How to use Teach Playbook

Everything you need, from signing in to building your team’s playbook.

1. Getting started

Sign in (this also creates your account)

Go to teachplaybook.com and choose Sign in. Enter your email and choose Email me a sign-in link. You’ll get an email from Teach Playbook with a Sign in link and a 6-digit code: click the link, or type the code. There’s no password. The first time, check your spam or promotions folder.

Players under 13 use Teach Playbook through a parent’s or guardian’s account, with them.

Join your team

Your coach will give you a team code like ABCD-2345, or an invite link. After signing in, choose Enter team code (on the welcome screen, or ⚙ Account & teams → My teams → + Another team → Join a team if you’re already on a team), type the code and choose Join team. If you got a link, open it, sign in, and the code is filled in for you.

Find your plays

At the top left, the Playbook menu switches between your teams and My personal plays. Pick your team, then choose a play from the play list — it opens straight away.

Tap Play to choose a play. Plays are grouped by formation family (I formation, Spread, Double Wing, Beast, your saved formations), with each opponent’s plays in their own group; only the current play’s group starts open. Search by name, turn Run (gold) and Pass (blue) on or off, pick which formations and opponents to show, and switch between List and Mini (small diagrams). To mark a play as an opponent’s (to scout a team you’ll face), choose Opponent’s and their name when you save a new play, or use Play actions ▾ → Opponent’s play… on a saved one.

The play list also has an Examples group with ready-made plays anyone can open, even before signing in.

2. Watching a play

• Press ▶ Play to watch the whole play run. Drag the slider under the field to step through it, use ↶ Start over to watch it again from the beginning, and change the speed (½ speed is great for learning).
• Tap any player to read their job and goal in plain words. It shows in the panel on the right (below the field on a phone). Tap the ⓘ on the player to open it in a popup next to him; press – on the popup to put it away.
• ◎ Highlight (next to the player’s name) dims everyone else, so you can follow one player through the play.
• Show defense / Hide defense turns the defense on and off.
• Zoom in with + and − in the corner of the field (or pinch on a phone, Ctrl + scroll on a computer). Drag to look around, and press Fit to see the whole field again.

3. Trying changes and saving your own version

This is where Teach Playbook helps players learn: move things and see what happens.

• Drag any player to a new spot, any time.
• Quick: select a player for one-tap setups: blocks and pulls for linemen (Pull to the hole sends him flat along the line to one of your hole numbers, then up through it), routes for receivers, carries and lead blocks for backs, a drop and target for the QB, and rushes, gaps, man and zones for defenders.
• Draw path: tap a player to select them, then tap empty spots on the field to add points to their path. For a back, tight end or receiver, choose whether his path is a Route or a Block right there. Tap Draw path again when you’re done.
• Undo takes back your last change. Discard changes puts the whole play back to how it was when you opened it — and if you didn’t mean to, Undo brings your changes back. Clear path clears one player’s path; Reset token (under Advanced settings) resets him completely.
• Press ▶ Play again to see how your change affects the play.

Players and parents can’t change the team’s plays, but they can keep what they tried: Save my variation saves a private copy only you can see. Switch to team’s play takes you back to the coach’s version.

4. Coaches: building plays

Start a play

• Start from a play you have, an example, or the starter kit. Or choose + Add plays → Draw a new play (on an empty playbook, Draw your first play) and pick a starting formation from the same list as the Formation chooser: your team’s saved formations, then the built-ins, with Right and Left where a formation has a strong side. Every player is lined up and nothing is drawn yet. Then type the play’s name in the box with the ✎.
• Play notes (just above the field) say what the play is for and why it works, e.g. “Motion left, reverse right. Attacks a defense that chases the motion.” Everyone on the team can read them. No players’ names.
• A play is a Pass when someone throws (the quarterback, or a halfback pass) and a Run otherwise; the app works it out. For a look you expect to face, say the South Park Cows’ offense, turn on Opponent’s play next to the name and type the opponent (it suggests ones you’ve used). Opponent plays stay separate from your own.
• A yellow ⚠ warning appears just above Play notes (tap it for the details) if the offense breaks a basic rule: fewer than 7 on the line of scrimmage, someone lined up past it, or motion that isn’t legal. It’s a reminder, not a block, because leagues vary.
• Add starter plays shows the starter plays made for your team’s game format, grouped by formation (for 11v11 tackle: I formation, Offset I, Power I, Split backs, Spread doubles, Spread trips, Wing-T, Double Wing and Beast). Tick the ones you run and they’re added to the playbook you have selected, each with a matching defense. Formations you already added are marked. Many of the same plays come in several formations (Dive, Power, Counter, Toss, Slant-Flat, Flood), so your players learn one set of jobs and the defense sees different looks. Plays are named by their call, like I Right 36 Power (the 3 back, the tailback, through the 6 hole), using your team’s back numbers and hole numbers from Terminology.

