Getting an answer
out of everyone.

How the link works

Every week you create has its own availability link, generated when the week is created. It is not tied to a person, so you can paste the same link into a group chat and every player who opens it gets their own view.

There is no app to download and no password. The link is the whole mechanism, which is why the response rate is what it is.

Send it once per week. Do not create a second week to chase people, and do not send last week's link, because it will show last week's fixture.

What a player sees

They land on your club's hub, with your club name and logo at the top so they can see it is legitimate. They identify themselves with their name or their phone number, matched against your roster. If they tick remember me, the phone remembers them and they never do it again.

Then the screen is three sections:

• Needs response. Anything they have not answered, with the fixture, your note and the In, Maybe, Out picker.
• Your schedule. What they have already answered. They can tap any of it to change their mind.
• Recent. What they have played.

If they are up to date they get "You're all clear" and nothing to do.

The three answers

• Available. In. Shows on the board and in the pool for selection.
• TBC. The honest maybe. Worth more than silence, because you know they have seen it.
• Unavailable. Out.

A player who has not opened the link at all is No Response, which is different from Unavailable, and the difference is the whole point of the grid.

Reading the grid

Open Availability in the menu. Players are rows, their answer is the cell, and the tabs across the top carry live counts so you can see where the week stands without reading a single name.

Position filters narrow it to the group you are worried about. If you are two locks short, filter to locks and the problem is on one screen.

Chasing non-responders

The No Response tab is your chase list. Rather than typing names into the group chat, export the list and paste it, so the message names only the people who owe you an answer. Players who have already replied do not get chased, which is the fastest way to keep them replying.

One well-aimed message on Thursday beats three broadcasts to everybody.

Overrides

Sometimes a player tells you in person. Tap their cell and set the answer yourself with a quick override.

Every override is recorded with who made it and when. That is deliberate. The history stays honest, and when someone asks in June why they were not picked in May, the record answers rather than a memory.

Notes

There are three kinds of note and they are not the same thing.

• Week notes. Written by you when you create the week. Everybody sees them. Kickoff, ground, bus, jerseys.
• Player availability notes. Written by the player when they answer. "Out, back from Sunday." You see them against their answer.
• Coach notes. Written by you against a player. Never shown to players, ever.

Views

• By Week. One round, everybody. This is Thursday's view.
• By Player. One person across the season. This is the view for a conversation about commitment.
• Matrix. Everyone against several weeks at once, for planning further out. It needs a wide screen, so it is a desk job rather than a sideline one.

When it goes wrong

A player says they never got the link. Check they are actually on the roster and that the message reached them. The link is a plain web address, so it works in any chat app, over text, or in an email.

A player cannot get in. They are matched on name or phone number. If the phone number on their record is wrong or missing, or their name is spelled differently to how they type it, no match. Fix the record and they will get straight in. Formatting does not matter, because numbers are normalised before matching.

Someone new appears on the roster. If a player opens the link and does not match anybody, ARM asks them to confirm and then creates their record. That is usually a trialist or a new signing, occasionally a duplicate of someone already there under a different spelling. Merge the duplicate rather than deleting it.

The same player is in twice. Open one record and use Merge. It keeps the caps and the history.

A player has left. Set their status to Retired or Archived rather than deleting them. Deleting takes their history with them.

Good habits

• Send the link the same day every week. Players learn the rhythm faster than they learn an app.
• Write a real note on the week. Response rates go up when there is something worth reading.
• Chase from the No Response list only.
• Use TBC properly. If you treat a maybe as a no, players stop giving you honest answers.
• Override rather than nag when someone tells you face to face, so the record matches reality.