Coach Keyword Cheatsheet

How it works: Coach keywords are short commands, such as ALL or COACHES, that you text to your RallyText number from your personal phone. The keyword at the start of the text tells RallyText what to do with it. Keywords are not case-sensitive — all and ALL both work. Items in italics are placeholders — replace them with real text before sending.

📣 Broadcasts — You send these

ALL message	Send to your entire roster (Athletes, Coaches, families).
COACHES message	Send to Coaches only.
LEADS message	Leadership-only channel — Head Coach, Assistant Coach, and Team Director. Regular coaches don't see it.
FAMILY Lastname message	Send to one specific family — include their last name after FAMILY.
ATHLETE Firstname message	Send directly to one athlete — their parents are automatically CC'd. If two athletes share a first name, add a last initial: `ATHLETE Anna J message`.
ONE COACH Firstname message	Send a private message to one coach by first name.

Examples: ALL No practice Friday — see you Monday 5pm! · FAMILY Smith Great job today, Jordan! · COACHES Setup at 3:30 — bring cones

🚨 Urgent Escalations

COACH Firstname URGENT message	Head Coach / Assistant Coach / Team Director only. Immediately texts the other leadership members and the named coach's emergency contact, if one is on file. You get a confirmation with the count sent and a reminder that `CANCEL COACH URGENT Firstname` sends an all-clear.
CANCEL COACH URGENT Firstname	Send an all-clear — only the original sender can cancel.
FAMILY Lastname URGENT message	Head Coach / Assistant Coach / Team Director only. Goes straight to the athlete and their linked guardians as "🚨 URGENT — message". If nobody in the family replies within 10 minutes, their emergency contacts are texted too. `CANCEL URGENT Lastname` stops the escalation.
CANCEL URGENT Lastname reassurance	Send an all-clear to the family — only the original sender can cancel.

Examples: COACH Taylor URGENT Needs help at the trailhead now · FAMILY Smith URGENT Bobby fell — calling 911 · CANCEL URGENT Smith She's fine, walked it off

📋 Practice Summaries

PRACTICE SUMMARY	Head Coach / Assistant Coach / Team Director: prompts every coach on the team to text in their SUMMARY for today's practice.
SUMMARY notes	Log session notes in one message (skip the prompt).
REPORT	Get the latest practice summary sent to your phone.

Example: SUMMARY Good energy today. Worked on drills. 14 attended.

🗓 Absence Tracking — Members send these

ABSENT	Athlete or family texts this to report they won't be at today's practice.
ABSENT Firstname reason	A guardian linked to more than one athlete adds the first name. An optional reason is saved with it, for example `ABSENT Jimmy stomach bug`. Absences are always recorded for today.
PRESENT date	Confirm attendance for the next practice, or a specific date, for example `PRESENT 05/15`.

Also accepted: out, won't be there, not coming, can't make it, missing practice

🔔 Absence Alerts — Coaches

ABSENCE ALERTS ON	Get a text every time someone reports absent. Off by default for every role — any coaching role can turn it on with this keyword, or under notification settings in the dashboard.
ABSENCE ALERTS OFF	Turn those texts back off.

🔕 Opt-Out (Anyone)

STOP	Unsubscribe from all messages — legally required.
START	Re-subscribe after opting out.
HELP	Get help info sent back automatically.

STOP / STOPALL / CANCEL / END / QUIT / UNSUBSCRIBE / REVOKE / OPTOUT all opt out; HELP or INFO gets help. STOP only affects the team whose number you texted. It applies to coaches too — a coach who texts STOP stops getting COACHES, LEADS, and absence alerts until they text START.

🧰 Optional tools — once your team turns them on

#7 message	Public report line: reply to report #7 from the team number (report leads and leadership).
#7 ASSIGN name / #7 DONE	Hand a report to a group member / close it.
UPDATE	Summary of open reports (also REPORTS).
STATUS	Trail status: anyone gets a summary of every trail system.
STATUS system CLOSED note	Set a trail's status (OPEN, CLOSED, CAUTION, MUDDY, GROOMED) and text its subscribers.
GROOMED system classic	Post a grooming report.
HOURS 3 note	Volunteer hours: log hours. HOURS alone gives your season total, and HOURS UNDO removes today's last entry.
EVENT race message	Events: text one race's followers, or leave out the race to text everyone following the event.

Report lines and report keywords are set up in Settings → Audience and in each group. Trail status and volunteer hours are in Settings → Team, and events are under Events. Texted commands need a two-way plan.

💡 Quick Tips

Not case-sensitive	`all`, `ALL`, and `All` are the same.
Keyword must be first	Start your message with the keyword — nothing before it.
No app needed	Members and families reply from any phone — plain SMS.
Two-way replies	When a member replies, it lands in the dashboard Inbox and is forwarded to your Head Coach, Assistant Coach, and Team Director's phones.
Absence auto-logged	Dashboard updates live when a member sends an absence message.
Reply to one person	Leadership can answer a forwarded member text with `Firstname: your reply` — it goes only to that person.
Group thread controls	Members text `KEYWORD PAUSE` to mute a group for 24h. `KEYWORD SUMMARY` switches to one nightly digest instead, and `KEYWORD RESUME` goes back to normal. Staff reply privately to one member with `DM Firstname: message`.
Update your own info	Anyone on the roster can text `EC: Full Name, Phone` to set their emergency contact. Texting `EMAIL: you@example.com` adds an email.
Pending approval	Someone who joined by texting your team code or a join keyword can't send keywords or receive messages until a staff member approves them. Until then, they get a "signup pending staff approval" reply.
Keep it under 10 texts	Carriers reject a single message over 10 SMS segments (about 1,500 plain characters, far less with emoji). Group-thread messages that are too long bounce back to the sender with a "not delivered" notice.