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What availability actually means

In CoachIQ, availability is the foundation of your entire scheduling system. It answers one simple question: “When CAN you coach?” Not “when are you booked,” not “what sessions you’re offering”—just the raw time windows when you’re potentially available to work with athletes.
Think of it like this: Availability is your work schedule. Schedulers are the services you offer during those work hours. Sessions are the actual bookings.

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The availability template concept

Here’s what makes CoachIQ’s availability system powerful: availability templates are reusable. You don’t set availability separately for every session type. Instead, you create availability templates once, then pull from them across multiple schedulers.

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Real-world example

Jake’s Schedule:
  • Available Monday/Wednesday/Friday 3:00 PM - 8:00 PM
  • This is ONE availability template: “Weekday Afternoons”
Jake’s Session Types:
  • 30-Minute Quick Sessions → Uses “Weekday Afternoons” availability
  • 60-Minute Full Training → Uses “Weekday Afternoons” availability
  • Free Assessment Sessions → Uses “Weekday Afternoons” availability
The magic: Jake manages his schedule in ONE place (the availability template), but it powers THREE different session types. If Jake wants to add Thursdays, he updates one template and all three schedulers automatically get Thursday availability.
Key insight: One availability template can power unlimited schedulers. This saves enormous time and prevents scheduling conflicts.

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How availability differs from schedulers

This is the most common confusion for new users, so let’s make it crystal clear:
Purpose: Defines WHEN you can workControls:
  • Days of the week
  • Hours per day
  • Specific dates
  • Blackout days (time off)
What it DOESN’T control:
  • Pricing
  • Session duration
  • Capacity
  • Who can book
  • What you’re teaching
Example: “I’m available Monday-Friday 2-8 PM”Visibility: Coaches only (athletes never see raw availability)

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Why availability templates are reusable

The reusability of availability templates is what makes CoachIQ scheduling scalable. Here’s why this matters:

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Scenario 1: Multiple Session Types, Same Schedule

Your situation: You offer 30-min, 45-min, and 60-min sessions, all during the same work hours. Without templates (how other systems work):
  • Set availability for 30-min sessions
  • Set availability again for 45-min sessions
  • Set availability again for 60-min sessions
  • When you want to add Thursday, update all three separately
  • High risk of conflicts and errors
With templates (how CoachIQ works):
  • Create one “Regular Hours” template (M/W/F 3-8 PM)
  • Point all three schedulers to this template
  • Add Thursday once, all three schedulers get it automatically
  • Zero conflicts, one source of truth
Time savings: Most coaches save 2-3 hours per month by not duplicating availability across schedulers.

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Scenario 2: Different Coaching Contexts

Your situation: You coach at two locations with different available days. Solution: Create multiple availability templates:
  • “Downtown Gym” template → Tuesday/Thursday 5-9 PM
  • “Community Center” template → Monday/Wednesday/Saturday 10 AM - 2 PM
Then create location-specific schedulers:
  • “Downtown Private Training” → Uses “Downtown Gym” availability
  • “Community Center Group Classes” → Uses “Community Center” availability
Result: Clear separation of locations, no overlap conflicts, easy to manage.

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Scenario 3: Different Availability by Session Type

Your situation: You only offer group classes on weekends, but private training during weekdays. Solution: Create specialized availability templates:
  • “Weekday Hours” → Monday-Friday 3-8 PM
  • “Weekend Group Sessions” → Saturday/Sunday 9 AM - 1 PM
Then match schedulers appropriately:
  • “Private 1-on-1 Training” → Uses “Weekday Hours”
  • “Saturday Group Bootcamp” → Uses “Weekend Group Sessions”
Result: Different session types can have completely different availability without managing complex rules.

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Types of availability you can create

CoachIQ supports two main approaches to setting availability:

Weekly Recurring

What it is: Same pattern every weekExample: “Every Monday/Wednesday/Friday from 3-8 PM”Best for:
  • Regular coaching schedules
  • Consistent work hours
  • Ongoing availability
  • Most common use case
Pros:
  • Set once, applies forever
  • Predictable for athletes
  • Easy to manage
  • Matches most work schedules
Cons:
  • Less flexibility
  • Need to add blackout days for exceptions

Specific Dates

What it is: Individual dates you manually selectExample: “Only July 15, 17, 22, and 29”Best for:
  • Irregular schedules
  • Seasonal coaching
  • Special clinics or camps
  • Testing new time slots
Pros:
  • Complete control over exact dates
  • No unexpected availability
  • Good for limited engagements
Cons:
  • Must add each date manually
  • Time-consuming for regular schedules
  • Need to continuously add future dates
Most coaches use weekly recurring for 80-90% of their availability, then block out specific dates with blackout days when needed (vacations, holidays, etc.).

