How Important is a Good Team Website

I always thought of the team website as a Vanity plate on the internet - "Hey look my kid plays here - Look there's her picture"
But we’re now getting to recruiting age and I’m wondering, what do college coaches want to see when they look at a Team website?
I know it’s a good place to put the Profile and Video but do coaches even bother to look there?

I can't speak from a college coach point of view, but it's frustrating as a parent of a child who might like to play for the team to be unable to find the team's location, tryout information, and contact info in one convenient spot. I also like to look at the rosters, schedule, etc... to help size up the team. Maybe people are afraid of putting player info on the public web? I'm not sure. I relied mainly on a local online bulletin board to get tryout info b/c I couldn't find current info on the websites of most of the teams.

I'm a big fan of quality websites. I'm also just a parent though (and on a team that doesn't have a very good one, lol).

Cobb_of_Fury said:

I know it’s a good place to put the Profile and Video but do coaches even bother to look there?

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I would love to hear some input from college coaches on this, but I would bet that most coaches do not visit team websites. The information they get is from player profiles and skills videos sent to them. Not from random searches of the internet looking for teams with good websites.

JAD said:

I would love to hear some input from college coaches on this, but I would bet that most coaches do not visit team websites. The information they get is from player profiles and skills videos sent to them. Not from random searches of the internet looking for teams with good websites.

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Agree. All the coaches we've talked to at camps, they want the info sent to them rather than having the coaches search out info on players. A well organized team website with all pertinent info, can be used as a recruiting tool to attract other players. Our team has skills videos and player profiles but are not posted on team page, rather the players send out themselves.

Fastpitch86 said:

Agree. All the coaches we've talked to at camps, they want the info sent to them rather than having the coaches search out info on players. A well organized team website with all pertinent info, can be used as a recruiting tool to attract other players. Our team has skills videos and player profiles but are not posted on team page, rather the players send out themselves.

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Parents need to understand that softball is NOT a revenue generating sport, and I bet 98.2% of college softball teams operate in the "red". Coaches do not have huge recruiting budgets to chase kids that they have little to no chance of signing and there is not a website like RIVALS that does all the legwork for them. Therefore the coaches tend to recruit kids who have shown interest in their program by attending their camps and contacting the coaches. DO NOT rely on your team website as your sole means of getting your DD noticed by college coaches or you will miss the boat!

I think the value of a good team website is not college recruiting.

It's about projecting a professional image to the public.
Has got to help with the community's impression of your organization,
and who might develop interest to tryout next time around.

Also, a great way to spot the psycho trophy-hunting teams.
You know, the ones that post a new "article" after each tournament,
detailing how they (once again, as usual) crushed all of their competition,
with accompanying "Bling Photos"...

There are two situations in recruiting. Group A: Players on the top TB organizations in the country. Group B: Those who aren't.

If your child is in Group A, the coaches already know all about the team and the competition levels. So, the team doesn't need web sites, banners, "connected" coaches, or bat bags. In fact, if your child is in Group A, you wouldn't even be asking the question...your child would simply be picking one of the twenty schools that offered her a scholarship. So, your child must be in Group B...

Since your child is in Group B:

1) Is the coach going to do a Google search to find athletes? No.
2) If the coach identifies your DD as a player s/he might invest money in, will s/he look at the team's website? Absolutely. Your website should reflect the team's accomplishments.

We have a team website but it is a resource for the players and parents, not college coaches. That way I do not get calls regarding what uniform we are wearing, when to be at the fields, etc. If I get a text with those questions I respond with a URL. There are a few college coaches that we know visit but it is to see our game times and/or schedule. They know us and they go there for a specific reason, not surfing to find a player.

The organization that my daughter plays for has a pretty bad website, but when it comes to helping to position players to compete for and earn D1 and D2 scholarships, they're among the best in the business in our area.

As a parent, I know the value of the organization by way of reputation (the results are bona fide), not by the website. Obviously, I'm not a college coach, but in a results-based culture, it seems many of them may have a similar view of the organization and the athletes who come through it.