Athletic department launches website

This October, the Blair athletic department launched a website to improve communication and increase revenue for the athletic program. The athletic website has schedules, rosters, directions to the sports fields and a Blair fan shop, where players and supporters can customize authentic Blair apparel.

New athletic director Rita Boule said that the site has a few kinks to work out, but that the basic format is effective. "It is not as fully functioning as we're going to have it, but it's up and running and that's good," she said.The site is run by Big Teams TM, a company that designs high school sports websites. Big Teams TM is now running websites for ten of the 25 Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) athletics departments, as well as hundreds of other schools in the country.

The new website is partly the result of school staff downsizing. "We are down to one information technology (IT) guy, and it takes some of the load off him," Boule said. "It also gives us more freedom and control over our own website."

Another purpose of the website is to improve communication. The site provides email alerts, sports specific announcements and news relating to Blair athletics, in addition to notifications of game cancellations and postponements. "It's a tool for communication that gets the word out more effectively and timely," Boule said.

The site features driving directions to every school in the county, medical forms necessary to participate in a school sport, a calendar of upcoming sporting events, the schedules of all sports teams and the fan apparel store. The apparel store revenue will go towards Blair athletics. There is an assortment of products available, including men's', women's' and kids' sized attire, duffel bags, hats, blankets and backpacks. "Blair will get some of the profits from [the apparel store]," Boule said. "You can also customize everything you buy to say whatever you want."