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Availability and blackout days

Blackout days are how you handle exceptions to your regular availability.

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How blackout days work

Your regular availability: Monday/Wednesday/Friday 3-8 PM (every week) You’re taking vacation: July 10-20 Solution: Add blackout days for July 10-20 Result: Your regular M/W/F availability continues before and after vacation, but July 10-20 is blocked out with no available slots.
Pro tip: Add blackout days for known holidays, vacations, and time off when you first set up availability. This prevents athletes from booking sessions you can’t honor.

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Common blackout day uses

  • Vacations: Multi-day or multi-week blocks
  • Holidays: Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s, etc.
  • Personal days: Doctor appointments, family commitments
  • Facility closures: Gym closed for maintenance
  • Emergency blocks: Unexpected schedule conflicts
Important: Blackout days don’t automatically cancel existing bookings. They only prevent NEW bookings from being made during those dates. If you already have bookings during blackout dates, you’ll need to cancel them manually.

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Multiple availability templates: When and why

Most coaches start with one availability template and add more as their business grows. Here’s when to create multiple:
When: You coach at multiple facilities with different schedulesExample:
  • “Main Gym” availability: M/W/F 4-9 PM
  • “Community Center” availability: T/Th 5-8 PM, Sat 9 AM - 1 PM
  • “Virtual Sessions” availability: Any day, 7-9 AM (before facility hours)
Why it works: Location-specific schedulers pull from location-specific availability, preventing booking conflicts.
When: You have distinct coaching contexts (team vs private, youth vs adult)Example:
  • “Private Training” availability: M-F 3-6 PM
  • “Team Practice” availability: M/W 6-7:30 PM only
  • “Adult Sessions” availability: T/Th evenings after 8 PM
Why it works: Different roles often have different time constraints and commitments.
When: Certain services are only available during specific windowsExample:
  • “Regular Sessions” availability: M-F 3-8 PM
  • “Early Morning” availability: Any day 6-8 AM (premium pricing)
  • “Weekend Intensives” availability: Sat/Sun 9 AM - 5 PM (3-hour blocks)
Why it works: Premium or specialized sessions may warrant separate availability to maintain exclusivity or manage capacity.
When: Experimenting with availability before committingExample:
  • “Established Hours” availability: M/W/F 3-8 PM (your regular schedule)
  • “Trial Saturday Hours” availability: Sat 9 AM - 12 PM (testing demand)
Why it works: You can test new availability without disrupting your core schedule, and easily remove if it doesn’t work out.
Most common pattern: 70% of coaches use 1-2 availability templates. 25% use 3-4. Only 5% need more than 4 templates. Start with one and add more only when you have a clear reason.

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The scheduler-to-availability relationship

Understanding how schedulers pull from availability is key to mastering the system.

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One Scheduler → One or More Availability Templates

A single scheduler can pull from multiple availability templates. This is powerful for complex setups. Example: Traveling Coach You offer private training at three locations:
  • Downtown Gym (M/W)
  • West Side Facility (T/Th)
  • North Location (F)
Setup:
  • Create 3 availability templates (one per location)
  • Create 1 scheduler: “Private 1-on-1 Training”
  • Connect scheduler to all 3 availability templates
Result: Athletes booking “Private 1-on-1 Training” see available times across all three locations (M/W/T/Th/F), and you specify the location for each booking.

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Many Schedulers → One Availability Template

Multiple schedulers can all pull from the same availability template. This is the most common pattern. Example: Different Durations You offer sessions in multiple lengths during the same work hours:
  • 30-Min Quick Session
  • 45-Min Standard Session
  • 60-Min Deep Dive Session
Setup:
  • Create 1 availability template: “Regular Hours” (M/W/F 3-8 PM)
  • Create 3 schedulers (one for each duration)
  • All 3 schedulers pull from “Regular Hours” template
Result: Athletes can choose session length, all pulling from your same work schedule.
Pro tip: This setup means you only manage availability in ONE place. Adding Thursday to “Regular Hours” automatically gives all three session types Thursday availability.

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What athletes see vs what you manage

It’s important to understand the disconnect between what you configure and what athletes experience:
In Availability:
  • Monday/Wednesday/Friday
  • 3:00 PM - 8:00 PM
  • Blackout: Dec 23-31
In Scheduler:
  • “60-Minute Private Training”
  • $75 per session
  • Buffer time: 15 minutes
  • Max capacity: 1 athlete
Key understanding: CoachIQ automatically converts your availability windows into bookable time slots based on session duration and buffer time. You don’t manually create each slot.

