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Usage guide

A training guide for someone who has never run a S.A.G.E. event. Read front to back, it takes you from planning the event, through the day of the tournament, to what you do after it. Every step says who does it, when, what it needs, and how to tell it worked. The guide links to Features for the detail of each tool and does not repeat it.

What S.A.G.E. is

S.A.G.E. Match Control Experts runs pickleball tournaments. The tooling has one idea at its centre: the scoring workbook is the source of truth. A person types a score into a Google Sheet, and a few seconds later that score is on every phone, screen and console at the venue. Nothing else needs to be typed.

                       Google Sheet (one per venue per day)
                       scores · Court Control · rosters
                                     │
                                     │  live sync (on every edit)
                                     ▼
                              the sync service
                                     │
              ┌──────────────────────┼───────────────────────┐
              ▼                      ▼                       ▼
     Tournament Hub          Schedule board            Control Center
  (players' phones: Match   (wall display: courts   (operators: resync,
  Finder, live scores,       by time slots, live     go-live switch, awards,
  standings)                 matches ringed)         attendance, score entry)

Around that chain sit the tools you use to get ready: the Tournament Calculator to plan, the sheet generators to build the workbook, the Bracket Generator to draw, and the Scoresheet Generator to print.

The three kinds of event

Decide which one yours is before anything else. It decides which master workbook you copy, which site template the developer uses, and which parts of the guide apply.

Kind How to tell Workbooks
Standard tournament An open-entry bracket event. Players enter in categories (division × event, e.g. Beginner Men's Doubles). Any number of days and venues. One per venue per day, from the Standard Tournament Master.
Dual meet Two clubs face off. Every category has the same number of pairs from each club. One workbook, from the Dual Meet Master.
Team Named teams of several players meet in matchups of four matches, won on total points, or on games won where the event says so. A group stage, then playoffs. One workbook, copied from PickleDrive's. There is no Team Master yet.

Where the kinds differ, the step says so in a Where the formats differ section.

The journey

Step Page Who When
Before Roles, access and kit · Glossary every SAGE member read first
1 Plan it coordinator 1–2 weeks before
2 Build the workbooks coordinator 1–2 weeks before
3 Draw and fill rosters coordinator once entries close
4 Register and build the site coordinator + developer about a week before
5 Connect the workbooks coordinator after rosters and schedule are final
6 Print coordinator (developer for the QR panel) the last few days
7 Rehearse coordinator + operators the last few days
8 Run the day operators, scorers, desk staff the day
9 When something's wrong operators open it on the day
Scorer handout · Desk handout scorers · desk staff send with their links
After After the event coordinator + developer the days after

The order, and why it is that order

Some steps cannot start until another has finished:

  • Register before you build the site and connect. The Hub reads its days, venues and labels from the event's entry in events.json, and Set up live sync checks the day key against it. So the registration comes first.
  • The workbook comes before the draw. The workbook says how many brackets each category has and how many pairs go in each. The Bracket Generator opens from a category tab.
  • Registering needs the workbooks. Each venue's entry carries its workbook's ID, so build the workbooks first. (An entry with an empty sheetId is allowed, to add a day before its workbook exists.)
  • Connect last. Run Set up live sync after the roster and schedule fixes, so the editing you do before the event is not publishing half-finished data.
  • Print scoresheets once the schedule stops moving. A scoresheet carries its match number, court and time.

A compressed calendar

Ideally the work starts 1 to 2 weeks before the event. Planning and the workbooks come first, and the rehearsal and printing in the last days.

When Do
10–14 days before 1. Plan it. 2. Build the workbooks, including filing and sharing.
7–10 days before 3. Draw and fill rosters as soon as entries close. 4. Register and build the site; send the developer their list early.
4–7 days before Fix the roster and schedule. Then 5. Connect the workbooks.
2–4 days before 6. Print the schedule PDF and the QR panel. 7. Rehearse.
1–2 days before Print the scoresheets once the schedule has stopped moving. Brief the scorers and desk staff with their handouts.
The day 8. Run the day. Keep 9. When something's wrong open.
After After the event.

If you have less than a week, keep the order and compress the gaps. Do not drop the rehearsal.

How to read the guide

Every step page has the same frame, so you always know where to look:

Who: coordinator / developer / operators · When: how far ahead · You need: what has to exist first

Steps, numbered, one action each, with the exact menu or button name in bold.

Check it worked: what you should see.

If it doesn't: the common failures, with links to When something's wrong.

Where the formats differ: standard / dual meet / team, only when they do.

Next: the next step.

A step that needs repo access is set off like this:

Developer task — needs GitHub access to event-data / the site repo

One line naming the change. The step gives you a list to hand the developer, and what to check once they have done it. The mechanics are in Adding a new event.

If you are the coordinator and not the developer, the box tells you what to ask for. Menu names in bold are exactly as they appear in the workbook's SAGE menu or on the page.

Start with Roles, access and kit.