get too confused.

A spreadsheet is a very handy tool to use to keep track of exactly how much game time they have had over the season and count of how many 1/4 in each position.

As you might occasionally have someone away you need to keep track so that those with less overall court time are the first choice to play the extra 1/4 to cover.

Hope this helps,

Simon