Give each player a job

• Tap a player, then use the right panel: Position or number (the label on the token), Assignment, and My job / My goal notes that players will read.
• Assignment: Block, Run / route, or Ball carrier. A play has one ball carrier; if you don’t pick one, the quarterback keeps the ball and runs. The quarterback also has Hand off left/right, Pitch left/right and Throw; the ball goes to the ball carrier. For passes, Throw at sets an exact throw time — or set Throw timing to To a spot on a route and tap a spot on a receiver’s route: he becomes the target, with the throw timed so he catches it there (a “catch” ring marks the spot). On a pass, the quarterback rolls out away from a rusher who gets close, then throws on time; if he’s boxed in he holds his ground. Tick Stays in the pocket to keep him where he is, e.g. to show why a quarterback has to move.
• Trick plays (reverse, flea flicker, halfback pass): select the player who gets the ball and use Then he: keeps the ball, hands off to, pitches to or throws to another player. That player gets the same choice, up to four exchanges in all. Leave When blank for automatic (a handoff where their paths meet, a pitch or throw when he reaches the end of his drawn path) or set a time. Before you press Play, a dotted line on every play shows where the ball goes: the handoff, pitch or throw, and every exchange after it. The rules show as warnings, not blocks, so you can show players why something is illegal: only one forward pass, thrown from behind the line, and pitches go sideways or back. Defenders react to whoever has the ball, so a reverse pulls them one way before the ball goes the other. Try the starter plays I Right — Reverse, I Right — Flea Flicker and Double Wing — Halfback Pass.
• Draw each player’s path with Draw path. Blockers engage the first defender they meet, then pick up the nearest free defender.
• Blocking controls (select a blocker): Blocks names his man — he goes after that defender and no one else (with no drawn path, straight at him at the snap). Hold the block for N seconds, then he lets go and continues his drawn path — e.g. hold the end, then climb to the linebacker.
• Wait for his blockers (select the ball carrier, Advanced settings; off by default): when a lineman pulls or a back leads through his hole, the runner stays a step behind him until the block is made, for at most half a second, the way backs are taught to read their guard. It can help a Power or a Dive; with slow linemen the wait can also give the defense time to fill, so try it both ways.
• Chip block (select a receiver or back): if he meets a defender on his route, he blocks him for N seconds, then keeps running it. A receiver still chipping when the ball arrives lets go to catch it.
• Player speed makes a player faster or slower than everyone else.
• Draw motion puts one player in motion before the snap: select a receiver or back, choose Draw motion, and tap the field. The ball is snapped when his motion ends, then he runs his assignment from there. Only one player can be in motion, and he can’t be heading toward the line at the snap. Clear motion removes it.

