Who this is for: coaches and administrators who schedule practices. Permission required: Create Practices or Set Practice Lineups to open Practices → Manage; Set Practice Lineups to manage Practices → Locations.
A practice in Boathouse Connect is a scheduled session at a location, with a start and end time, a list of groups allowed to attend, and an optional attendee limit. Members declare whether they are coming, coaches build lineups from the people who are attending, and the practice plan and reserved equipment travel with the practice.
Everything on this page happens in Practices → Manage. The page has four tabs: Upcoming Practices, Past Practices, Settings and Volunteer Roles.
Add a location first
Every practice needs a location, so create at least one before you schedule anything.
- Go to Practices → Locations.
- Select the blue + button to open New Location.
- Fill in the location details and select Save.
Each location stores a Name, Address, City, State, Zipcode, Entry Fee and notes. To change a location, select Edit. There is no delete option; use the Active setting to retire a location you no longer use.
Create a single practice
- Go to Practices → Manage and select Create Practice.
- Choose New Practice.
- Fill in Name, Location, Date, Start Time, End Time and Maximum Attendees, and choose whether to Allow Visiting Rowers.
- Save the practice. The date must be in the future.
Then open the practice to set its Groups Allowed (see below). The Settings tab holds the default values that new practices start with, including Default Attendance and the attendance declaration window.
Create practices in bulk
Use bulk creation for a recurring session, for example every Tuesday for a season.
- Go to Practices → Manage, select Create Practice, then choose New Practices.
- Fill in Name, Location, Day of the Week, Start Time and End Time.
- Set First Date and Last Date. The first date must fall on the day of the week you chose.
- Set the maximum attendees and Allow Visiting Rowers.
- In Groups Allowed, add each group that may attend, with its Default Attendance, Attendance Start and Attendance End.
- Save. One practice is created for each matching day in the range.
Clone a practice
- Go to Practices → Manage, select Create Practice, then choose Clone Practice.
- Pick the practice in Select Practice to Clone.
- The form fills in the original's Name, Location, Start Time, End Time, Maximum Attendees and Allow Visiting Rowers. Adjust anything you need.
- Set the Date for the copy and save. The date must be in the future.
Groups allowed
Only members of a group on a practice's Groups Allowed list can declare attendance for it. To change the list, open the practice with View Practice and go to the Groups tab.
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Default Attendance | The attendance status members of that group start with for this practice. |
| Attendance Start | How long before the practice members of the group may start declaring attendance. |
| Attendance End | How long before the practice starts members must have their plans set. |
If a member is in more than one allowed group, they get the widest window: the earliest opening and the latest closing of their groups. Groups themselves are managed under Groups.
Tip: A coach can add or remove an athlete at any time from the Attendees tab of the lineup builder, even outside the attendance window.
Maximum attendees
Maximum Attendees caps how many members can mark themselves attending. When the practice is full, members who are not already attending cannot sign up and are told to contact a coach. Members who are attending can still change to Not Attending.
Coaches can go over the limit by adding athletes from the Attendees tab of the lineup builder. To raise or lower the limit, open the practice with View Practice and edit it on the General Details tab.
Add a practice plan
The practice plan is free-form content shared with athletes: text, tables, images by URL and links to videos.
- In Practices → Manage, select View Practice on the practice.
- Open the Practice Plan tab, write the plan and save.
You can also edit the plan on the Practice Plan tab of the lineup builder. Athletes see it with their practice details and lineup.
Reserve equipment
- Select View Practice on the practice and open the Equipment tab.
- Choose a boat and reserve it. Reserved boats are listed under Equipment Reserved.
Boats you have not reserved remain available in the lineup builder unless someone else has reserved them. See Reservations for how reservations work across the club.
Edit practices
- One practice: select View Practice, change the details on any tab and select Save.
- Several practices: on Upcoming Practices, tick the practices, select Bulk Edit Selected, change the fields you want and select Apply to Selected Practices. Fields left on their current value are not changed. To change groups, tick Apply the Groups Allowed list below to all selected practices; also tick Replace existing groups to remove groups that are not in your list.
Use Filters to narrow the list by Date range, Location, Max Attendees, Groups Allowed, Allow Visiting Rowers and time of day. Clear filters resets them.
Note: Once a practice has ended it moves to Past Practices and can no longer be edited or deleted.
Delete a practice
- Select View Practice on an upcoming practice.
- Open the Misc tab and select Delete Practice, then confirm.
Warning: Deleting a practice also deletes its lineups, practice plan, equipment reservations and attendance plans. This cannot be undone.
FAQ
Why can't I create a practice? You need at least one location. Add one under Practices → Locations first.
A member says they can't sign up for a practice. Why? They may not be in one of the practice's Groups Allowed, the attendance window may be closed or not yet open, or the practice may be full. See Attendance.
Can I let more people attend than the maximum? Yes. Add them yourself from the Attendees tab of the lineup builder, or raise Maximum Attendees.
What does Allow Visiting Rowers do? It marks whether the practice is open to visiting rowers. Combine it with a location Entry Fee if visitors pay to row.
Who can schedule practices? Anyone in a group that has Create Practices or Set Practice Lineups. See Roles & permissions.
Can I delete a whole series of practices at once? No. Practices are deleted one at a time from the Misc tab of View Practice. To change a series instead, tick the practices on Upcoming Practices and use Bulk Edit Selected.
Can I mark a practice as cancelled instead of deleting it? No. There is no cancelled status. Let athletes know with Send Message on the Upcoming tab of Practices → Lineups (needs Practice Communications), then delete the practice.