The coach's toolbox I wish I had when I started.

I got into coaching over a decade ago, when my oldest kids were young. I played every sport under the sun growing up, and I always loved the idea of coaching my kids the way I was coached. I was fortunate to have some great mentors along the way, and my goal was to be a mentor for my kids and my community. I love the energy of youth sports: the willingness of these kids to learn and grow, and watching their skills develop over the years.

What I didn't love was the chaos of all the administration that comes with it. In a single softball season we might play sixty to eighty games and have fifty-plus practices. Football was four practices a week with a game every weekend. Basketball was three practices a week with a dozen full-weekend tournaments. That meant countless hours of planning, preparation, strategy and teaching, all resting on the coaches.

I was hopelessly searching every corner of the internet for ideas, then sharing YouTube videos with my assistant coaches to work out how we might adapt them for our team. We'd trade rough drawings from a whiteboard or a piece of paper over text message. Every youth coach I know has been there. There's never enough practice time to explain things to the coaches and the kids at the same time, and we were all doing our best to get ready for game days.

Then came the players: managing injuries, illnesses and family vacations, and communicating ideas to them while we all filled in the gaps at practice.

I created Playbook Pal for a few reasons.

First, it's a library of the drills, plays and practice plans I've run over the years. I never feel like I'm reinventing a strategy each week or each season.

Second, it's a place for a coaching staff to work together. With everybody in the same place, we all see the practice plans, drills, plays, strategies and notes. Any of us can flag an idea or add thoughts for upcoming weeks, and we all walk into practices and game days on the same page.

Finally, I built it for the players. My vision is a single place for a team, its roster and its staff, to align on the season. I'm still building that vision today, but I'm excited to offer Playbook Pal now to coaches and teams.

Coach Cory