Save and share

• Save play saves a new play to the selected playbook and asks for its name. Once it’s saved, Save changes updates it, and Save as ▾ saves a copy instead: New play (asks for the new play’s name; the original stays as it was) or, on a team play, My variation (your own private copy). Saving changes to a team play asks first, and offers both of those right there. Above the field you’ll see ● Unsaved changes or ✓ Saved. To change a play’s name: Play actions ▾ → Rename…, then save. Coaches can keep a team play from players and parents until they install it: Hide, next to Mirror (the Play button then says “hidden from players”; Show brings it back).
• ⇄ Mirror flips the play left to right, so you draw “24 Lion” once and get “24 Rhino”. Everything flips: spots, paths, motion, zones, the handoff or pitch side, gap sides, and the defense too, so it plays out as the mirror image. The line keeps its names in place (LT stays on the left), and “left” and “right” swap in the name, job notes and play notes. In the name, a hole number follows your team’s hole labels, and your play-call side words (the team’s Terminology, e.g. Lion and Rhino) swap too. Nothing is saved until you choose: Save as keeps both plays, Save changes replaces the original, and Mirror again (or Discard changes) flips it back.
• Copy play(s)… copies plays into another team you coach, or into your personal plays. The play on the field is at the top and already ticked (as it is now, including unsaved changes); tick any others to copy them too. Each copy is independent, and plays already copied there are skipped. Players and parents see Copy play…, which copies the play on the field.
• Choosing several plays works the same way everywhere: the play list with a checkbox on each play, Tick all for a whole formation, search and filters, and a count at the bottom. Use it for Play actions ▾ → Copy play(s)…, for a game plan’s Add or remove plays…, and when printing Selected plays.
• Team owners can copy a whole playbook at once: see Teams.

Import plays from a PDF (beta)

Already have your plays drawn? Turn your playbook PDF into plays your team can run. Importing comes with a Team pass; owners and coaches can use it. It works for every game format, tackle and flag: the players drawn fill your format’s spots and get its usual defense, so check each play, especially if the PDF was drawn for a different number of players.

1. Choose your team, then Import from PDF.
2. Choose your PDF (up to 100 pages and 25 MB). The PDF stays on your device. Plays on paper? Scan them into a PDF with your phone first: on iPhone, Notes or Files → Scan Documents; on Android, Google Drive → Scan.
3. Pick the pages with plays. Pages that are mostly text (introductions, terminology, rules) start unticked, so you don’t use your allowance on them.
4. Convert. Each page takes about 30 seconds. You can cancel; plays already converted are kept.
5. Check each play. Open shows it on the field with your page above it, so you can compare and fix anything, then go back to the list. Plays with a warning, such as “ball carrier unclear”, start unticked. If a play has the same name as one already in your playbook, choose Keep both or Replace.
6. Save the plays you want. Nothing is saved until you do.

Tips: a full page for each play converts better than a page of small thumbnails. Defenses drawn on your pages aren’t imported yet, so each play gets your format’s standard defense; change it in the play. Each team can import up to 100 plays each pass year, all imports together (not per PDF); the import window shows how many are left. A single PDF can be up to 100 pages: if yours is larger, use Print → Save as PDF in your PDF viewer and keep just the pages with plays. Need more imports, or something didn’t convert well? Email support@teachplaybook.com.

