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Running a Session
This section explains how to start a CourtZ session.
You can start a session in one of two ways:
- Using a Session Profile
- Without a Session Profile
Once the session has started, both workflows operate in the same way.
Starting with a Session Profile
Session Profiles provide a quick way to start regular club sessions.
Each Session Profile already contains:
- the players who normally attend
- the game settings for the session
To start a session, open the required Session Profile.
The Attendance dialog is displayed.
Use the Attendance dialog to prepare today’s session by:
- selecting the regular players who are attending
- clearing players who are absent
- adding players from the master player list
- adding guest players
- optionally setting the Expected Games for attending players
When the player list is complete, select Start Session.
Use the Attendance dialog to select the players attending today’s session. Greyed-out players are currently marked as absent.
CourtZ creates today’s session and allocates players to the available courts. If there are more players than available court spaces, the remaining players are placed in the Waiting Room.
Expected Games
You can optionally specify how many games an attending player expects to play.
Tap a player’s status icon to set or adjust their Expected Games.
- Tick – the player is attending.
- Stopwatch – the player has an Expected Games value set.
Expected Games can be set to 1, 2, 3, 4 or Any (expected number of games is unspecified).
Players with an Expected Games target are prioritised during round generation to help them reach their expected number of games. When a player reaches their target, CourtZ provides the option to remove them before the next round is generated.
Guest Players
Guest players added from the Attendance dialog become part of today’s session.
If they are likely to play again, you can also:
- add them to the master player list
- add them to the current Session Profile
This allows them to be included automatically in future sessions that use this Session Profile.
Starting without a Session Profile
If you are not using a Session Profile, you create today’s session directly from the Games page.
Choose the required game settings, then add players to the Waiting Room from:
- the master player list
- guest players
When everyone has been added, select the button to generate the first round of games.
CourtZ creates today’s session and allocates players to the available courts. If there are more players than available court spaces, the remaining players stay in the Waiting Room.
When a session is started without using a Session Profile, the session name displays as <no profile selected>. This indicates that the session is using the default game settings rather than those stored in a Session Profile.
Players can be added directly to the Waiting Room from the master player list or as guest players before play begins.
A session started without using a Session Profile. Players can be added to the Waiting Room before the first games are generated.
Guest Players
Guest players can be added directly to the Waiting Room.
If they become regular players, you can add them to the master player list so they are available for future sessions.
The Waiting Room
The Waiting Room contains players who are waiting to be allocated to a court.
Players are placed in the Waiting Room automatically when:
- there are more players than available court spaces
- they are waiting for their next game
- they are added after the session has started
CourtZ uses the Waiting Room whenever new games are generated, automatically moving waiting players onto available courts.
The Waiting Room contains players waiting for their next game. As courts become available, CourtZ automatically selects players from the Waiting Room when generating the next round.
Removing a Player from the Waiting Room
If a player leaves the session before being selected for a game, they can be removed directly from the Waiting Room.
To help prevent accidental removal, players are removed using a two-step process.
To remove a player:
- Tap and hold the player’s name.
- A red bin button appears beside the player’s name.
- Tap the red bin button within 3 seconds.
Tap and hold a player’s name to reveal the red bin button. Select it within 3 seconds to remove the player from the current session.
If the red bin button is not selected within 3 seconds, it disappears and the player remains in the session.
Removing a player from the Waiting Room affects only the current session. The player remains in the master player list and in any Session Profiles to which they belong.
What’s Next?
Your session is now running.
Continue to Game Generation to learn how CourtZ generates games, rotates players between courts and the Waiting Room, and keeps play balanced throughout the session.
| ← Session Profiles | 🏠 Help Home | Game Generation → |