The tactics board: explaining a situation in the time-out

Time-out, 22-24 down, and you are drawing the ball in the air with your finger while six people stand around you. Everyone nods. Nobody pictures the same thing. A board with a court on it solves that — as long as you have one with you.

Reading time: 5 min

Where the board lives

You will find the tactics board in two places. On the Training tab you pick the Boards segment at the top, next to Sessions and Drills. And on a planned match the Tactics board line sits under Preparation, so you do not have to navigate first while standing in the hall.

The first time, it says No boards yet. Tap New board and you have a court in front of you. Boards you save stay in that list, per team and with a thumbnail in front: what you explained in October, you can pull up again in March. No longer need a board? Tap the bin behind it; with Undo in the message it is back in a moment.

Full court or half court

At the top you choose between Full court and Half court. That is not a cosmetic choice. Explaining a reception formation? Then you only want your own half, large. Talking about where the serve should land? Then you need both halves. Half court simply gives you twice the room for the same story.

With the rotate button in the header, Rotate the court, you turn the court a quarter turn. Handy when you are standing next to a player and you are both looking the same way: put the phone down flat and the court lies the way the hall does.

A volleyball court on a phone screen, with the lines and the net clearly visible — Full court or half court — the choice decides how much room your story gets.

Drawing with three kinds of line

Above the court sits the Draw row with four buttons:

Pen — a free line. For circling a zone or sketching a run.
Arrow — a straight line with a point. For where the ball goes, or where someone needs to be.
Dashed — a dashed line. The convention on every coaching board: dashed is a player moving, solid is the ball.
Erase — gone. Half of explaining anything is starting over.

You draw with your finger, straight onto the court. There is no grid underneath and nothing snaps into place: the board does exactly what a whiteboard does, minus the marker that has dried out.

Why there are no player markers: a tactics board is deliberately an empty court. Placing players, adding equipment and playing back phases belongs to the drill editor, where you draw a drill you want to animate later. Put that toolset on the board too and a time-out would leave you a third of your screen for the court itself. The board is a picture, not an animation.

A name you will recognise later

At the top there is the Name field, with the hint Board name. Fill it in. Three months from now "Board 4" tells you nothing and "Reception against their jump serve" tells you everything. That name is what you see in the list, and it travels along as the filename when you share the board.

Saving and sharing

Top right in the header sits Save: it keeps the board with your team so it stays in the list. On the left sits Cancel; if you have already drawn something, Koach first asks Close board? and you consciously choose Close without saving. At the bottom sits Share as image. That turns it into a picture you can drop into the team chat — or into Koach itself as a team message, so it stays with the rest of your team communication.

That sharing is the difference from a real whiteboard. What you explain in a time-out is gone three minutes later. A board you share can be looked at again on the bus home.

A board attached to a match

On a planned match you tap Tactics board under Preparation. You then see the boards for that match, and with New board you make one that belongs to it. Under Boards on the Training tab it shows For this match beside it. Play the same side again two weeks later and you pull up the board from last time instead of working out again what went wrong.

Three ways coaches use it

In the time-out. One arrow, one zone, one sentence. Nothing more fits in thirty seconds and nothing more gets remembered.
Before the match. A board ready in the changing room about how you want to block their strongest attacker.
Afterwards. Redraw a situation that went wrong, share it in the group, and train it on Tuesday.

Frequently asked questions

Where do I find the tactics board in Koach?

On the Training tab you pick the Boards segment at the top, next to Sessions and Drills. On a planned match the Tactics board line sits under Preparation, so it is right there when you are in the hall.

Can I put my players on the board by name?

No, and that is deliberate. The board is an empty court you draw on. Placing players and equipment belongs to the drill editor, where you draw a drill with phases you can play back. On the board that toolset would shrink the court to a third of your screen.

Do my boards get saved?

Yes, if you tap Save in the top right. Saved boards sit in the list per team and stay there all season. Close without saving and Koach first asks whether you really want to discard your drawing.

What is the difference between the pen, the arrow and the dashed line?

The pen draws a free line, the arrow a straight line with a point, and the dashed button a dashed line. On a coaching board a dashed line usually means a player moving and a solid line the ball — Koach follows that convention.

Can I send a board to my team?

Yes. Share as image turns it into a picture you can drop into the team chat, or into Koach itself as a team message, so someone can look at it again later.

Does the board work on a tablet?

Yes. Koach runs on your phone, your tablet and in the browser, and the board scales along. On the iPad the app runs full screen. A bigger screen gives you more room to draw, which helps most on the full court.

Can I attach a board to a match?

That happens by itself. Make the board on a planned match, under Preparation, and the list shows 'For this match' beside it, so you find it again for the return fixture.

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