Running a successful basketball program is a year-round activity. You need to register players, manage payments, coordinate schedules, and promote your organization.
A well-designed website is a must-have for any basketball club or league that has more than one team.
Below we’ll share some of the key tips to create a basketball website and some of the best templates you can use to create a website quickly.
Essential features to include on a basketball website
Creating a website from scratch can be an intimidating process. It’s ok to start small, with basic information like important season dates, contact information, and registration forms.
Over time you can build out more information like player rosters, coaching staff profiles, and sponsorship info.
Here’s a few things to make sure to include.
Homepage with clear branding
Every sports website needs to have strong branding that represents your teams well. You should include your organization’s logo, font, and color scheme. You should try to incorporate your organization’s motto, founding date, or any other taglines you have as well. The best sports websites inspire pride in the community.
You should also include a description of your organization. Add information like age groups, location, competitiveness level (for example, rec, travel, AAU) and organizational info like your mission statement.
A well-organized homepage with updated information will establish credibility when people visit your website for the first time and will also help your website show up in Google search results.
Game schedules and events
Scheduling games and events is one of the biggest challenges of running a successful basketball program. Your website should have all of the events at your organization - including meetings, fundraisers, registration dates, and game schedules.
If you’re running a high school program or AAU club, you can publish each team’s game and tournament schedule on your site, along with locations and maps.
For recreational organizations, you’ll want to automatically generate game schedules to save yourself scheduling time.
⚡Pro Tip: if you’re running a league, use a sports schedule generator to create and publish complex game schedules in just a few minutes.
Online registration and forms
Parents expect to be able to register and pay quickly from any device. You should make sure your website has built-in player registration forms with online payments. You can customize your registration form with questions like uniform sizing, waivers, and volunteer opportunities. Adding donation and sponsorship opportunities can also help you raise extra money before the season starts.
Recreational leagues typically open registration about 6 months before the season starts to give plenty of time to get the word out in the community. You can also give early bird discounts to players that register in the first month to build momentum well in advance of the season.
If you’re running a travel club and want to include installment plans you can give parents the option to pay on an automatic payment plan.
Team page and rosters
Publishing team pages with coaching profiles and rosters are important for high school and AAU clubs. You can even include recruiting profiles if your teams are highly competitive.
Including player photos, position, and number are easy to set up in most sports website builders.
News and announcements
You should make sure to keep your website updated frequently. Try to post news and announcements at least once every few weeks with recent results, upcoming fundraisers, and other important announcements.
Some sports team management software will also allow you to broadcast messages via text or email with important updates.
Sponsorship and fundraising section
Your website should be a year-round tool to help with fundraising, sponsorships, and donations.
Start by posting schedules for all of your basketball fundraisers. Typically clubs or leagues have at least one major fundraiser right before the season, and one during the offseason.
Make sure to list all sponsorship opportunities you have available on your website. You should also recognize your current sponsors - including logos and links to their website. There should be quick and easy ways for new sponsors to sign up online and pay you for a yearly sponsorship.
Most organizations also choose to collect donations directly on their website. Donations often come from parents, former players, or other community members.
A domain name
Every website needs a domain name to make it easy to share on social media and quick for people to find online. Don’t settle on a free URL.
Instead, make sure you get a simple domain unique to your organization. Most website builders make it easy to use your own domain, and some even include a domain if you don’t already own one.
5 Basketball website templates for youth leagues
You should choose a website builder based on the feature needs and budget of your organization. Always make sure the website platform you choose is easy to use and doesn’t require any coding knowledge.
1. Jersey Watch
Jersey Watch is an all-in-one platform to create a basketball website, register players, manage payments, and schedule your games.
Hundreds of rec and travel basketball programs use Jersey Watch to help manage their online presence and grow their organization. The platform is rated highly by volunteers and coaches (over 1,000 reviews) for ease of use and powerful registration features.
Features highlights:
- Drag and Drop website builder: Create a website for your basketball program in just a few minutes using homepage modules and page templates.
- Online registration software: Set up player registration forms, collect payments, and customize your form with waivers, donation options, and more.
- Communication tools: Send updates to teams, age divisions, or your entire organization with a few clicks. Messages can be delivered by email or text.
- Sports scheduling software: Post event schedules or generate league schedules automatically. Track standings throughout the season for your basketball league.
You can create a free account and launch your website the same day.
2. Splash
Splash is a Wordpress theme that you can use to build a custom sports website for your organization. Features include Sportspress integration (for standings and scores), team profiles, and drag & drop website editor.
Features:
- League Stats
- Audio & Video Embeds
- Online Merch store
- Built-in league standings
3. TeamSideline
Team Sideline is a league management system with features including registration, league scheduling, and organization communication. Team Sideline works with leagues, camps, clinics, and sports facilities.
Features:
- Website builder
- Player registration
- Game scheduling
- Communication
- Facility management
4. Sports Connect
Sports Connect is one of the most popular website systems for youth sports organizations. Sports Connect is an official partner of AAU and has solutions for managing both clubs and tournaments.
Features:
- Website builder
- Registration software and online payments
- Roster building and player management
- Automatic game scheduling
- Integrated email and text tools
- Advanced reporting
5. Sports Engine
Sports Engine works with thousands of sports organizations and has a comprehensive suite of management tools for travel, AAU clubs, or basketball leagues.
Features:
- Website builder
- Registration software and online payments
- Financial reporting
- Game schedules
- Scores and stats
- Built- in fundraising
- Background Checks
Sports Engine also includes a popular mobile app for coaches and team management.
Launch your basketball league website today with Jersey Watch
Jersey Watch is a comprehensive website builder to manage your basketball league or club. You can create website content, register players, connect a domain name, and create schedules - all in just a few minutes. Plus, you get access to award-winning support backed by over 1,000 reviews.
You can create an account for free and sign up for a subscription when you’re ready to get started.
