Season Websites Gaining Popularity Among Youth Sports Teams

More and more youth sports leagues and coaches are building team websites to motivate players and communicate to parents and friends. Software packages like SeasonPlanner 2004 (www.seasonplanner.com) allow them to organize their season and create and maintain websites in minutes. The benefits of coaching organization software and team websites include improved communications, player and team motivation, parent and friend contact, and the historical value of the information down the road. The growing popularity is a result of the ease at which the websites can be built and the tremendous amount of positive feedback the coaches are receiving from parents, players and fans.

July 16, 2004 -- A group of kids are gathered around a computer in the school library reading and discussing the sports article on the screen. The article is not about the Yankees or Cowboys, it is about their youth soccer match over the weekend. Each is searching for his name and one boy is being teased about the funny look on his face as he is about to take a shot. The team roster is displayed on the right side of the screen and they begin clicking on each player to look at the players picture and profile. Some of the kids parents have made the team website their default page at work, and friends and family in other cities are following the team.

More and more youth sports leagues and coaches are building team websites to motivate players and communicate to parents and friends. Software packages like SeasonPlanner 2004 (www.seasonplanner.com) allow them to organize their season and create and maintain websites in minutes. These teams cover the spectrum of sports, skill, and age levels ranging from preschool soccer teams up to adult softball teams and minor league hockey. Coaches of younger teams will build passwords to limit access to the team sites and only visitors that know the password can view the site.

The benefits of coaching organization software and team websites include improved communications, player and team motivation, parent and friend contact, and the historical value of the information down the road. The growing popularity is a result of the ease at which the websites can be built and the tremendous amount of positive feedback the coaches are receiving from parents, players and fans.

Kevin Johnson is the high school boys basketball coach at Castle Rock High School in Castle Rock, Washington and is a prime example of a coach using season websites to his advantage. He creates positive articles after games, builds practice and game schedules, and communicates with his players over the summer. He has a historical site for his 2003-2004-basketball season (http://crbasketball0304.teamsonline.info) and a site (http://crbasketball.teamsonline.info) started for this year. The software and web hosting has become a great tool to promote our kids, communicate with our parents and community and the feedback from our supporters has been extremely positive, according to Johnson.

Mike Restive of Alameda, California coaches a youth soccer team and speaks highly about the motivating benefits for his team. Mike explains, Our website is a useful communication tool for our parents providing information such as game times and locations, snack schedules, and current standings. Another benefit is that my players get a real self esteem boost from seeing their names and photos on our site, which I believe really boosts their confidence and ultimately their performance.

Tom Porter maintains several team websites and speaks highly of the improved communications and positive feedback, I ran across Season Planner when my youngest sons baseball coach sent me the link for the team. I thought it was so cool and such a good idea, that I checked it out for myself. I was able to easily manage the teams and communicate with the parents. The personal feedback from dozens of parents was very positive, they were excited to send this link around the world, to friends and family members that do not live local and wanted to keep up on the team anyway.

Coaches and parents are seeing the historical value in seasonal team websites. As time goes by the sites become historical accounts of past seasons. Coaches then create new websites for the next season. In just a few years they create a great history and parents return to the old sites checking on their kids past accomplishments and old pictures. The sites become an online sports album of kids lives.

Season websites will continue to grow in popularity. Coaches and parents creating these sites are motivating their teams and writing history for their players. The kids in the library will grow and in a few years we will see them gathered around a another computer reliving the glory days of the past, once again laughing at the funny look on their friends.

About the Author
Ken Barley is the President of B&B Software, Inc. (dba Cascade Technologies). He has over twenty-five years of software development experience. His company specializes in the creation of commercial quality software for organizations and publishers. The company also develops and markets their own products, including SeasonPlanner 2004 (http://www.seasonplanner.com) and Athletes Log 2000 (http://www.athleteslog.com). Additional information can be found by visiting the Cascade Technologies website (http://www.ctsoft.com). Questions and comments about this article are welcomed and should be sent to e-mail protected from spam bots.

Additional Pictures:
http://www.seasonplanner.com/league/images/marlins_baseball.jpg
http://www.seasonplanner.com/league/images/2004screenshot.gif

Additional Info About SeasonPlanner - 2004:
SeasonPlanner 2004 installs as a fully functional 30-day trial version, which includes the ability to build a team web site. Purchase a license at www.seasonplanner.com for $49.95. Licensed software includes one 12-month active team web site license and two bonus 6-month active team web licenses. Since, each license becomes active the first time it is used, a user can use the three licenses over multiple seasons. Once a license expires the site becomes an historical site and is still available for viewing but not updating.

Product Info:
SeasonPlanner 2004
- Picture Galleries
- Large Pictures up to 800x600
- Customizable Team Site Names
- Optional Password Protection
- Team Friends on the Web Site
- No Advertisements
- Fast Loading Web Sites
Getting Started
- Download SeasonPlanner
- Register for Software License
- Build Team, Roster, and Events
- Click Web Update to Build Site
Use SeasonPlanner To Create
- Rosters and Player Reports
- Practice and Game Schedules
- Sports Cards
- Certificates and Awards
- Letters and Yearbooks
- Sponsor Links
SeasonPlanner Is Terrific For
- Youth Sport Teams and Leagues
- Coaches and Team Moms
- Middle and High School Sports Teams
- Sports Organizations/Admins
- Adult Recreational Teams
- Semi-Pro and College Teams

System Requirements:
32 bit version: Windows XP/2000/NT/98 compliant.

Sample Web Site and Screen Shot: http://millergolf.teamsonline.info
http://www.seasonplanner.com/league/images/millergolf.jpg

Pricing:
- SeasonPlanner 2004 Standard Version $49.95 (3 Team Web Sites Licenses)
- SeasonPlanner 2004 School and League Site License Version $200/yr (10 Team Web Site Licenses) $300/yr (20 Team Web Site Licenses)
- SeasonPlanner 2004 Additional Team Web Site Licenses 12 Month License $14.95 each.

TO DOWNLOAD EVALUATION COPY: http://www.seasonplanner.com

All versions include Email support and free maintenance updates.

B&B Software, Inc., a privately held corporation located in Eugene, Oregon and has been providing software and programming solutions since 1989. Our products include SeasonPlanner 2004 and Athletes Log 2000.

CONTACT: Ken Barley 541-988-0779
President B&B Software, Inc
E-mail: e-mail protected from spam bots
http://www.seasonplanner.com

B&B Software, Inc.
P.O. Box 10212, Eugene, OR 97440
Office Location:
1311 Market Street, Suite 2-A
Springfield, OR 97477
Phone: 541-988-0779

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