For a player, game day starts an hour before the puck drops. For the organizer, it starts 48 hours earlier.
For over a decade, I’ve been that organizer. I run a 3-on-3 pickup hockey game for a core group of 15 regulars, with a long list of spares. For years, “running the game” had turned into a second job. It was a weekly administrative black hole that sucked up my time and, honestly, a lot of the joy I had for the sport.
I was spending 4-5 hours every single week just on logistics. I was a player, but I was also an administrator, a scheduler, a bookkeeper, and a collections agent.
Here’s a breakdown of what that 5-hour “game day” looked like for me, and how it was reduced to 15 minutes.
The “Before” Picture: A Manual Mess
My weekly organizational ritual was a chaotic mess of spreadsheets, text messages, and email. It looked something like this:
- Task 1: The Invite & Headcount (1.5 hours): It started with a mass email. “Who’s in for this week?” Then, the real “work” began: tracking the replies in a spreadsheet and, inevitably, sending a flurry of follow-up texts. “Hey, need your answer.” “We still need 3 more players.” “Are you 100% in?” It was a constant, manual “text tag” scramble.
- Task 2: The Spare Scramble (2+ hours): This was the biggest headache. A regular would drop out last-minute. I’d then have to start the “spare waterfall”—texting the A-list spares, waiting for a reply, getting no answer, texting the B-list spares, and so on, until the spot was filled. It was stressful, time-consuming, and had to be done, or the game would be short.
- Task 3: Making the Teams (30 mins): Once I finally had a full roster, I’d sit down with my list. I’d try to remember who played with whom last week, who was a high-skill player, who was a beginner, and mentally juggle all those variables to make two teams that were both fair and fresh.
- Task 4: The Final Roster Email (30 mins): After all that, I’d have to manually type up the new teams (“Team A” vs. “Team B”) into another email and send it out to the entire group.
Total Weekly Admin Time: 4.5 – 5 hours. Every single week. I was spending more time organizing the game than I was actually playing it.
The “After” Picture: The Autopilot Game
This entire process was why I built HappyRoster. I didn’t want a complex league app; I needed a simple tool to automate my specific, manual tasks.
Here’s what my “game day” looks like now:
- Task 1 (Invites) -> Automated Invites: The app sends the game invites to my 15 regulars automatically. I don’t do anything. I just look at my dashboard and see a real-time list of who’s in and who’s out.
- Task 2 (Spares) -> Automated Roster-Filling: This is the game-changer. When a regular clicks “Out,” HappyRoster automatically sends an invite to the first person on my pre-set spare list. If they decline or don’t respond within a few hours, the app automatically moves to the next spare on the list, and the next, until the spot is filled. I don’t have to send a single text.
- Task 3 (Teams) -> One-Click Team Generation: That 30-minute mental puzzle? It’s now a single button. I look at the final roster of 20 players, click “Make Fair Teams,” and the app’s algorithm, which tracks wins and losses, generates two balanced, fresh teams instantly.
- Task 4 (Email) -> Automated Team Emails: Once I’m happy with the teams, I hit “Send.” The app automatically emails the final team rosters to every single player.
Total Weekly Admin Time: 15 minutes.
The Result: More than Just Time Saved
Quantifiably, I reclaimed 4.75 hours of my life every single week.
But the real benefit isn’t just the time. It’s the removal of the dread. It’s the end of the “text tag” anxiety. It’s the freedom from having to chase people down.
I got to stop being the league administrator and just be a player again. I show up, I play, and I go home. And that, for any organizer, is the real prize.
Ready to reclaim your time and get back to being a player? Start your free trial of HappyRoster today.
To learn more about the philosophy that built this app, read From Spreadsheets to Sanity: My 10-Year Journey to Automating My Hockey Game.