SquadBase user guide

1Getting started

Sign up, look around the sample squad, then bring in your own. SquadBase is built for U12 to adult squads; you decide who you test and train. Every squad has an age group, and under-16 squads get extra protections (see Under-16 squads).

1. Create your account with your email and a password, then tap the link in the email we send you.
2. Coach mode: Coach or Pro? The first time you open SquadBase it asks which sounds like you. Coach shows the essentials, a numbered Start here path on the home screen (watch the 80-second video, add your players, test them, see the results, plan their running and strength; each step ticks itself off once it's done) and a short note in each app on what it does for your players; the extra tabs wait behind More. Pro shows every test, setting and option, with the apps first and the Start here steps folded into one line. Switch any time under Coach mode on the home screen or at the top of any app: nothing you've entered changes.
3. Dark or light? SquadBase is dark by default. On a bright day at the pitch, switch to Light: black text on white is far easier to read in the sun. Tap ☀️ at the top right of the home screen or any app (in an app on a phone it's in the ⋯ menu, which also has Match my phone to follow your phone's own dark-mode setting). Every app changes together.
4. Have a look around. A Sample Squad (delete me) is added for you: 12 players and four testing days, so every chart and report has something in it. Open any app from the home screen and try it.
5. Bring in your own players from a spreadsheet (section 3), or add them in Squad Dashboard.
6. Run your first test with the Testing Station, then look at the results in Squad Dashboard.

When you're finished with the sample squad, delete it in Squad Dashboard.

• Pick one aerobic test and stick with it, so results compare from one testing day to the next.
• Retest every 6–8 weeks in pre-season, and two or three times across the season.
• No timing gates? That's fine: players without a top-speed test are set from MAS instead.

How to run the running tests

Cone layouts, step-by-step instructions and what the beeps mean. The same guides are in the Testing Station: tap How to run this test when you pick one of these tests.

3Bring in your data

Your players and old results from Google Sheets or Excel, in a few minutes.

1. From the home screen, tap ⬆ Bring in your existing data.
2. Upload the file, or copy the cells in Google Sheets and paste them in.
3. Check how it was read: each column is matched to a name, squad, date or test. Fix anything that's wrong before you import.
4. Tap Import. Players already in SquadBase are matched, not added twice.

4Testing Station

Testing day on your phone, with helpers on theirs.

See it in 93 seconds.Watch Testing night: picking the test, the live beep test and Yo-Yo, the run timer, typing in results, and helpers testing on their own phones.

1. Pick the squad and the test, then tap Start station.
2. Tap a player and type their result. Mark anyone missing as Absent.
3. For the beep test, tap ▶ Start test: the beeps play from the phone, and you tap each player out as they drop. Their score saves itself.
4. For the Bronco or a time trial, type the time and the app works out MAS.

5Squad Dashboard

The whole squad on one screen.

See it in 75 seconds.Watch Your results and reports: the rankings, the colours, Player Dashboard, the athlete report and who to share it with.

Tabs along the top:

• Charts and Squad table: pick a test and see everyone ranked, compared with last time and coloured against your standards.
• Enter results: type results in at a desk.
• Squad: add, edit or remove players and squads, and add your club crest.
• Locomotor profile (Pro): each player's running fitness (MAS), top speed (MSS) and the speed reserve between them, grouped as speed, hybrid or endurance types.
• Compare teams (Pro): your squads side by side for each test.
• Load (Pro, once you've sent player links): each player's training load for the week, worked out as how hard (0–10) × minutes from the sessions they tick, plus anything they log on their link with + Log a session (pitch training, a match, other gym work). Each player is compared with their own usual week (their last 4 weeks), never with team-mates: Higher than usual (a fifth or more) is worth a quick word, Much higher (half again or more) is worth easing the next session, and lower in a lighter week is planned. The arrows go back a week. The sample squad has made-up sessions so you can see how it reads.
• RAST (Pro): repeated-sprint results and fatigue.
• Standards: what counts as Excellent, Good or Average for U12–U14, U15–U16, minor (16–17) and adult squads. Use ours or set your own.
• Tests: add your own test (e.g. RSI or max pull-ups) with its unit, and whether higher or lower is better.
• Cloud & data: sync, import and export.

6Player Dashboard

One player's story, in one tap.

• Choose a player; step through the squad with the arrows.
• The tiles at the top show their key tests, with the change since last time: ↑ Better, ↗ Slight gain, → About the same, ↘ Slight drop or ↓ Down.
• Trend charts show every test over time, with the squad average alongside.
• Athlete report PDF makes a clean report to give the player or a parent.
• Training load (Pro, for players with a link): their last 12 weeks of load as bars, this week against their usual week, and their recent sessions with effort and minutes.

7OffFeet Conditioning

Fitness without the pounding: rower, bike erg / Wattbike and assault bike.

