Write your programme’s methodology

A methodology is how the club coaches: the principles of play it teaches, the four corners it develops a player across, what matters at each stage of a player's development, the families of practice its sessions are built from and how its sessions are structured. It sits underneath the Technical Framework. The framework tells FNSW what the club believes; the methodology is what a coach actually does on a Tuesday night.

Clubhouse keeps it in Settings, under Methodology, on one card that reads the way your coaches see it. Write it once and Clubhouse drafts in the club's own words from then on, starting with player development plans, so a goal reads the way your coaches already talk.

• Your name at the bottom of the sidebar opens Settings. Methodology is in its Club group, below the Technical Framework.
• Everyone with access to Settings can read it. If you can't change it, there is no Edit, and you see the methodology exactly as your coaches read it. Your technical director or a club admin keeps it up to date.
• Write the Club default first. Each programme uses it until you give that programme its own.

The methodology is one card. Under the page title, a line of facts says how many principles and practice families it has and when it was last updated.

Once the session planner is open to your club, a programme's card leads with Filed by principle: how many of the programme's drills carry at least one of its principles, out of every drill in its planner, and what share that is. A bar under the figure splits those drills by the moment of the game. It is the quickest read of whether the library is being filed against the methodology. Only technical directors and club admins see it, and the club default doesn't have one, because it has no library of its own. If some of the programme's methodology comes from the club default, a label beside Filed by principle says how much, such as 2 parts from club default.

Next is a row of figures: how many Principles, Practice families and Session structures there are and, once the planner is open, Model sessions, with how many drills or sessions carry them. Then the four sections:

• How we play: the Principles of play, under a coloured band for each moment of the game: In possession, Out of possession, Transition and Set pieces. Each principle is one row with its name and how many drills carry it. Choose the row to open its line and detail in place; only one row is open at a time, and choosing the count opens those drills in the planner.
• Who we develop: the four Corners as tiles, then the Stages, one numbered step per development phase the programme fields.
• How we coach: Practice families, Session structures and CHANGE IT side by side, one under another on a phone. Each item is a row that opens in the same way, and families and structures show their drill or session counts.
• Model sessions: the sessions featured for the programme, which appears once the session planner is open to your club.

A section with nothing in it yet says so, with Write it beside it, which opens the editor on that section. Coaches never see an empty section.

The foot of the card says when it was last updated and, where there is no Filed by principle label to say it, what a programme reads from the club default, such as All from the club default.

The page opens on the Club default. Above the card, Programmes lists every programme with whether it has Its own methodology or Uses the club default. Choose a programme to show its methodology instead; the row you're on reads Showing, and Club default at the top of the list brings you back.

A programme with nothing of its own shows the club default, so you can see exactly what its coaches get. While you edit it, each section says Inherited from the club default until you change it.

Give a programme its own methodology when it genuinely coaches differently, such as a junior programme that thinks in ball mastery and small-sided games. You only need to change the parts that differ: a section you leave alone keeps using the club default, and changes to the club default reach it straight away.

An empty methodology offers Start from Clubhouse template and Write it from scratch. The template has eight principles across the moments of the game, the four corners, the CHANGE IT levers, the session structures and seven practice families, all written plainly enough to rename. Change the names to the club's own words. Clubhouse keeps track of each principle behind the scenes, so renaming one never loses anything filed under it. The stages are left for you to write, because what matters at each stage is the club's call.

Once a methodology has something in it, the ••• menu beside Done offers the template again and, on a programme, Copy from the club default, which turns the club's version into the programme's own, ready to change. Both ask before replacing what is there, and both wait until your other changes are saved or discarded.

Edit turns the card into its own editor without moving anything: every section keeps its place, every moment and column shows even when it's empty, and each item shows what you've written as you write it. On a phone, the pencil at the top does the same, and the tick finishes. Above the card, a line says what reads these words, such as player development plan drafts.

Principles of play, Practice families, Session structures and CHANGE IT are edited one item at a time. Choose an item, anywhere on its row, and its fields open in its place. Only one item is open at a time, so choosing another closes the first. A dot beside an item's name means it has unsaved changes, and a red dot means it needs fixing before you can save. Add at the end of each moment or column adds a new item and opens it, ready to name.

The foot of an open item has its controls: the arrows to move it up or down among its neighbours, Remove, and Close, which folds it back to its row and keeps what you wrote. Pressing Escape closes it too.

A principle has a name, its Moment (change it and the principle moves to that row), one line in the club's words and its Detail. Keep the line for something the name doesn't already say, because a line that only repeats the name isn't shown on the card. The Detail is what players develop there, written however your coaches talk, one idea per line. Start a line with - to make it a bullet. A principle you've saved can't be left without a name: name it, or remove it.

Practice families, Session structures and CHANGE IT each have a heading you can rename where it sits. CHANGE IT and session structures use the names Clubhouse already knows, so you choose each from a list and its name follows. Once every one is in, the column says how many are in use instead of offering Add. Practice families are free to name. When you need more for an item, Add a summary or Add points opens the field, and anything already written is always shown. Catch phrases, coaching cues and printable resources belong in your own coaching document rather than in Clubhouse. A practice family that still has drills filed under it can't be removed until they're moved to another family.

The Corners are four tiles, one per corner, each with a line in the club's words.

Stages has one row for each development phase the programme fields, from Discovery to Performance, with the age groups it covers in this programme, such as U9 to U10. Write what matters most for players at that stage in one or two sentences, and Add points for anything you want listed under it. The club default shows every phase your programmes field between them. A phase the programme has no age groups in isn't shown; if you wrote something for it before, Clubhouse keeps it, and it comes back if the programme fields that phase again.

Under the figures, Worth knowing has a tile for each part of the framework the methodology doesn't cover yet, checked as you type:

• Principles in every moment: at least one principle in possession, out of possession and in transition.
• Four corners: all four written.
• A note per stage: something written for every stage the programme fields. A programme with no age groups yet has nothing to write for, so there is no tile.
• Families, structures and levers: at least one practice family, session structure and CHANGE IT lever.
• A featured session: at least one session featured for the programme, once the session planner is open to your club.

Each tile says what is missing or how far it has got, such as how many of the four corners are written, with an amber disc when it is partly there and an empty ring when nothing is written yet. A gap in a part the programme reads from the club default says From the club default. Choose a tile to go to its section. Once nothing is missing, Worth knowing goes away and the foot of the card says Framework covered. Coverage is about what is written, not whether it is lived, so the Gold checklist stays with the Technical Framework, and Gold checklist at the foot of the card opens it.

Coaches see none of this: no Worth knowing and no Framework covered.

Once you change anything, a dot appears beside that section's name, and a bar appears at the bottom of the page with how many parts you've changed, Discard changes and Save changes. Save writes every changed part in one go; Discard puts the card back as it was. If something can't be saved yet, such as an item that's too long, the bar says which section needs fixing. Each section shows who saved it last and when.

If somebody else saved the same part while you were editing, Clubhouse keeps your edits on screen, tells you who it was in the bar and offers Reload beside it, so neither of you overwrites the other.

Done takes you back to reading. With changes still unsaved, Clubhouse asks Save your changes? first, with Discard, Keep editing and Save and finish. It asks the same when you choose another programme in the list or follow a link away, and your browser warns you if you close the tab.

• The bar at the bottom goes away, and each section you changed shows your name and today's date.
• On a programme, the sections you changed no longer read Inherited from the club default, and the programme reads Its own methodology in the list.
• The next player development plan drafted for that programme uses your principles' names.