Running local schedules

[MNgremlin]

Trying to figure out a way to streamline and better keep up to date our local prep and small college schedule.

Right now, we just run a continuous schedule in a column for our 10 high schools and one college. The problem is though, we usually put this together before the season (for example, working on spring sports now). If any schedule changes happen, most schools usually don't let us know, so it just looks stupid finding out the night of a game on our schedule that it was rescheduled a week ago, or expecting only two area games because you didn't know another three were rescheduled for that night.

In the past, I think we stuck to only printing the current day's schedule, but now we print as far as a week ahead. And when they throw the schedule on the pages, they often just go off what was created during the offseason and don't take the time to double-check for game additions or subtractions. As one of the people who do a bulk of the schedule compiling, it gets frustrating to see constant errors, even if the schedule was accurate when I put it together before the season.

To ensure 100% accuracy, I think this can be one of the more time-consuming aspects of the job. I think we need to compile the season-long schedule before the year for assignment purposes, but is there a better way to put schedules in the paper and keep them accurate while also not using up all of your writers' hours on it?

 

[JimmyHoward33]

Many of our schools use an online program that let's us sign up for email notifications when there are changes. Helps us keep up with the inevitable switches, we run into similar problems typing them alL in in December and by March 30 percent or more is wrong.

 

[albert777]

I used to handle that for the paper I used to work for, and I always did them a week to a week-and-a-half ahead of time, no more, for the very reason stated. The weather here is too fickle, especially in late winter and early spring, to fully trust a schedule made up in the preseason.

 

[PaperDoll]

I used to handle that for the paper I used to work for, and I always did them a week to a week-and-a-half ahead of time, no more, for the very reason stated. The weather here is too fickle, especially in late winter and early spring, to fully trust a schedule made up in the preseason.

We have a schedule website for the conference we cover, and most ADs are pretty good about keeping it up to date. I type schedules and assign game coverage week to week. It's annoying, but a necessary evil because lousy weather knows no season. That doesn't mean I don't put rivalry games and postseason dates on my calendar before the season starts, but Mother Nature (or G-d) often laughs at those sorts of plans.

 

[Doc Holliday]

We get each school's schedule either by fax, email or online. Print them off. Place them in a folder. We go through the folder, make out the schedule and publish each day's schedule one day at a time and run them in that day's paper. Thus, we only type up one day at a time. Takes about 10-15 minutes tops. Because it runs daily and we have a good relationship with the coaches and athletic directors in our area, the coaches almost always call us to let us know if there is a change. By doing these one day at a time, if we know it's going to rain or snow and everything will be cancelled or it already has, we just don't run local schedule. This system has worked perfectly for the 24+ years I've worked at my job.

 

[Rhody31]

I used to try to do it all at the start of the season, but the changes got to be too much. We only had nine schools, so getting stuff done after our papers were out for the week was no big deal.

 

[HanSenSE]

Totally depends on the AD. A few will send in schedules unsolicited (one would send me fall schedules around graduation time in the spring. Others, usually just would send an email reminder, and they would send pdfs or stipulate the Maxpreps schedule was correct. Of course, there's always that one rural school that never responded, or were changing coaches so often the Maxpreps schedule was in disarray. One year, a school had listed a game against the Archer School for Girls in Los Angeles, except a) LA was about 350 miles away, and b) it was football.

Always put the schedules on a big planning calendar that hung over my desk. No reason to type them up for the paper until just before they're needed.

 

[MNgremlin]

We get each school's schedule either by fax, email or online. Print them off. Place them in a folder. We go through the folder, make out the schedule and publish each day's schedule one day at a time and run them in that day's paper. Thus, we only type up one day at a time. Takes about 10-15 minutes tops. Because it runs daily and we have a good relationship with the coaches and athletic directors in our area, the coaches almost always call us to let us know if there is a change. By doing these one day at a time, if we know it's going to rain or snow and everything will be cancelled or it already has, we just don't run local schedule. This system has worked perfectly for the 24+ years I've worked at my job.

I feel like this is probably one of the easiest solutions to implement I've read so far. But how far out do you plan ahead for what games to staff? And how well does this work the bigger your coverage area gets? I'm talking about 12 schools here, not 3 or 4.

 

[MNgremlin]

Many of our schools use an online program that let's us sign up for email notifications when there are changes. Helps us keep up with the inevitable switches, we run into similar problems typing them alL in in December and by March 30 percent or more is wrong.

Just curious, is this rSchoolToday? Our schools use that too, and I recently found the email notification tool and signed up.

 

[Doc Holliday]

I feel like this is probably one of the easiest solutions to implement I've read so far. But how far out do you plan ahead for what games to staff? And how well does this work the bigger your coverage area gets? I'm talking about 12 schools here, not 3 or 4.

It's not hard at all, definitely easy to implement.

We plan our schedules out a week at a time, 10 days in advance of any games being played. We are also in a very similar situation as you. We cover one Division I program, 28 football-playing high schools, with about 35 basketball and spring sports playing schools total. We also have a couple of small colleges (NAIA and Division II) that we run briefs/roundups on but rarely cover unless they're doing something extraordinary.

Try it. I think you'll find that this works very well. It does for us. If it doesn't work for you, you can try something else.

 

[cisforkoke]

When they changed the bus routes and times, I remember running to the stop to check the local schedules.