1. Add players, then add their machine tests (peak power, 30 s, MAP, critical power and time trials). Each test unlocks more of their profile.
2. Their profile shows strengths and weaknesses in plain English, and their own training zones in watts.
3. Use New session or New running block to build training from those zones, and PDF to share it.

8Strength Builder

A whole squad's gym block, in one pass. In Pro mode only: it's built for qualified S&C coaches.

1. Pick the squad and two to four main lifts (players need a tested 3RM for each).
2. Choose a model for each lift, such as linear, block or undulating. 📖 Model guide explains each one.
3. Set your mesocycles and check the shape of intensity and volume on the chart.
4. Accept, move or skip the suggested deload weeks.
5. Generate squad program: every player gets their own weights, rounded to usable plate jumps.

Age limits: every built-in week leaves about 2 reps in reserve, and younger players get lighter weeks. Starting numbers: U12–U14 up to 70% with sets of 8+, U15–U16 up to 80% with sets of 5+, Minor 16–17 up to 85% with sets of 3+, Adult up to 93%. Change any of them under Age limits on the Roster step, or switch them off for a squad: your call as the coach.

Accessories (step 5, optional): add the extra exercises for each training day, done after the main lifts. Pick from your exercise library (60 to start with, in groups such as Legs or Groin) or make your own. Set the sets, reps or seconds, rest, load and reps left, add a coaching note, and paste a demo video link: YouTube, Instagram, Vimeo or your own. Turn on Changes from week to week to build up through the block; deload weeks take a set off by themselves. Tap ✕ to remove an exercise (Undo is in the message). Under-16s are kept to bodyweight or a light weight.

Save PDF — squad sheet for the gym wall, or Save PDF — a page per player. Each player's page lists their accessories under the main lifts. Every video has a link to tap when the PDF is on their phone, and a QR code to scan when it's printed.

Send to players: on the last step, Send to players gives each player their own private link (for under-16s, send it to a parent or guardian). It opens their programme on their phone: each week and day with their own weights, the extra exercises and your videos. They can add it to their home screen as My training, and it works with poor signal in the gym. In the gym they tap an exercise and log each set's weight as they go; after the session they tap Mark as done and say how hard it was (0–10) and how long it took. + Log a session at the top of their page adds pitch training, a match or other gym work the same way, so their load covers the whole week. You see who has done what under Send to players, and your changes to the block reach their link by themselves. Stop turns a link off at any time.

9Running Builder

From the test results to the cones: every rep set to each player.

New to MAS and running groups?Read From test to running first: why you test, what MAS means, how the runs and groups are set. Six short steps, about 5 minutes.

See it in 72 seconds.Watch Planning the running: a new block, your fixtures, the groups and cones on your pitch, sending the card to the squad, and re-planning after a retest.

The first time you open it

Your squads, players and their aerobic and speed test results come across from Squad Dashboard by themselves, and a sample block is planned for the sample squad so you can see a finished plan. If you test again later, use Settings → Import → Check for new results to bring the new results in.

Plan a running block

1. Tap Plan, then New running block.
2. Pick the squad, the type of block (pre-season, in-season, speed, an individual player or return to play), the start date, your training nights and how many minutes you have.
3. Add your fixtures: the hard running moves away from match days.
4. Every session for the block is drafted, with the players split into groups by fitness and each group's distance worked out.

Set up on your pitch in minutes

This is what saves you time on a training night. Every session card is drawn on your own pitch (GAA, soccer or rugby, set by the squad's sport), and every cone is placed off a line that's already painted: the 13, 20, 45, 65 or halfway. A card reads like "Cone 1 m short of the 20 line at the far end", so there's no measuring tape and no maths at the side of the pitch.

1. Add your pitch once in Settings → Pitches: the length and width, and the lines if they're not standard. Add the back pitch or the astro too (an astro has no lines, so pick full, ¾, ½ and so on on the night and cones are measured from your end).
2. Give each squad its home pitch and its usual minutes for running (Squads → edit). You can change the pitch or the minutes on the night.
3. Put the cones out: one colour per group, at the spot on the card. Each group knows its colour, so players find their own cone.
4. Run it: the session fits the minutes you gave it, so it slots in around the hurling or football.

Sessions

• Calendar shows the week. Tap + on a day for a quick one-off session for a squad or one player.
• Open a session to see the groups, distances and the cones on your pitch. Print / PDF or Share image to send it to the players or other coaches.
• Shuttles: long runs that don't fit the pitch can be split into shuttles. The turns are already allowed for, and the card tells you how often to blow the whistle (every 40 seconds, say) so players know when they should reach each cone.
• Tap Done after the session and confirm who was there, so the training load counts.

