Rec Depart Soccer Rotations

I’m lucky to live in a great city where we have a wonderful Recreation Department that runs a soccer league for pre-K through 2nd grade. They do a great job of encouraging fun with minimal seriousness.  I’ve been coaching my own kids teams now for three years and as a coach, I’m encouraged to make having fun my number one priority. Soccer skills are second and we try not to even keep score. There are no goalies in this league and as the coach it is important to me that each player have an equal opportunity to play offense, defense, and take a break.

I looked online for mobile apps or documents to help me manage this on the field, but none do what I needed: equal playtime between offense, defense, and sitting out. No goalie and no assigned positions.

Instead, I created an Excel document that includes a variety of possible scenarios depending on the size of the team and the number of players the league is recommending playing at a time. I use it by:

1. Having a “blank” copy of each relevant scenario on my clipboard before each game.
2. Before the game starts, I count players and find the right sheet.
3. Fill in the players’ names in the proper column using a pen
4. Tell each player where they are for the first shift.
5. We play ~ 5 mins between rotations
6. I call out each player’s name and what their next role is in the new shift
7. Use my pen to cross out the shift we just did so I don’t lose track of which shift we’re on.

I’m sharing the document here in case others would like to use this as well. All I ask is that if you find an error or have a suggestion for an improvement, please contact me using the contact information on this site so that I can update the document accordingly and re-publish here for everyone.

Please bookmark this post, not the actual file, as the filename of the file may change over time, but this page’s URL will remain the same.

The Excel document can be downloaded here.