Substitutes and player swaps in Rotating Partner Round Robin
There are two different ways to put a different person on the court in Rotating Partner Round Robin, and they solve different problems.
Tool | Where | Use it when |
|---|---|---|
Pencil icon on a match card | Matches tab | One specific match has the wrong player, right now |
Registered substitute | Players tab | A player has arranged a stand-in for particular weeks or rounds |
Neither one requires regenerating the schedule.
Swap a player in one match with the pencil
The pencil on a match card replaces a single player in that single match. Nothing else in the schedule moves.
Go to the Matches tab and find the match.
Tap the pencil icon on the side of the match you need to change.
Pick which player is coming out — the dialog lists both by name and shows whether they are Player 1 or Player 2.
Choose the replacement.
Confirm.
Players who are on a bye that round appear as available replacements, which is usually who you want — they are in the division and not otherwise playing. The dialog also shows each candidate's group so you can keep the swap sensible.
You can also swap two players who are both already scheduled that round. They trade places rather than one simply replacing the other.
The pencil is admin-only, and it affects one match in one round. If the same change should apply to every remaining round, edit groups and regenerate instead — see Edit player groups and regenerate in Rotating Partner Round Robin.
Empty sides show the pencil as Assign players, which is the same dialog used to fill a manually added game.
Register a substitute for chosen dates or rounds
Use this when a player knows in advance they cannot make certain weeks and is sending someone in their place. This is a league feature.
Go to the Players tab.
Find the player and tap the swap icon on their row. It shows orange when no substitute is registered and green once one is.
Enter the Substitute Name. If your event has used substitutes before, matching names are suggested as you type so you do not create duplicates.
Choose the coverage:
Leagues: Select Dates for Substitute — tick the play dates the substitute is allowed to cover
Non-league events: Select Rounds for Substitute — tick the specific rounds
Save. Whether substitute rounds count in the standings is a division setting, covered below.
The substitute is now registered but not yet used. The player row shows the substitute's name on the icon tooltip.
To run a different substitute in different weeks for the same player, see Assign different substitutes for different weeks or rounds.
How the coverage rules work
The substitute can only be used in the dates or rounds you selected. Outside those, they are not eligible.
Any point deduction applies only when the substitute actually plays, not when they are merely registered. Registering a substitute in advance costs the player nothing.
To change coverage later, tap the same icon and update the selection — the dialog opens in update mode with the current substitute filled in.
Decide whether substitute games count
This is set once for the whole division, not per substitute. Open Event Settings, tap Substitute Standings, and pick the division. The setting applies to every substitute in that division.
Count substitute results
This is on by default, so a substitute's rounds add to the standings of the player they filled in for. Turn it off to leave those rounds out.
What makes this matter for rotating partners is how narrowly it applies:
Only the player who registered the substitute is skipped. Their partner for that round, and both opponents, still receive full credit for the win, the loss, and the points. Nobody else is penalised for being scheduled alongside a substitute.
That is specific to rotating partner formats. In set-partner leagues the entire team that used a sub gets zero for those rounds, which makes sense there because the partnership is fixed. Here partners change every round, so the app narrows the exclusion to the one player.
It is also round-specific. If the substitute only covers rounds 2 and 3, only those rounds are left out. The player's own rounds count normally.
Penalize wins
You will see this switch in the same dialog, but it stays greyed out for rotating partner divisions. It voids a game win from a fixed pair, so it only applies to same-partner divisions scored by individual games.
This setting changes what flows into the standings. It does not change the match score itself, and it does not affect who plays.
Which one should you use?
Someone did not show up and their match starts in five minutes → pencil.
A player told you three weeks ago they are out for two dates and their friend is covering → registered substitute.
A player is gone for the rest of the event → neither; exclude them and regenerate.