• Set it up when you plan the block: under How do you want to run your conditioning? pick Conditioning games + top-up and tick the nights you want them. For U12–U14 squads, conditioning games lead on most nights.
• Or change one session: open it and tap Switch to conditioning games, or Back to runs only. The planned runs are kept, so you can switch back any time.
• On the night, tap Who's here and untick anyone missing: the game, the teams and the top-up groups are made again for the players who came. If too few turn up for a proper game, the card suggests switching to runs. It's your call.
• The pitch drawing shows the games to scale on your own pitch, with the cone spots in words off the painted lines. Drag a game to move it, tap one and Turn it, or pick Near half or Far half when the other half is in use.
• Change the game if you want a different type, more or fewer bouts, or other times. New teams gives a fresh, still fair, draw.

Speed

Speed sessions come from the built-in speed programmes (pre-season and in-season). Speed always goes first, straight after the warm-up. Flying sprints show each player's target time from their top speed.

Players who missed testing

A player with no fitness test can't be put in a running group, so a gold note shows on the squad page, the block, the new block form and the session card. Tap Pick a teammate for each to run with and choose someone of similar speed and fitness. He takes that teammate's numbers, runs in the same group at the same cone, and the upcoming sessions are re-planned with him in them.

• You only do it once per player. It shows in gold as Coach's estimate (runs with …) on cards and the player list, never as a test result. It's left off the squad chart and isn't sent to Squad Dashboard.
• When he's tested, the real result takes over by itself. After 6 weeks on an estimate, the note reminds you to test him.
• A session already made without him: open it and tap Add him to tonight's runs.

Nudge MAS

If it's been 5–6 weeks or more since a player's last test and they're still making their cones too easily over several sessions, Nudge MAS adds a little to their MAS (0.25 km/h by default) so their distances get longer. Players often make the cones easily early in a block just by pacing well, so that alone isn't a reason to nudge. Tick only the players who have been training regularly. A nudge is an estimate: it never changes the test results in Squad Dashboard or Player Dashboard, and the next real test replaces it.

• For players: the athlete report (Player Dashboard), off-feet results with their zones (OffFeet), and their own gym programme (Strength).
• For the squad: squad comparison and beep-test norms (Squad Dashboard), the squad strength sheet, and running session cards.
• For management: ratings against age standards and change over the season, with your club crest.

1. Pick the sport, the age group and what the game is for: tight and sharp, repeat efforts, open and fast, or like a match. Enter how many players you have and how many days to the next match.
2. You get the best set-up (for example two games of 6 v 6), the size of each area, a session card with bouts and rest you can change, rule tweaks, and a to-scale pitch you can drag the games around on. Save the pitch size once and it's remembered.
3. Pick teams from my squad brings in your SquadBase squads. Each player's level (Developing, Solid, Strong) is set from their own MAS in the Testing Station, so the teams are fair on fitness, not on guesswork. Tap a level to change it, add positions, and keep pairs apart or together. Update from SquadBase refreshes the levels after a testing night. Your own changes (positions, pairs) are kept.
4. Share: Copy for WhatsApp, Save as image, or Print. Under-16 squads show as first name and initial; levels never appear on anything you share.

• Running Builder: a soccer or rugby squad gets a standard soccer or rugby pitch, and cones are placed off that pitch's own lines.
• Game Builder opens on the squad's sport, and Strength Builder picks it up when you choose the squad.
• Women's squads: women's standards are not built yet, so for now ratings compare your players with men's club numbers. The screens and reports say so. Use them to track each player's own progress.
• A squad made before this was added is treated as GAA until you set it.

• Standards: U12–U14 squads are rated against the youth standards, U15–U16 and Minor against the older-youth standards.
• On screen you see everything, rankings included, at every age.
• What you share is different. PDFs, charts and player reports of U12–U14 and U15–U16 players show player codes and leave out rankings and comparisons with team-mates: Squad Dashboard charts list the players A to Z, each one against the age standard (Excellent, Good, Average) and their own last result. To include them, tick Include rankings and comparisons (it's unticked every time) and confirm you're sharing in line with your club's safeguarding policy. Player reports say "For the player and their parent or guardian only."
• No notes boxes for under-16 players (no health or injury notes), and no return-to-play blocks: use an Individual block if a player needs their own running.
• Tests and running suit the age: U12–U14 squads get sprints, the CMJ, the beep test, the Yo-Yo IR1 and the T-test; U15–U16 every field test but no gym 3RMs. Running is capped at 15 minutes (U12–U14) and 20 minutes (U15–U16), with the juvenile speed programmes.
• Names: full names by default. On the Squad tab you can switch a squad to first name and initial, or player codes only. That changes the stored names everywhere and can't be undone, so the app asks first.
• Helpers must be 18 or over. Never add a player as a helper.

11Your data, helpers and help

• Your data is yours. Each coach sees only their own squads. SquadBase stores the year of birth only, and only if you give it, never a full date of birth.
• Export or delete everything from the home screen under Your data.
• Helpers (other coaches or parents helping on testing day) can be added by email. They see names only and record results in the Testing Station; you see who entered what.
• Need a hand? Email [email protected]. A screenshot of the problem helps.

See also the Privacy Policy and Terms.