Building a Youth Football Team Web Site

Ok, so I am a web geek, not only do I coach youth football, but I have been  working in the Web / Internet industry since 1994.  When I started coaching youth football again in 2006, I decided to develop a team web site and email communication strategy, since the Internet was entering more and more homes.   I still use my original 2006 Team web site and email strategy today, but I am looking to upgrade.

I created my first team website  with a HTML editor, MS Frontpage.  The site is very simple.  A HTML editor is almost as simple as using MS Word to develop and update your website.  I also integrated a private Yahoo Group which acts as our email communication tool, calendar, picture gallery and private file area.  What’s nice about the Yahoo Group is that it stores all email communication with the team in a Blog / Forum like feature, and  you can email practice, game, snack reminders from the Calendar to the entire team.  I have found that email is the key communication tool with my teams.  Many parents just do not have time to visit a website, but email works great because it is proactive vs reactive.  If you don’t need a fancy front end to your team site, a simple and FREE Yahoo Group will work just fine.

Last year, we started taking more video and pictures and the Yahoo Group picture gallery was getting full, so I opened a Pro Flikr account so I could post as much media content as we needed.  You can tag the media public or private depending on what you need.  The Flikr account has really worked out great.

As you can see, all of my web features are not really integrated into one site.  I have integrated them by developing a HTML website.  I would like to find one solution for a TEAM web site that intregates all my current features into one stand alone solution.

Web Features that I am looking for in a Team Web Site Builder

1. eMail – Listserve type feature (Historical record)
2. Calendar – eMail reminders
3. Picture / Video  – Upload & Storage
4. Roster / Stats Features
5. Customizable Page Templates
6. Domain Name Use / Upgrade
7. Public / Private Membership
8. Polls
9. Fundraising Capabilities
10. Private File Storage (Playbooks)
11. Chat / Personal Messaging
12. Blog / Forum / Bulletin Board

My youth football league went to an integrated league solution two years ago.  It has a team feature set.  So I decided to start my quest for a team website with them, League Athletics.  Here’s a list of other team web site builders:

1. http://www.ellistonsport.com
2. http://www.hometeamsonline.com/
3. http://www.eteamz.com
4. http://www.teampages.com
5. http://www.mysportsite.com/
6. http://www.teamsnap.com/
7. http://www.teamlobby.com/
8. http://www.teamopolis.com/
9. http://www.teamsporttech.com
10. http://www.seasonplanner.com/league/
11. http://www.teamzonesports.com/
12. http://www.vicid.com/
13. http://www.hitssports.com
14. http://getmyteamsite.com
15. http://www.leaguerepublic.com/
16. http://www.rosterbot.com/
17. http://www.rosterspots.com/
18. http://www.fullsquad.com
19. http://www.myteamcaptain.com/
20. http://www.tcteams.com

Over the next several months, I will review these sites and post my reviews.  If you have a team builder site that you like, please reply to this post and I will add it to my list.

I did a quick initial review of the above sites today.  I like the following after my initial look.

1. http://www.teampages.com
2. http://www.teamsnap.com/
3. http://www.teamopolis.com/
4. http://www.teamzonesports.com/

Read the post replies for my initial comments.

Play for Fun and Winning is Funner!