Saline Athletic Department Launches New Website

Hornets sports fans, here's a site you might want to bookmark.

The Saline Hornets website, www.salinehornets.com, has been revamped for the 2011-12 school year.

Athletic Director Rob White was happy with the old site’s design, which featured up-to-date schedules, Facebook and Twitter integration, and the ability to post important information. But the new site could become the hub of the Saline Area Schools athletic community. It will feature schedules, rosters, interactive and user-friendly forms, spirit wear and Saline Hornets gear, videos, pictures and game stories. The district paid Varsity News Network, a west Michigan outfit that has done websites for several high schools, an undisclosed amount of money to build the new site which sits now as book of blank pages in a book waiting to be written.

White said Varsity News Network will sell advertisements and share some of the resulting revenue with the department. He expects the department will recoup the initial investment fairly soon and earn a small amount of revenue at some point.

White is well known for his use of social media to promote Saline athletics on sites like Twitter and Facebook. Over the last year, he’d been thinking of ways to utilize the web in a way that benefitted coaches, athletes, parents and the department.

“A few years ago, a student built our website and did a phenomenal job. We had a very good website that looked good and presented good, accurate information,” White said. “But technology continues to change and it provides us more opportunities.”

When AnnArbor.com cut back on its sports coverage, White saw a need that wasn’t being met.

“High school sports coverage isn’t where I’d like to see it—especially for some of the less mainstream sports like tennis, water polo or lacrosse. We wanted a site that would help bring our athletes the recognition they deserve,” White said.

Starting this fall, aspiring writers, journalists, videographers and photographers from Saline High School will be on the sidelines taking notes, asking questions and shooting pictures and video. White hopes the students will cover four or five athletic events each week. Students will do the work for extra credit.

"I think it's a great way for the kids to get hands-on experience," White said.

Users will also be able to comment on the articles using Facebook or Twitter.

But that’s just the start. Another key element of the site is the link toSalineSpirit.com, which takes athletes, parents and fans to an online store. In some cases, athletes and their parents will purchase their official team gear. In other cases, the store might be used to purchase accessories, like t-shirts or sweats. And, of course, fans can use it to purchase Hornets swag.

“This can be a way to streamline things and save our coaches from the hassle of having to order everything for everyone and know all the sizes, and collect money,” White said.

Potentially, this is another revenue generator for a department that had to increase pay-to-play fees by $75 to $250 for the upcoming year because of the school district's budget situation.

“Every little bit helps. But we don’t see this as a major source of revenue,” White said.

The key to the change, White said, is efficient sharing of information. One of the site's recent posts explains the increases in pay-to-play fees and changes in admissions pricing. White hopes parents will access the website and fill out the various forms online. Coaches’ handbooks and other policies will also be included online.

“I think it will make things more convenient for parents, for the coaches, for the students and the parents,” White said.