5. Coaches: defense

• The strip just above the drawing tools names the play’s Formation, Front and Coverage; tap one to choose. Formation moves the offense into that alignment, and each player’s route and motion move with them (Undo puts it back); once you move players the strip says “modified”. The built-in formations are I formation, Power I, Offset I, Split backs, Spread doubles, Spread trips, Wing-T, Double Wing, and Beast tight and wide; the ones with a strong side have Right and Left buttons. Power I, Wing-T and Beast are offered for 9v9 tackle and bigger, where their wings and lead backs stay on the field. In Beast the deep back takes the snap, so he stands in the quarterback’s spot, labeled TB. Front lines up a full defense in one tap (4–3, 5–3, 4–4, 6–2, 3–4, the youngest divisions’ 6–4–1, or nickel), and Coverage picks what it does, grouped by what it’s for: stopping the run (Run first), man (Cover 0, Cover 1, man outside with two deep) or zone (Cover 2, Cover 3). Each front offers the coverages coaches really play from it; fronts with one safety don’t offer Cover 2. Hide defense / Show defense turns the defense off and on. Team owners and coaches can save their own from the bottom of each list: Save current formation… (where the offense lines up and each player’s label; routes stay with the play), Save current front… (a new front, say a 3–5, with its first coverage) and Save current coverage… (under the current front, say “Cover 3 Buzz” under the 4–3). Saved ones are listed with the built-ins for any play of the same game format; their ⋯ menu updates, renames or deletes them. In a program, a ★ means it aligns with the program: program owners mark and unmark stars, every coach sees them first in each list, and nothing is hidden. A play gets a copy, so changing or deleting a saved coverage later doesn’t change plays that already use it. Man defenders pick up the nearest receivers on each play, and what-ifs (Beat blocker, Miss tackle) aren’t saved. With a saved coverage on the field you can Rename or Delete it, and after changing it, Update it. Flag teams see flag defenses instead: Man, Cover 1, Cover 2 and (7v7 and up) Cover 3, each with one rusher (two in 8v8 and 9v9) set 7 yards back. In the tackle fronts (4–3, 5–3, 4–4, 6–2, 3–4 and the youngest divisions’ 6–4–1) the defensive linemen and inside linebackers come with Gap assignments: linemen attack their gap at the snap, inside linebackers read run or pass, then fill theirs. Turn on Show gaps to see them.
• Tap any defender to change their job. Assignment options:
  • Rush / blitz: comes after the ball on every play, run or pass. A drawn path is his rush lane; Then picks pursue from the end of his drawn route, outside contain, straight to the ball, or just the path. Use it for blitzes, even by a linebacker or defensive back.
  • Read run/pass: reads the play the whole time. On a run he plays his drawn run fit (gap, contain, read then pursue, or just his path); On a pass linebackers drop to the short middle and defensive backs cover the nearest receiver, or pick one.
  • Gap (A–D): owns one gap, a space between offensive linemen, lettered from the center out: A center to guard, B guard to tackle, C tackle to tight end (or just outside the tackle), D outside that. Pick the letter and the side, from the defense’s point of view (the corners of the field say whose left and right is where). At the snap he attacks his gap, or reads run or pass first, as most linebackers do. He holds his gap until the ball goes somewhere else, then pursues; a D-gap player keeps outside contain on a run. The gap follows the linemen wherever they line up. Select him to see the gap letters along the line and a dashed arrow to his gap.
  • Show gaps (next to the play’s name) puts the defense’s gap letters and the offense’s hole numbers along the line, so players can learn the play-call code. Select the ball carrier on a run to see the hole he runs through. Team owners choose how their team calls them in the team’s Terminology: gaps by left and right or by strong and weak (the tight end’s side is strong; a gap set to the strong side follows the tight end when the offense flips), and what each hole between the linemen is called: it starts with the standard 2, 4, 6, 8 to the right and 1, 3, 5, 7 to the left, and you can type your own number or name in any hole (or fill in the mirror with one tap).
  • Quick on the quarterback: Keeps it shows your hole numbers like a back’s Carry; pick one and he runs it himself through that hole (Beast’s deep back too).
  • Dim others while drawing (in Field options, on at first): while you use Draw path, Draw motion or Draw zone, the other players fade so you can see where yours is going; tap a faded player to draw for him instead. Everyone shows again when the play runs.
  • Back numbers (in Field options) shows each back’s play-call number in his circle instead of his label, so “36” reads as the 3 back through the 6 hole. The standard is 1 quarterback, 2 fullback, 3 tailback (or the only back), 4 right wing and 5 left wing; team owners can change them in the team’s Terminology, and program owners for the whole program. Selecting a back shows both, like “TB-3”. Plays aren’t changed.
  • Zone coverage: choose Draw zone, tap at least 3 points around the area, then Finish zone. A drawn path is his drop or disguise (show blitz, then drop). He covers whoever enters his zone and comes up to fill on a run.
  • Man coverage: pick the player he Covers. He stays with that player; a dashed line shows the pairing. Follow motion (on by default) makes him walk across when his man goes in motion; turn it off to show a defender who doesn’t. Man defenders don’t get a drawn path; on a run they come up and pursue.
  • Deep safety: stays deep, drifts with the play, breaks on the throw, and is the last line on a run.
  • Defensive shifts: select defenders and use Draw motion to move them before the snap — several can shift at once.
• Mix them freely, for example corners in man and safeties in zone.
• Motion shows the coverage: a defender in man coverage follows his man when he goes in motion; zone defenders stay where they are. See the two “Motion vs” examples.
• Ask “what if?”: select a defender and turn on Beats his block (he gets past his blocker; Wins his block at N seconds, under Advanced settings, lets him get blocked and then shed it) or Misses the tackle (the runner keeps going after contact). Clear path removes a player’s path and keeps everything else. Try one change, press Play, and compare.

