As the sports programs at SCHS are growing, the Athletic Boosters have looked to implement an athletic website with the help of administration that will keep families up to date on all things sports.
SCHS Athletics Boosters President, Anne Kepner, explained that the District moved all schools’ websites to a new platform this summer after a few years of planning.
“It was news to me that we were not going to have any access to the new site to make changes,” Kepner said. “It just puts a tremendous amount of pressure on that one person that you’re constantly emailing and asking for changes. It just consumes a lot of her time.”
Given the amount of information to share about the various sports teams, Athletic Boosters elected to create their own site and link it to the school website. In planning for the new athletic site, Kepner focussed on creating a website that will be able to run long-term since it relies heavily on parent involvement.
“We might have a really active group of parents this year, but what happens next year if we don’t, or three or four or five years from now if we don’t,” Kepner said. “That’s been one of the reasons, as I understand it, that the school district has gone to the new format that they’re using is because some schools would be really good at updating the content of their websites, and others would not.”
Kepner explained that Athletic Director Nelson Gifford has expressed interest in the new athletic website and will likely become the main coordinator. She mentioned that the Athletic Boosters may allow the board to have access after some additions.
“We ultimately may add another position or committee chair to our board that is responsible for the website,” Kepner said. “Maybe we’ll have a representative and then the athletic director together will maybe co-chair a committee that’s responsible for the website.”
Despite the problems, Vice Principal Sharon Freeman is excited for the launch of the new website due to its engagement compared to the current one.
“Right now on our current website, you can find information about how to get athletic clearance, find out who the coaches are, maybe when tryouts are, but this new website is going to be a place where game stats will be put in real time. There’ll be photos up there, maybe even videos,” Freeman said. “It’ll be a really living, breathing athletics site, not just a place where you can find general information. It’ll be much more tailored to what’s going on each season.”
Additionally, Freeman explained that the new website will be more up to date and even include in-game stats.
“They’ll have the connection to the stats that are happening, as it’s going, and it’ll be much more interactive in that way,” Freeman said. “There is going to be a content area for photos and videos, it’s going to be like a one stop shop.”
Kepner also mentioned that possible live streams may be viewable on the new website. This can greatly impact games and the audience size in a positive way.
“It might be a way to expand our audience at games too,” Kepner said. “If you have grandparents that live out of state, they could go to the website and then they could watch the game if they wanted to.”
Currently, the plans for the website is simply to get it established. Once it is up and running, Kepner mentioned that it can be a source of raising money.
“If we ultimately get enough traffic, we then can go out to local businesses and give them the opportunity to have an ad space on our website,” Kepner said. “That might be of interest to local restaurants or local businesses that want to then give us money, so in the future, I foresee this becoming a way to raise money for Athletic Boosters.”
Kepner hopes to raise awareness and interest through the Athletic Boosters by creating student involvement opportunities.
“If there are students at Santa Clara High School that have an interest in web design, web content management, I think this could become an avenue for people to get some exposure to how to do that,” Kepner said.
Freeman explained that the new website will not only give information about sports but bring the athletics community together.
“It’s a great place for them to celebrate not only their own sport, but other sports as well. I think that’s one thing that we’re trying to do,” Freeman said. “People are so connected to their own sport that they don’t pay attention or see the other sports that are happening, and there’s so much cool stuff going on out there.”