Your first day as a technical director

As a technical director you work inside a programme. The sidebar, the dashboard and the squads all belong to the programme you're in, not to the whole club. Once that clicks, the rest of the portal is predictable.

• Your club administrator sets up your staff account and assigns you to your programme.
• Have your mobile to hand. The first sign-in on each device sends a code to it.

1. Go to dashboard.clubhouseapp.com.au on your computer.
2. Select the Club Staff tab.
3. Enter your email and password, then select Log in. If you'd rather not use a password, Email me a code instead signs you in with a code sent to your email.
4. On a device Clubhouse hasn't seen before, you'll see Verify it's you. Select Send Verification Code and enter the 6-digit code texted to your mobile.

Clubhouse then remembers that device for about six months, even if you sign out. A new laptop or phone asks for a fresh code. The check is there because your account can see every player in the programme, including injuries and family contact details.

There's no club-wide home page for a technical director. Signing in takes you straight to the dashboard of your first programme. If you look after the Boys Youth League, you land on the Boys Youth League.

dashboard.clubhouseapp.com.au

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In season, the dashboard is your programme's week on one page: today's training with each squad's times and availability, the next round of fixtures, recent results, and the league table where the programme plays in one. On a wide screen the squads' daily wellness and the current injury list sit in a second column of the same width. The injury list shows five players, and Show N more opens the rest in place.

The dashboard changes with the time of year:

• Before a programme's first season, one your club is standing up for next year, you'll see a short planning page headed, for example, Girls JDL starts in 2027. It lists what to do first: build the squads, map out the season, set the training schedule and, if you can recruit, bring in new players. It becomes the normal dashboard four weeks before the first training session, or as soon as a fixture is scheduled.

dashboard.clubhouseapp.com.au

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• Once the season's last fixture is played, it becomes a season wrap, headed That’s a wrap on the 2026 season. It shows the season in numbers (matches, goals and wins, or for a JDL programme, how even the game time was), how each team finished and the top scorers, then leads into the between-seasons work: who's coming back, next year's squads and the next Season Plan.
• Once the programme moves to 2027, while the rest of the club is still finishing 2026 and until 2027 training is four weeks away or a 2027 fixture is scheduled, the dashboard is one card. The move sits at the top (Moved to 2027, with an Undo the move link while it can still be undone). Under it, Finish 2026 lists what's still open on the old season, such as undecided players and development plans to close out, and Set up 2027 lists the same planning jobs as a new programme. With nothing left to finish, it's the planning page, with the move at the top for as long as it can be undone. Once 2027 training is four weeks away, or a 2027 fixture is scheduled, it's the normal dashboard again, with anything left to finish in a 2026 wrap-up panel above it. Roll into next season explains the move.

The sidebar is organised by how often you reach for things. The top block has no heading. It's your week: the sections you open every day. Below it sit two labelled groups, Development and Season.

Not every section appears for everyone, so two technical directors at the same club can have different sidebars:

• Wellness and Workouts join your week once a squad uses daily check-ins or your S&C staff assign a programme.
• IDPs, Recruitment, S&C Testing, Retention and Compliance depend on what your club has switched on and the access you've been given.
• Contracts sits directly under Dashboard if you look after First Grade contracts.
• Any club-wide access you hold, such as Finance or Surveys, appears under a Club heading at the bottom. On a smaller screen the sidebar scrolls to reach it.

The Season group sits lower because you work it in windows rather than weekly: recruitment and retention run to their own calendar, and the Season Plan is set once or twice a year. It's still your next stop, though: Set up your Season Plan.

Your club's crest sits at the top of the sidebar, and the small panel icon beside it collapses the sidebar to icons only when you want the room back. Collapsed, the group headings become thin lines and red counts become dots. Hover the icons to peek at the names without moving the page, and press the same icon to keep the sidebar open again. Clubhouse remembers the choice on that computer.

Your role and programme sit at the bottom of the sidebar. Select them and your account menu opens, with a Switch roles list for each programme you look after. Choosing one switches the whole sidebar to that programme. On a phone, the same menu opens from your picture at the top right.

The same menu takes you across to the coach portal if you also coach a squad, or into Clubhouse if you're also a parent at the club.

Sections follow your programme assignment, your access and what your club has switched on. If something you need isn't there, such as a programme you've taken over or a section a colleague can see, ask your club administrator to check your assignment.

• You can sign in on your usual computer without being asked for a code each time.
• Signing in opens your programme's dashboard, with your role and programme at the bottom of the sidebar.
• Every programme you look after is listed under Switch roles.

From here the season runs in order: plan the season, build your squads, set the training pattern, then let match weeks take over.