Waterford Hockey Club Website Development
by Marcus Notley
Background:
Waterford Hockey Club was a rapidly growing club. It had never had a website before. It needed a well organised website to act as its primary shop window, to communicate all the key club information to potential and existing club members and their families. The critical club information to be communicated included; why take up the sport of hockey, how to join the club, membership payment process, training times, match fixtures and results, buying club kit, club news, club policies and procedures, club structure and contact information. Doing this effectively would greatly reduce the expanding administration needs of the club. Getting this right would play a central part in enhancing the overall user experience of the club for all.
As an active member of the club, I led this project to develop Waterford Hockey Club's first ever website.
New Official Club Logo:
The first requirement was to develop a new official club logo. Numerous older versions were in use and had many usability issues, e.g. old versions were very unsuitable for club kit logo embroidery.
I designed the new official club logo. It was single colour and colour reversible. It was embroidery, print and web friendly. The logo design also incorporated some visual references to the sport of hockey (stick, ball and hockey pitch goalkeeper 'D' zone). This became the only logo for use and all previous versions were retired.
Secure Website Domain Name:
Anticipating the likely need for a club website at some point, I had registered the domain name 'waterfordhockeyclub.com' a year earlier.
Website Research:
At the start of the project I researched various other hockey club and sports club websites to understand where these could be improved on. The outcome was that most websites were heavily focused on internal 'existing membership' content. We wanted our new website to have strong 'outreach' content to encourage new membership along with having the necessary 'existing membership' content.
Organisational Structure:
I documented all the activities of the club and categorised these into a structured organisational chart. I took input from key club officials and administrators to ensure all critical activities were captured.
Website Layout:
I then summarised this into a basic homepage heading layout.......
.......followed by a structured breakdown of the sub-heading menu. I was now ready to go to our web designers. The menu continued to evolve and to be refined during the subsequent stages.
Website Theme and Framework:
A local web design company was employed to work with me on the project. I discussed our wishes to create a website that would be the primary 'shop window' for the club and that would appeal outwardly to a wider community who may be new to hockey. I would provide the web designers with the branded artwork, draft sitemap and menu layout, some sample photo imagery and sample content to build their concepts. The web designers would then focus only on designing a bespoke themed style and the skeleton framework needed for the website. After which I would then be able to generate; all the content, edit the layouts and propagate the full website. The website would be built in WordPress.
Content Generation:
Once the web designers had built the themed website skeleton framework, I set about generating all the WordPress 'Media Library' content required. I generated the key photography content directly or sourced within the club. I worked with club administrators to digitise key club forms and policy documents into downloadable PDFs and e-documents so that these could be made available through the website for the first time.
The homepage needed strong messaging and artwork to encourage people who visited the website to explore it further and potentially consider joining the club. Using Photoshop, I generated an eye-catching homepage hero image to represent the club and to welcome people to the website.
I created additional 'Homepage Slider' images in Photoshop, with suitable captions, to summarise the main aspects of the club to complete the homepage slideshow.
Using WordPress I worked through all the 'Page' menu structure generating text content and images as I went.
To help potential members and parents of children who were new to the sport of hockey, on the 'Taking up Hockey' page I highlighted to key 'health and wellbeing benefits' of playing the sport and introduced a YouTube video giving a brief introduction to the sport of field hockey.
I provided clear information on the 'Contact Us' page to make it easy for potential members to contact the club through the page message sender, email, social media platforms or in person pitch-side during regular training times. A Google Maps link also gave the exact location of the hockey pitch training ground.
I streamlined the membership registration progress, creating easy-to-use link buttons to download the 'Welcome Letter', to complete and submit the 'Registration eForm' and online 'Health Questionnaire'. This saved significant costs and time for club administrators.
To offer valuable online learning tools for the development of all club members I put together a collection of online video tutorials and playlists from hockey experts as learning resources for players, coaches, captains and umpires on the 'Resources & Links' page. This enabled club members to develop their knowledge and skills both at home and on the hockey pitch.
Using 'TablePress' in WordPress I generated the 'Training Times' schedule for all our teams and our two hockey academy locations. Potential or existing club members could easily check training times in advance. Any updates or changes to the schedule could also be quickly communicated from this website page.
To manage the 'Fixtures & Results' for the club's large number of teams and competitions I created a colour grouped link button page. Each team could clearly see what competitions they were currently participating in. Each competition link button brought teams directly to the 'Fixtures & Results' for that competition.
The 'About WHC' section of the website provided an ideal location to document the significant history of the club, club achievements, international players, honorary life members and current club officials. It also provided convenient access to the important administrative club policies and forms for all club members.
I built out all the website pages using WordPress 'Blocks', with some code editing in HTML mode where I needed to adjust or fine-tune page layouts or page elements.
Testing:
Desktops, laptops, tablets and phone devices were all tested for user experience to ensure that the website functioned well on all of these devices. The pull-down menu feature did not initially function correctly on phone devices. An alternative 'Menu Plugin' was then used which resolved this issue.
Final Website Design:
Our www.waterfordhockeyclub.com website has been a great success for the club. Our club membership has grown substantially since its introduction. Club membership has since doubled to almost 450 members. Our website continues to play a vital role in the communication needs and administration of our club.