6. Teams: your name, team details, codes and roles

• Everything about people and teams lives under ⚙ Account & teams (top of the app), away from the play buttons.
• Your name on a team: coaches and owners can set a short display name, like “Coach Mike”. Parents and players set Parent or Player plus jersey number(s), like “Parent · #23” — numbers only, never names, so no child’s name is stored. Coaches can set or fix a parent’s or player’s numbers for them.
• Creating a team: on the welcome screen choose Create a team (or ⚙ Account & teams → My teams → + Another team → Create a new team). If someone on your team already set it up, don’t make a new one: ask them for the team code. Creating a team makes you its owner. You can have up to 3 unpaid teams of your own at a time; paid teams and teams in a program don’t count. You can add team details: the country, the ZIP or postcode of your home field (where you play home games — not your home address), town, state or region, age group, game format and league. Only your team sees them, and owners can change them later under Team details.
• Game format: choose the game your league plays: 11v11 down to 6v6 tackle (including Rookie Tackle and the no-blitz youngest divisions), or 9v9 down to 5v5 flag. New plays, starter plays and the Defense play menu follow it. Flag: nobody blocks (tick Blocking allowed if your league allows blocking or screening), every player but the quarterback can catch a pass, only defenders marked to rush cross the line before the handoff or throw, and plays end with “Flag pulled!”. No-blitz formats: only the defensive linemen rush until the ball leaves the quarterback.
• With your team selected, open ⚙ Account & teams → Members & codes. Choose Player / parent or Coach (can edit plays), then Generate access code and share the code or link.
• Generating a new code replaces the old one. People already on the team keep their access.
• In the member list, switch anyone between Player / parent, Coach and Co-owner. Co-owners have the same control as you. Owners can’t remove or demote each other; each owner can only Step down to coach themselves, and a team always keeps at least one owner.
• Remove takes someone off the team and also resets both codes. Anyone can leave on their own (except the last owner) from ⚙ Account & teams → Leave this team…. You’ll be asked to type the team’s name, so nobody leaves by accident.
• Coaches can open Team members to see who’s on the team and set parents’ and players’ jersey numbers; codes, roles and removing people stay with owners.
• Player icons: plays show Standard icons: smaller and lined up tighter, closer to scale. If they’re hard to see, an owner can choose Large under Team details. Large icons line up farther apart, so a play can turn out a little differently. Your saved plays don’t change either way, and printed plays follow the setting.
• Moving up an age group with the same team? In Team details, choose New season…: it moves the age group up one (and changes “8U” to “9U” in the name), then Save team details. Your plays, members and Team pass stay with the team.
• Starting a new team from your plays? Owners can choose ⚙ Account & teams → Copy this playbook… and copy all of the team’s plays into another team they coach, or into a brand-new team. Private variations stay with the people who made them, and copying again skips plays already copied.
• Handing a team over? Make the new coach a co-owner, then Step down to coach or leave. The team’s plays and Team pass stay with the team.

Tip: post the viewer code in your team’s group chat, and send the coach code privately to your coaches.

7. Who can do what

Everyone who coaches or owns a team in a program is a program coach, and so is anyone who joins with a program’s coach invite code. One person can hold several roles, like owner of a program and owner of its 10U team. Titles such as “Head coach” or “President” are labels only: they don’t change what anyone can do. Owners can’t remove or demote each other; each owner can step down, and every team and program keeps at least one owner.

8. Programs

A program is a club, association or high school with the teams that feed it. Open ⚙ Account & teams → Program.

