OK, I'll begin by saying that God gave everyone the right to be stupid sometimes, especially me. Here's the stupid question for the week. I've always used a 3x5 index card to keep the line up. A couple of years ago Get Official sent me the wrong basketball jersey so they sent me two line up wheels as a free gift. I gave one to the Jr. High Coach and put one in my bag. I took it out tonight after a V game and was looking at it. I like it BUT, so far I haven't figured out how to use it! Could someone smarter than me explain it, please?

The Wheel
 

Dude, I sometimes get insomnia and I looked at the wheel last night for 2 hours. This thread will help me also.

If anyone ever responds it will!

Since I have never used one and don't know what yours looks like, I cannot tell you how it works.

The red player is the RB. When they rotate, rotate the wheel so the new player is RB, and go from there.

I don't have a red player. I have three black (BR) and three white (FR)on the base of each side. On the small wheel that moves there is small circle with numbers 1-6 for the starters numbers. Then there is a larger circle with room for substitutions. I assume that each time there is a change in server I rotate it so that the server is the RB spot. As for subs, record them in the larger circle. If that's not how you use this thing, I can't figure it out. Assuming that I am right, I can see how this thing would make spotting overlapping easier, but I am wondering if it won't be more work keeping up with this than using the the index card. I can see that I need to take a pair of fingernail clippers and put small notches to make it easier to move the wheel. What say you seasoned veterans? Do you like the cards better or the wheel? I have a six game Frosh tourney tomorrow and want to make it as easy as possible.

Rev,

When I used cards, I used color coded paper clips so I knew which team was which, and rotated the clip over RB. I tried using the wheel when I used to coach, but it confused the crap out of me, so I stopped.

I'd say use the card.

Well....here goes! The Line Up wheel card I have used have 2-identical wheels which are divided into 6 pie-shaped areas. Above the horizontal centerline, in the circle, are 3 pies. These are my "back row" players. The first pie is colored red (server), the next 2 pies are white. Below the centerline are 3 pies representing "front row" players. These pies are colored in green. Once the line ups are submitted by the coaches, I write in the team's lineup in serving order (1-6) on the rotating top wheel starting with the server in the red "pie", then down into the green "pies" for 2,3 & 4....then up to the white "pies" with 5 & 6. You can indicate the setter's and captain's number too, if you wish.

Place the number of the player serving in the red area of the locator circle by rotating the top wheel.

Front court players will be in the green half of the locator circle. A circled number in the green identifies a front-row setter and their two hitters. If the setter is in the back court, all players in the green may receive front court sets.

Substitutions are recorded by writing both player's numbers in the same rotation position.

Now....this tool, in concept, has worked ok for me in lower level play...where you don't usually have several multiple substitutions. However, no matter what level, if you use a dry marker on this tool, you run the risk of accidentally rubbing of the numbers....getting your white polo shirt speckled with black dust or wet ink from the marker. All bad things! Moving the top wheel almost always is difficult and is the point where you are most likely to "erase" your data. A grease pen works best if you like using this tool.

I still prefer the index cards using two different colored paper clips to track both team servers.

The wheels I have are from Get Official and are a little different than those described. It took a little getting used to at first and it takes a little longer to fill our before games and to record the subs, but it sure did make the line up check much easier. It didn;t make me catch any overlapping because I seem to have temporary blindess for it again. But I think I'm going to stick with the wheel for a while. And with these you can use a regular pencil and eraser.

My no cents
 

If you don't mind the opinion of a relative (2nd year) newbie, here's my experience. I used the line up wheel from Get Official last year. Everyone I worked with throughout the volleyball season used index cards. A few of my partners asked to see my wheel and always gave a smirk as they returned it to me. Last year I thought the wheel made it easier for me to check overlaps. The only problem I experienced was that my wheel spun TOO easily, making me unsure of alignments on occasion. Also, the constant erasing does make the wheels unusable after just a dozen or so matches.

I switched to index cards this year and I am now a convert. I find it much easier to track servers and overlaps using this method. Probably most of that is due to a year of experience, but I don't see myself switching back anytime soon, even for lower level matches (which is the majority of what I work as I gain experience). It's more work keeping the card, but I'm getting better at recording information in a timely manner. Last week I was working a 6th grade match (those are brutal) and my partner was using the Get Official wheel!

Well as with everything to each there own! I love the wheel! I had an issue following and tracking back row players and the wheel REALLY makes it nice for me, again everyone is different, I am a visual person if your number is in the black you are back row! (my wheel is from get official too).

It works like you described, starters in the center of the "pie" (there is plenty of room to add a C for captain and an S for the setter if you want to track that) subs listed in the bigger section. I will square off the person that gets subbed out to make it easier to track who is in the game. example, in the 3rd spot in the rotation #4 starts so she is in the small section, #5 subs in so she is in the larger section near the line to the small section. Once #4 returns write 5 next to 4 in the large section then I make a box from the divider of the piece to the small section (two pencil lines) so #5 is inside the box and 4 is outside the box. Hope that makes sense. I have not had an issue with running out of room even in a LONG game, it took me all the way to the outside edge but I still had a couple more areas to write on.

Ya, it does take a mental thought to rotate the card, but to me it is easier than crossing the X and making the new line that most do on the former/next server. Also an easy way to check yourself for "overrotation" is to use the numbers on the card (1-6) if team A has first serve then they will always be 1 number above or even with team B depending on who is serving. ex #4 from team A is serving she is 5th in the lineup so I know that team B should have their wheel with position 4 in the RB spot. When team B serves their wheel position will be equal to team A's (both having the 5th position in the RB spot)

I use a mechanical pencil during the game, very few times to erase if I don't screw up!! One more tip is to get two wheels so you don't have to erase inbetween games! Card 1 has Team A on the right, Card 2 has team A on the left! now a lot of teams keep the same rotation so all you have to do is erase the subs on the large piece of the pie and you are ready to go with the next game!! I use a large indexing eraser (drafting style) for that and try hard to make sure to leave the crums on the table or floor NOT my shirt (which I agree can be an issue, but I had ink issues using index cards too). Eventually the cards get hard to erase so it is time for a cleaning, window cleaner or soap and water will make them return to their "new" state and they will stand up to a few weeks of use before needing another good cleaning.

Like I said before some veterns will turn up their nose at these wheels as they "see" the rotations and have more faith in the index card method. Personally I am able to identify and track rotation much better with the wheel, either is effective it is all what you get used to! Don't give in to peer pressure use the wheel love the wheel, the wheel is your friend!! :)