Rosters are one of the special features that make sports teams unique. They have the ability to capture additional important player information beyond the typical contact details you'd find in your Member Directory. And they can be as completely self-service as any coach or admin wants them to be. They are also very practical. Whether you want to know which player scored or which player-parent you’re sitting next to in the stands, Rosters are a great resource at your fingertips. And they’re also a great replacement for unwieldy lanyards as they’re digital, easy-to-edit, and free of printing costs.
Rosters can include things like Photo, Number, Position, Class, Height, Weight, Captain, as well as any other custom roster fields you would like to add. Custom roster fields can create some fun with the content. For example, you might see things like “Favorite Athlete”, “Favorite workout song,” or “Pre-game Meal” for youth levels teams. Or more formal fields like “Hometown” and “High School” for older travel and college teams.
One important thing to know about Rosters is that unlike your Member Directory which includes all the people on GroupSpot in your group, your Roster is virtual which means the names of the players will be listed on the Roster regardless of them being on the app. This is by design so that players without phones, players not in the group, or even players in the group and not checking their phones, can be reached through their parents or guardians. This is especially important for RSVP at the youth level.
For coaches and admins, during the group creation flow, once you’ve determined your group type is a team, the Roster feature is automatically defaulted on. That means that before members join your group, including you, you will be taken through a few onboarding steps to Join the Roster.
You will first be asked whether you’re a player, parent, staff, or other (booster, alum, fan). If the coach or admin preloads the roster names into GroupSpot, players, parents, and staff can choose their name from the list, and then join the roster. Once completed, they will have successfully joined the roster and will continue to work through their onboarding checklist, which includes adjusting their profile visibility and setting their notifications.
Identifying your role on the team during the roster onboarding process is very important. This is where parents and players get connected to each other on the player’s roster profile and where staff and coaches are identified. If a mistake is made during the onboarding process, coaches and admins can easily correct the common roster onboarding mistakes by editing a roster profile or merging duplicate player profiles.
Coaches and admins may want to tackle two Roster related items before sending invites to their new group: a) check their roster settings to ensure they are capturing the correct information and b) preload the names of their players if they prefer this option over letting parents and players self-roster. Let’s review both.
1. Confirming Roster Settings
As a coach or admin, you will want to customize your roster settings to your liking. Once you get to that screen from your Settings, you will see that GroupSpot has preloaded certain team attributes that you can toggle on and off very easily. They are defaulted ON but they are very easy to toggle OFF. The list includes Photo, Number, Position, Class, Height, Weight, and Captain. This is also the screen where you can Add Custom Roster Fields. Just remember to SAVE all your updates before leaving the Roster Settings screen.
Finally, at the bottom of this screen, coaches and admins will see the option to choose who can edit the player roster profiles, admins or players and parents. GroupSpot defaults the ability to edit roster profiles to admins, but it’s easy to switch those editing privileges over to players and parents to lessen the burden on the coach and admin.
2. Preloading Rosters
One thing some coaches and admins like to control is how player names appear on the roster by preloading the names in the app before the members and parents join. This eliminates players and even parents adding nicknames or abbreviated names for their players that make them harder-than-necessary to locate.
Preloading player names is simple to do. This starts by opening the Roster feature either from your menu or from your group home screen. Once you arrive on the Roster screen, tap the + at the top right to create a new roster profile. Fill in the player or staff details that you have available and SAVE. Repeat this step until you’ve included all the names of your players and staff. Once you’ve preloaded the roster with the player and staff names, individuals can select their name from the roster list provided when joining the group.
As your team moves on into new seasons on GroupSpot, Rosters (and Games), can be preserved by season in the app. So when you want to look back at your team Roster from three years ago, you can. Or if you want to check the score of a game from last season, you can. Once you open up the Roster feature, there are filters at the top which allow you to sort by subteam if applicable (varsity, jv, freshman, etc.), season if applicable (2022, 2023, 2024, etc.), and by category (first name, last name, number, position, class).
Rosters are one of the best ways to follow your current team, while at the same time, preserving your past.