• Start one with Start a program…: your team is its first team, and you can add a team for each age group. Teams you create share the program’s free trial.
• Join one with Join a program…: programs near your team are suggested, or search by name, town or ZIP and ask to join; a program owner approves. A program’s team invite code works too. Only programs whose owners turned on search show up.
• Program playbook: program owners build plays and game plans in one place. Coaches open it from the Playbook menu and use Add to my team… to copy a play, or a whole game plan, into their team’s playbook, then adapt it. Those plays say “from program” in the list. When the program updates one, it says “(updated)”: open it to see the program’s version drawn faintly underneath and choose Update my copy, or keep yours. Program owners see how closely each team follows the program (its “aligned” percentage) in the Program tab.
• Program formations and defenses: program owners star the formations, fronts and coverages that align with the program, built-in or the program’s own (saved in the program playbook, where saving one stars it). Every program team sees the stars first in its Formation, Front and Coverage lists; only program owners change them.
• Terminology: program owners set default gap names, hole numbers, play-call side words and position labels (like X, Z, Sam and Mike, assigned by where players line up). Labels can differ by formation: choose I formation, Split backs, Wing or Spread (or a defensive front) above the boxes and tap a player in the picture to name that spot; each play uses its formation’s labels (the app recognizes the formation from the backfield, and a play’s Formation menu can override it). Teams use them unless a team owner chooses their own in the team’s Terminology.
• Pricing: for now each team has its own Team pass. For one price for the whole program, email programs@teachplaybook.com.

9. Team pass: free trial, paying and renewing

Free trial

Every new team starts with a free trial: 14 days for your first team, and 3 days for any more teams you create. No card is needed. Owners see a banner with the days left.

Getting a Team pass

• Only a team’s owners and co-owners can buy its pass. Click the Team pass status next to your team’s name (for example “Free trial · 12 days left”), or Get Team pass on the banner. It’s also under ⚙ Account & teams → Team pass.
• One Team pass covers everyone on the team, coaches, players and parents, for 12 months from the day you buy it.
• Choose Renew automatically each year (the pass renews on the same date every year, with an email before each renewal) or Pay for one year only. The checkout button repeats your choice and the price.
• Payment happens on a secure checkout page run by Stripe through its Link service. Your receipt comes from Link, and your card statement shows the charge from Link (LINK.COM*) with Teach Playbook’s name. Sales tax is added where it applies.
• Have a referral code from another team? Enter it in the Have a referral code from another coach? box and choose Apply before you buy (a shared link fills it in for you). It tells you straight away which discount you’ll get. See Refer a coach.

Founding price

Teams that get their first pass while the founding offer is open (until March 1, 2027) are founding teams: 35% off for as long as they keep renewing. The discount stays with the team, even with a new coach. Whoever pays for a founding team becomes a founding coach and gets 35% off other teams they pay for, on up to 3 teams at a time (counting the founding team). Running more teams than that? Ask us about a program pass at programs@teachplaybook.com.

Managing and renewing

• Manage billing in the Team pass window lets you turn automatic renewal off and update your card. You can also manage it from your Link account. Paid for one year only? You’ll see Receipts there instead.
• Turning renewal off doesn’t end your pass early: it keeps working until the end of the time you’ve paid for.
• Paying one year at a time? Choose Turn on auto-renew in the Team pass window any time: there’s no charge that day, and the first renewal is the day your current pass ends. Or renew by hand in the last 30 days of your pass; the new year starts when the current one ends.
• If the person paying for automatic renewal steps down or leaves the team, automatic renewal turns off and the pass runs to its end. Another owner can then renew it.
• Not happy? Email support@teachplaybook.com within 14 days of any charge, including a renewal, for a full refund.

When a trial or pass ends

When a free trial ends, the team’s playbook becomes read-only. When a paid pass ends, you get 7 more days to renew first (for example, if a card expired). Read-only means everyone can still open and run the team’s plays and read every position’s job, but nobody can save or add team plays, make access codes or add members until an owner gets a pass. Nothing is deleted, and personal plays aren’t affected.

10. Refer a coach

• Every team has a referral code, like BLITZ-4827, and anyone on the team can share it, coaches, players and parents. Choose Refer a coach next to the Playbook menu, then Copy link or Copy code.
• When another coach’s new team pays with your code, their team gets 20% off its first year (or the founding price, if that’s better).
• Your team gets 20% off its next renewal for each new team, once that team is past its 14-day refund window. Five teams = a free year. The Refer a coach box shows how many have joined, and the Team pass box shows your credit.
• Credit comes off the team’s next renewal (or its next pass, if it pays one year at a time), and doesn’t carry over to later years.
• A code works for a new team paid for by someone who isn’t an owner of the team that shared it.

11. Need help?

Email support@teachplaybook.com and tell us what you were trying to do and what you saw.