Four o'clock, and a coach has flu
Your head coach texts at four: they are unwell and cannot do the five o'clock session at the leisure centre. Twenty-four under-tens, and your ratio needs two coaches. You post in the coaches' group chat. Two people reply that they are busy. One offers, but they do not hold the qualification your policy needs to lead that group. You start phoning. At twenty to five someone says yes, and you send them the register as a photo.
Next week, a new sessional coach turns up at the wrong venue, because the rota was changed in one place and not another. At month end, you work out pay from the group chat history.
Why cover is always a scramble
- The rota is a spreadsheet or a pinned message, and changes are made in several places.
- Nobody knows which coaches are available at a given time without asking.
- Requests go to everyone, including coaches who cannot lead that group or reach that venue.
- Ratios and qualification rules are in the owner's head, not checked against the rota.
- Changes are not recorded, so pay and records are rebuilt from messages.
What the scramble costs
Sessions that start late or are cancelled because cover could not be found. Sessions that run with fewer coaches than your policy wants, because it was that or cancel. An owner who can never quite switch off. And coaches who feel pestered by requests for sessions they could never do.
What ratios and qualifications you require is set by your own policies and your governing body. We make sure the rota checks against them and that cover requests go to the right people.
A rota that finds cover for you
- Each coach records their regular availability and the venues they can reach, and updates exceptions on their phone.
- Each session holds the number of children booked, your ratio rule and any qualification needed to lead it, so the rota knows how many coaches, and which kinds, it needs.
- Coaches see their shifts on their phone with the venue, time and live session list.
- When a coach drops out, they tap to release the shift; the system finds coaches who are available, qualified and can reach the venue, and sends them a request by text or app notification.
- The first suitable coach to accept is confirmed, the others are told it is filled, and the owner sees the change.
- Every change is recorded, so hours for pay are accurate at the end of the month.
| Check | Based on | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Enough coaches | Children booked and your ratio rule | Warning if short |
| Right qualification | Coach records and the session's rule | Only suitable coaches asked |
| Availability | Coach's regular times and exceptions | Only free coaches asked |
| Venue | Venues the coach can reach | No requests for unreachable venues |
| Documents current | DBS, first aid and other records | Warning if anything has lapsed |
When a coach drops out now
The head coach taps release at four. Within a minute, three suitable coaches get a request. One accepts at ten past, receives the session details and live register, and the owner gets a notification that cover is sorted. The owner does not make a single call.
At month end, the hours for each coach come straight from the rota, including cover shifts, and go to payroll without anyone reading back through a chat.
Is cover a weekly headache?
- The rota lives in a spreadsheet or group chat.
- Cover is found by phoning round.
- Coaches get requests for sessions they cannot lead.
- Sessions run with fewer coaches than you want when someone drops out.
- Pay is worked out from message history.