Coaching guides

The fair playing time playbook

Practical, sport-by-sport guides for volunteer junior coaches — written to be useful whether or not you ever use Stint.

14 September 2026

The five-minute pre-match plan that decides everyone's minutes

Work out every player's minutes before kick-off: a five-minute pre-match routine for junior rugby, football and hockey coaches, with the block maths.

RugbySoccerField hockey

7 September 2026

Basketball: fair minutes in short quarters

Why the four-quarter clock makes equal minutes hard in junior basketball, plus the half-quarter block pattern that keeps every player's time even.

Basketball

31 August 2026

Field hockey rolling substitutions: the gate, the rotation, and fair minutes

Field hockey rolling subs made fair: what the gate allows, the minutes maths for 11-a-side and small-sided grades, and pairings that hold up on matchday.

Field hockey

24 August 2026

Rotating a junior rugby squad when the bench is bigger than the fifteen

Give every player real minutes with a 20-plus rugby squad: interchange maths, front-row-safe pairings, and a rotation plan that keeps your pack intact.

Rugby

17 August 2026

Fair rotations in junior lacrosse: using the midfield line change well

Junior lacrosse rotations that stay fair: what the substitution box allows, the minutes maths for a 10-a-side squad, and line plans that survive matchday.

Lacrosse

10 August 2026

A simple rotation plan for junior football with rolling subs

A matchday rotation plan for junior football: block maths for 7v7 and 9v9, a simple swap order, and keeping minutes fair when only two subs turn up.

Soccer

3 August 2026

How rolling substitutions work in junior rugby

How rolling substitutions work in junior rugby: what the interchange laws allow, the minutes maths, and a sideline ladder that keeps game time fair.

Rugby

27 July 2026

Junior rugby interchanges without the clipboard

Run fair junior rugby interchanges without paper: grade rules, minutes maths, scrum-safe rotations, and a sideline system that survives real matchdays.

Rugby

23 July 2026

The soccer coach's guide to fair rotations at U8–U12

Fair rotations for U8–U12 soccer: block maths for 5v5, 7v7 and 9v9, sharing goalkeeper duty, and keeping minutes even when only eight players show up.

Soccer

23 July 2026

How much playing time should every kid get?

Equal playing time in youth sport: why it matters, the matchday maths, and simple systems junior coaches use to keep every player’s minutes fair.

SoccerRugbyBasketball

23 July 2026

A rolling substitution system that survives real matchdays

A practical rolling subs system for youth sport: the block maths, a rotation ladder that survives no-shows and injuries, and how to run it on matchday.

SoccerFutsalRugby