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Availability best practices

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Start Simple, Add Complexity Later

Phase 1 (Week 1): One availability template, regular weekly hours
  • Example: “M/W/F 3-8 PM”
Phase 2 (Month 1-2): Add blackout days for known time off
  • Add vacation days, holidays, planned absences
Phase 3 (Month 3-6): Create second template if needed
  • Only add when you have genuinely different availability needs
Phase 4 (Month 6+): Optimize based on booking patterns
  • Adjust hours based on popular times
  • Add time slots if demand exceeds capacity
Resist complexity: Many coaches create 5-6 availability templates when they only need 1-2. Start minimal and add only when you have a clear problem to solve.

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Use Descriptive Template Names

Good template names:
  • “Weekday Afternoons”
  • “Weekend Morning Classes”
  • “Downtown Gym Schedule”
  • “Virtual-Only Hours”
Poor template names:
  • “Availability 1”
  • “Schedule A”
  • “Template 2”
Why it matters: When creating or editing schedulers, you’ll need to select which availability template to use. Clear names make this easy.

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Think in Terms of Your Week

Base availability on your actual work schedule, not on when you THINK athletes want to book. Example mistake: “I’ll be available every day 6 AM - 10 PM because athletes might want early morning or late evening sessions.” Problem: You end up with availability you can’t honor, leading to cancellations and frustration. Better approach: Start with times you’re genuinely available and willing to coach. Expand only based on actual demand.

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Buffer Time Is Part of Your Availability

When setting availability hours, remember that buffer time consumes some of that window. Example:
  • Availability: 3:00 PM - 5:00 PM (2 hours)
  • Session duration: 60 minutes
  • Buffer time: 15 minutes
Available slots: Only ONE slot at 3:00 PM
  • 3:00-4:00 PM (session) + 15 min buffer ends at 4:15 PM
  • Next slot would start at 4:15 PM but session ends at 5:15 PM (outside your availability)
Solution: Either extend availability to 6:00 PM or reduce buffer time.

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Availability + Copilot AI

CoachIQ’s Copilot can help generate availability patterns for you. How it works:
  1. Tell Copilot your coaching schedule in plain language
  2. Copilot generates an availability template
  3. Review and adjust if needed
  4. Save and use across schedulers
Example prompts:
  • “I coach Monday through Friday afternoons, 2-8 PM”
  • “I’m available weekdays 3-7 PM but want to block out Thanksgiving week”
  • “Set up Saturday morning availability from 9 AM to 1 PM”
Pro tip: Copilot is especially helpful when setting up complex availability patterns or when you’re first learning the system.

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Quick decision guide

  • ✅ I have consistent work hours across all session types
  • ✅ I’m just getting started with CoachIQ scheduling
  • ✅ I coach at one location with regular hours
  • ✅ All my sessions are available during the same time windows
Example: Solo personal trainer with M/W/F 3-8 PM availability for all services

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What’s next

Now that you understand how availability works conceptually, you’re ready to create your actual availability templates.

Create Your Availability

Step-by-step guide to setting up availability templates with weekly patterns or specific dates

Understanding Schedulers

Learn how schedulers pull from availability to create bookable sessions

Managing Blackout Days

Block out vacations, holidays, and time off from your availability

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Common questions

Yes! Availability templates can be edited anytime. Changes affect future bookable slots but don’t automatically cancel existing bookings.Example: If you add Thursday to your availability, future weeks will have Thursday slots available, but existing bookings remain unchanged.
Careful: Schedulers using that template will lose their availability and stop generating bookable slots.Better approach: Edit the template rather than deleting, or reassign schedulers to a different template first.
Yes! This is useful for coaches who work multiple locations or have complex schedules.Example: “Private Training” scheduler pulls from “Downtown Gym” AND “West Side Facility” availability templates.
Recommendation:
  • Use weekly recurring patterns (automatically extends forward)
  • Check and extend 1-2 months ahead as needed (configured in scheduler settings)
  • Add blackout days for known time off
Avoid: Setting specific date ranges that end soon, forcing you to constantly extend availability.
No: Existing bookings remain on your calendar even if you change availability.What changes: Future available slots will reflect your new availability settings.To cancel existing bookings: You must do this manually from your calendar—availability changes don’t auto-cancel.
No: Athletes only see the final bookable time slots generated by your scheduler.What they see: “Available: Monday 3:00 PM, Monday 4:15 PM, Wednesday 3:00 PM…”What they don’t see: Your underlying availability template or settings.

Scheduling Overview

Complete overview of the three-layer scheduling system

Multi-Coach Availability

Managing availability for multiple coaches
Need help planning your availability? Our support team can help you design the optimal availability structure for your coaching business. Contact Support