The two biggest struggles college club lacrosse teams face are staying organized and presenting themselves as a legit team. It can be difficult for players to manage balancing a budget, collecting player dues, recruiting new players, ordering gear, and scheduling games and practices. This becomes even more of a challenge when everyone in charge graduates, and a new set of kids are left to pick up where the graduates left off. As for the latter struggle, your school won’t give you much money or support, and your team isn’t well-known on campus. A solution to both of these problems is creating a website for your team, and the best company to create one is OptimX Sports.
OptimX Sports was founded in 2021 with the mission to provide teams with the most accessible and affordable platform to create a professionally tailored sports website. They found that many current sports website platforms needed to be updated and were unaffordable, with many of the features being offered as either redundant or impractical for many teams. OptimX Sports was created to provide the market with a platform that made web development extremely easy for people regardless of their backgrounds. The company’s ultimate goal is to create a sports platform where the “Tech Dad” is no longer necessary for web development, and any of the volunteers on a sports team could maintain all the required components of a website with little to no issue. OptimX Sports is a no-code web platform that anyone of any background can use.
“We believe that we offer the best and most affordable sports management web technology on the current market. We are cheaper than the most well known competitors in this space, but also provide just as many features. Most importantly, our platform is the easiest to use. It takes a customer no longer than 20 minutes to have a professional website for their sports team. We offer a platform that ensures there is less time and frustration dedicated to web development, so there is more time that can be dedicated on the field.”
-OptimX Sports Founders
The company started out mainly working with ACHA (the hockey version of the MCLA) teams and then added college club rugby teams. This past December, they began working with MCLA and club lacrosse teams from other leagues. Today, they have created websites for over 200 men’s and women’s college club hockey, rugby, and lacrosse teams.
Managing Administrative Needs All in One Place
Club teams must worry about many tasks: collecting player dues, ordering gear, collecting interest forms from new players, selling merchandise, selling tickets, and collecting donations. These tasks are all difficult on their own and get even more complicated when every single task uses a different Google Sheet, survey form, or website, just to name a few. With an OptimX Sports website, every single administrative need for a team can be put in one place, and with the freedom to design the website however you want, you can add as many or as few of these features to your website.
Easy to Use and Maintain
Many companies advertise their website builders as easy to use, but some people still struggle or don’t have the time for it. With OptimX Sports, they take care of building and updating the website; all you have to do is tell them the information they want.
Easily Transfer Responsibilities Every Year
A problem with websites is that sometimes the kid running the site graduates and stops updating it, and the new people in charge can’t keep it running. OptimX Sports will continue to run and maintain your site every year, no matter how much the leadership on the team changes.
It’s Inexpensive
At $200 a year it is less expensive than other website building companies, and cheaper than hiring someone to do it.
Look More Professional
OptimX is the best solution for making your team look more professional. The websites are so well done that it appears your club team is part of the NCAA athletic department at your school. If your team is looking to bring in more fans and recruits, presenting your team professionally is a great way to start, and OptimX is there to help you out.
Here is an example of Louisville’s site.
Below are concerns we’ve heard about getting a website and reasons why you don’t have to worry about them.
“We Have a Twitter and Instagram, People Can See All the Info They Need on Those Platforms”
One group is left out of that statement: parents. As most people know, parents aren’t knowledgeable about social media, and some struggle to find the info they need on Twitter and Instagram. A website allows parents and fans of your team who aren’t tech-savvy to find the information they need. Not having a website means you’re stopping many people from helping your team grow and giving support.
“I Don’t Know How to Run a Website, I Didn’t Go to School for That”
Good news, the guys at OptimX Sports did, and they do a great job building and maintaining the website so that you don’t have to stress about it.
“We’re Not a Serious Team, We Have No Need for a Serious Website”
OptimX does a great job of making professional websites for the most competitive and intense club teams out there. However, the platform also allows teams to have fun with it and not take it so seriously while still having the benefits of organizing the team and getting information to parents and fans. One team that did this well was Cornell. Here is a link to their website. Their website has funny recaps of games, joke bios, and roster pics, yet it still serves a great purpose in helping the team stay organized and connect with potential players and alums.
“We Already Have a Website”
OptimX is better.
If you or your college club lacrosse team is interested in getting a website through OptimX Sports, feel free to email varsityclublacrosse@gmail.com or DM one of the Varsity Club Lacrosse social media accounts. If you have no questions and are ready to sign up use this link!
