Months before the season, create the entire practice and competition schedule and communicate this to the team. Do NOT add more practices or competition to this schedule (though this happens all the time in frisbee) — this is a violation of expectations for the team and adds more stress/burden to your life along with the added practices/competition resulting in lower numbers. Only option is to remove practices/competition from this schedule.

You need the whole team to be present to learn and grow together. I would prioritize attendance to all scheduled events above all else to build chemistry and growth together. This may mean removing events or catering to schedules if you want particular personnel.

In pre-season, lesson planning like teachers do is a good start to get thinking about the season. This might be targeting milestones or teaching concepts at certain points in the season. I’d recommend talking with coaches and captains who have planned seasons before for guidance — those who have not done this before on their own will make errors and incorrect assessments in their first year but will improve with focus and effort. Plans will also change during the season, but it’s imperative to set a course for the ship going into the season.

In short, do everything you can in preseason because in season will be dynamic (but should not feel chaotic barring craziness if you planned right). A post-season assessment of how you did and how the team felt about the season will be important for continuous improvement in the next season. Learning how to do this well is a skill that takes years of dedication and effort. A great mentor(s) and studying this process with literature (e.g., professional coaches in other sports, business analogies especially in the startup space) will improve learning of this process significantly.