Getting started with Knuckleball
Knuckleball charts pitches. In a bullpen it records where you meant to throw and where it went. In a game it records where it went and what happened. Every saved session becomes a report you can open on any phone.
Coach
1. Make your team. Go to knuckleballonline.com, tap Sign in, choose your sport, tap Coach, then New coach? Create an account. Enter your name, email, password and your Team / program name. Then open Profile and set the team's Level of play (Little League, High school, College; softball: Little League, High school & up) — it decides when the extra-inning rule starts.
2. Invite your pitchers. In Profile, under Invite links, tap Copy next to the Pitcher invite link and send it any way you like: text, GroupMe, a QR code on the iPad. A pitcher who opens it signs up and lands on your roster. Coaches on your staff use the Coach invite link the same way. Assistants chart and view; the head coach manages the team (invite links, level, the roster, deleting sessions).
3. Chart a bullpen. Tap a pitcher on the roster, then Charting, then Bullpen. Answer the two questions (radar gun, Relative Accuracy) and tap Start bullpen. Pick the pitch type, tap the target, then tap where it landed. Set Charting perspective (behind the catcher or behind the pitcher) before the first pitch. If you use a radar gun, the velocity strip opens after each pitch.
4. Chart a game. Tap the pitcher, then Charting, then Live Game, then Start game. Pick the pitch type, tap where the pitch landed, then what happened: K (swinging), the backwards K (looking), B, F or IP. On IP the chart turns into the field and asks the play, the contact, where it went, who fielded it and where the runners are. Outs, counts and innings keep themselves. Back undoes the last tap; More holds the rare plays.
5. Save and send. Tap End session & save. The session opens in History: View report opens it, Send report emails the link to the pitcher's report contacts and his own account email.
6. Add a note. On a saved session in History, write a note and tap Save note (online, once it has synced). The pitcher sees it, and so does anyone with the report link.
Pitcher
1. Join or go solo. If your coach sent a link, open it and tap Create account & join — you'll be on the roster. No team? Go to knuckleballonline.com, tap Sign in, choose your sport, tap Pitcher, then New pitcher? Create an account, and start charting on your own. You can join a team later with a coach's link and keep everything.
2. Set up your profile. In Profile: your Pitch mix, which hand you Throw with, and under Contacts the people your reports go to (a coach email and one more; your own email always gets them). For Relative Accuracy, open Relative accuracy and tap Mark cells to mark up to four extra cells per pitch, for each batter side.
3. Chart a bullpen. Charting, then Bullpen. If you're on a team, the app first asks Which team is this for? — pick the team, or Independent (yours alone: your coaches can read it, only you can send its report or delete it). Then pick a pitch, tap the target, tap where it landed.
4. Chart a game. Same as a coach (step 4 above).
5. Your reports. After End session & save, View report opens it; Send report emails the link to your contacts and to you. A report is frozen when it's made: a report someone already has never changes.
6. Who can see your charts. You, always. Coaches of every team you're currently on can see your sessions; only the team a session was charted for can add notes or send its report. If a coach removes you from a team, that team keeps the sessions charted while you were there, and nothing after.
Parent
1. Make the account. Go to knuckleballonline.com, tap Sign in, choose your player's sport, tap Pitcher, then Parent or guardian? Set up your player. You sign up; your player doesn't need an email or a login.
2. Add your player. Open the account menu (your initials, top right) and tap + Add a player. One account can hold a son in baseball and a daughter in softball.
3. Join a team. Open the coach's invite link and choose which player is joining.
4. Chart and read. Charting works the same as for a coach (above). Reports come to your email.
5. If your player is 13 to 17 and signed up alone, they'll have named you as their parent or guardian. You get an email with an approval link; until you approve, they can chart but can't view or send reports.
Everyone
Working with no signal. The app keeps working in the bullpen with no signal. Sessions save on the phone and sync when you're back online; Pending sync on a session means it hasn't reached the server yet. Don't delete the app or clear its data while something is pending.
Fixing a pitch. During a bullpen, each pitch in Recent pitches has edit (pitch type, speed) and ✕ (remove it — to move a location, remove it and chart it again). In a game, edit also has Move location, and Back undoes the last action. Once a session is saved it can't be edited; you can delete it (Delete this session, then type DELETE — a “deleted” marker stays in History) and chart again.
Install it like an app. iPhone and iPad: in Safari, tap Share, then Add to Home Screen. Android: in Chrome, open the menu (⋮) and tap Add to Home screen.
Password. Forgot it? On the sign-in screen (after choosing your sport and role) tap Forgot password?; the reset email lands you on the reset form. To change your email or password later, open Profile (Email, Password).
Your data. Profile → Your data has Download my data (everything, as a ZIP) and Delete my account (seven days to change your mind). What Knuckleball keeps and why is on the privacy page.
Softball. Same app, same steps. No Set/Windup; an illegal pitch is under More → Rare plays; extra innings begin in the 8th.
Still stuck? Email us:
We answer within two business days. Say which sport, which screen, and what you expected to happen.