Starting your First League

Hi and welcome to XSYTE!   This article will be all about getting your feet wet and then diving right in to create your first league with XSYTE!  Once you have a league set up, it will be really easy to keep it up to date, amend the game schedule, track results, keep player stats, and communicate to the league, teams or players in a game.  XSYTE will automatically keep your ladders up-to-date, generate and display team stats and insights and display player stat leaders!

So let's get started!

First since we are just starting let's do a little housekeeping.

Let's make sure your Organisation Details are up to date.

1. Go to your admin area, by logging into your XSYTE and clicking the Admin link.

2. Go to Settings > Organization.  Here you can set your contact details, upload a logo and set your colors.

Next let's set up your Locations so people know where the games are!  

1. First we will set up a venue by going to Settings > Venues.  You only need the name of the venue, but if you have an Address, XSYTE will automatically generate a map for your players and fans.

2. Then we will define a Game Location.  Each game location is assigned to a venue.  So if you have multiple fields you can define those at Settings > Game Locations.  Choose your Venue and add a name for the Game Location.  It can be Field 1, or if there is only one place to play, you can name it the same as your Venue.

Now let's start Building the league in 5 easy steps!
1. Create a Division
2. Start a Season for that Division
3. Set up your Teams
4. Add Players to your Teams
5. Add Games to Your Schedule

1. Create a Division

The first thing we will do is set up a Division. To do this we will need the name of the Division and a Division Logo.  Division logos make it easy to identify games and links related to that division.  If you don't have a division logo, you can select one from the XSYTE Media Library.

1. In the admin area, go to League > Divisions
2. Select Add Division
3. Fill out the division form
   1. Select a logo for the division and type a name.
   2. Select "In-House Leagues" for Division Group, or create your own Division Group for this League.  (Read more about Divisions and Division Groups here) 
   3. Select a Division Type that best resembles your league.
   4. Set a Rank Number. Rank will be the order your division shows in.  If you have Division 1 and Division 2, you would rank them 1 and 2 so they show in the correct order. 
   5. You can set values for the rest of the settings if needed.
4. Click the Submit Division button. Congratulations! You've set up a Division!

2. Start a Season for your Division

So now that we have a Division, we will create our first season for it.  Most leagues run once or twice a year.  You will create a new season each time your league starts anew.  So let's create a new Season called Winter 2017.  

Watch out for this pitfall: Avoid duplicating the Division name in the Season name.  Your Division Name and your Season Name will combine to form the name of your league for this season.  So if you named your Division:  "Adult Division 1" and Your season: "Winter 2017", you will see your league shown as "Adult Division 1 - Winter 2017".  

If you duplicate the division name in your season name like naming your season "Adult Div1 Winter 2017", you will see things like "Adult Division 1 - Adult Div1 Winter 2017"