Questions coaches ask

Is SpikeLedger free?

Yes. The free plan is the real product, not a trial: one team, three tournaments, the full scoring screen, the Bank Account, stat keepers, the bench view, parent codes, the live parent view and report cards. There is no credit card and no time limit.

Paid plans for coaches with more than one team, and for clubs, are built and are not on sale yet. Nothing on this site asks you to pay.

What do I need to start?

A phone and its browser. There is nothing to install from an app store. Create a free coach account, add your players, create a tournament and a match, and tap Start match.

You can add SpikeLedger to your home screen so it opens full screen like any other app. It also works on a tablet or a laptop.

Does it work when the gym Wi-Fi drops?

Yes, for recording. Every tap is saved on the phone first and then sent. If the signal drops in the middle of a match the app keeps recording, shows how many taps are waiting, and sends them in order when the signal comes back.

Open the match while you have a connection. Parents following live, and a coach on the bench view, see updates only once your taps have been sent.

Can parents watch live?

Yes. You give a parent a short code for their child. On a free parent account they see the score and their own child's numbers update during the match, within a second or two of each tap.

They see only their own child, with team averages for context. They never see another player's name or numbers, the roster, lineups or playing time totals. You can pause the parent view for the whole team at any time.

Can an assistant keep stats without my password?

Yes. Show a QR code or a short code from the team page. The assistant scans it, types a first name and gets the scoring screen. They need no account and never see your login.

The code lasts one day. A stat keeper can score and nothing else: no roster changes, no reports, no settings. You can stop a stat keeper with one tap, and you can take scoring back at any moment.

What happens if two people try to score the same match?

Only one device scores at a time. Anyone else who opens the match sees a live view-only screen. The coach can take over, and a scorer can hand back. This prevents doubled stats and overwritten scores.

How does it handle the libero?

Automatically. You mark the libero in the lineup, and a second libero if you have one. The libero goes in when one of the players they replace reaches the back row and comes out before the front row. It is not counted as a substitution.

By default the libero plays for your middles, and you can choose other players. A team setting lets the libero serve in leagues that allow it. You can always swap by hand, and Undo reverses an automatic swap along with the point that caused it.

Do I have to track rotation and serve myself?

No. At the start of each set you say who serves first and confirm the court. After that, every point moves the score, the serve and the rotation by the rules. If the serve is ever wrong, tap the serve indicator to switch it.

Does it work for 12U teams without positions?

Yes. When you create the team, choose that it does not play set positions. Every player is then graded on the same all-around rules, and nothing about liberos or position groups appears. You can switch the team to positions later.

How are players graded fairly by position?

With the Bank Account. Every action is a deposit or a withdrawal, and what counts depends on the position. A good pass is a deposit for a libero. For an outside hitter only a perfect pass is. Attack errors never count against a libero. Kills, aces, blocks, assists and digs are deposits for everyone, and errors are withdrawals.

Each player gets a balance and a rating: Strong contribution, Solid, Building or Focus area. The rating comes from the share of deposits, so a defender is compared with defending and a hitter with hitting.

How is hitting efficiency worked out?

Kills minus attack errors, divided by all attacks, where an attack is a kill, an attack error or a swing recorded with the In play button. It is shown with the number of attacks beside it, only once a player has at least five, and only from matches where In play was recorded. Kills and errors alone would make it read too high.

What if I tap the wrong thing?

Tap Undo. It reverses the most recent action completely: the stat, the point, the serve, the rotation and any libero swap. If only the score is wrong, plus and minus on the score fix it without touching anything else.

Is my players' data private?

Yes. A team belongs to the coach who created it. A parent sees only their own child, and only after you give them that child's code. A stat keeper can score and sees nothing else. Report card links, where used, show a first name and jersey number, expire after 30 days and can be switched off.

SpikeLedger does not sell data and does not show advertising. Parent pages and report links are hidden from search engines. The privacy policy has the full detail.

Can I delete a match I recorded by mistake?

Yes. Delete a match or a tournament and it disappears from season numbers, report cards and the parent view straight away. For 30 days you can restore it from Recently deleted on the team page, exactly as it was. After that it is removed for good.

You can delete a whole team the same way, from the team's settings, after typing its name. It can be restored from your dashboard for 30 days, with its players, matches and linked parents.

What is a report card?

A set of phone-sized images for one player: an overview with the Bank Account rating, the full numbers, what to work on with a drill for each focus area, the Bank Account, and a breakdown. You can make them for one tournament or the whole season and send them to the family.

Which phones does it work on?

Any recent iPhone or Android phone, in the browser that came with it. The scoring screen is designed for one hand on a phone and is tested on iPhone and Android screen sizes.

Is there an AI assistant?

Every team and player page has a written coach analysis built from the recorded numbers. A chat assistant that answers questions about your own team's numbers is built and belongs to the paid plans, which are not on sale yet.

How do I ask for something or report a problem?

Email support@spikeledger.com. Requests from working coaches decide what gets built next.