Create a tennis club website in 15 minutes – Step-by-step-guide

Create a tennis club website in 15 minutes – Step-by-step-guide

Step-by-step – How to create a tennis club website in 15 minutes

In this step-by-step guide, we’ll show you how you can build your own tennis club website including an online reservation system for your tennis club in just 15 minutes.

This tutorial is written for beginners. That means, you will learn how to build a website that you will be proud of, even without a programmer and web designer. WordPress is the most popular content management system for creating websites.

All you need is the following:

– STEP 1: Website hoster and domain – SiteGround
– STEP 2: Premium WordPress Theme – Divi
– STEP 3: Online reservation system – Court Reservation Plugin

Step 1 -Webspace & Domain for your tennis club website

Choose a web host to save your website on.

First, you need a web space and a domain for your future club website. To get one, you have to register your site with a hoster like SiteGround. Go to siteground.com and choose WordPress Hosting -> GET STARTED.

In this window you can select the “plan” of your website. The StartUp plan should be sufficient for your club page! After choosing the plan, you can choose a domain for your tennis club website.

Once you have found a suitable domain, all you have to do is fill in the order details and provide a payment connection. After you have clicked PAYNOW, the order is complete, and you have secured the domain and the appropriate web space. CONGRATULATIONS!

Before you start building your website, you should install a SSL certificate on your web space. SSL is a security certificate and if you don’t have one, a message appears in modern browsers that your website is not secure because the data is not transmitted in encrypted form.

To install one, switch to the Siteground dashboard (my.siteground.com) and go to the Hosting Plan tab. There you will find your address – with a click on MANAGE you will get to a menu for extras. There you select SSL -> ADD.

There are different SSL certificates. But for your club page, a free Let’s Encrypt is completely sufficient. So click SELECT and ACTIVATE so that the security certificate is installed on your web server.

In the meantime, you have probably received an email telling you to verify a domain. Follow the link and the description in the email to do this too!

STEP 2 – Now it’s time to build your tennis club website

Now you can finally start building your website.

Your website can either be accessed via the my.siteground.com dashboard, or you can enter the address of your site directly into the address bar of your browser. In order to log into the “backend” of your website, you have to add /wp-admin at the end of your internet address. For example www.demo-courtreservation.com/wp-admin.

You will now see this screen. Since we use our own theme, you can click EXIT here.

This is what the backend looks like. We now want to install our premium theme Divi in it. DIVI is probably the best WordPress theme that you can buy. In addition to the simple construction of the individual pages using the visual editor, the theme also offers a large number of ready-made pages which can easily be imported and then work away from them. Entire website projects can be implemented in just a few hours.

The theme can be purchased directly on its website. https://www.elegantthemes.com/join/

Choose the Yearly Access plan for $ 89 per year. The subscription can then be canceled. You can of course continue to use the theme, after your subscription has expired!

After completing the registration form, you can download the Divi theme in the members area!

We now switch back to our WordPress admin panel and install the theme that has now been downloaded. To do so, we look for Appearance -> Themes -> Add New -> Upload Theme in the side menu. There we look for the downloaded .zip file. After that we click Install and Activate.

Next, we can start building the first page. We go to Pages -> Create new page in the backend. We can now choose whether we want to create a blank page, where we want to create the content ourselves from scratch, or whether we import premade content and then adapt it to our wishes. Both are extremely easy and quick with the Divi Theme.

In this case we only want to create one page with the reservation system. Therefore, we start with a blank page in which we integrate our reservation system.

We select Start Building.

After the page is created we will first save it. We will come back to this point later and continue from there.

STEP 3 – Installation of Court Reservation System

Easy and quick integration of court reservation system. Further information on the setup is also under our Documentation section.

The next thing we want to do, is to install the plugin Court Reservation and integrate it into the page we have just created. We are therefore going back to the WordPress Admin Backend (top left -> Go to Dashboard). Under Plugins -> Add New we can search for and install new plugins. In the search line we look for Court Reservation. In the search results we can already find the plugin which we install and activate by clicking on Install Now and then Activate.

After successful installation, we can switch to the settings of the plugin (Reservations -> Settings -> Courts). The first “court” has already been created. By clicking on Edit, we can enter a name, opening hours and how much days the table will show.
In the tabs Settings and User Interface you can later adapt the reservation system to your individual needs. But first we want to include the reservation table in the previously created page. To do this, we copy the shortcode and switch to the WordPress frontend (top left -> Go to website).

We are back on the previously created page. With one click on Activate the visual editor in the upper black bar, we enter the edit mode. By clicking on the +, new elements can be created. We’ll first create a new row. In this row we can add a text element with another click on +.

In the pop-up window we insert our shortcode.

After clicking on the tick we see our reservation table for the first time.

Now only one area is missing. That is a login and register form,  where members can register, login or where some description can be put. To create a login area, we click again on the + in the middle of the row and select Login.

The modules can be moved using drag & drop. Don’t forget to save!

So you have finished your first page of your club homepage. Next you can create another page, upload photos, insert your own logo and create a menu navigation.

Have fun with the further creation of your homepage. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us at [email protected].

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Corona (COVID-19) safety measures for your tennis club

Corona (COVID-19) safety measures for your tennis club

Corona (COVID-19) safety measures for your tennis club

The following rules of conduct and safety measures are guidelines and recommendations that we have drawn up from various sources and guidelines. They should help your tennis club in handling the current corona (COVID-19) pandemic. The responsible operator can copy these and adapt them for their own purposes.

Court Reservation - UI

For the operation of tennis facilities during the global corona pandemic, we defined three areas, for which the following rules of conduct and safety measures are relevant.

  • Club Operation
  • Game Operation
  • Training Operation

The club board members, but also each individual member, are responsible for being compliance with the rules listed below.

Club Operation

  1. Every club must display house rules with the Covid-19 rules of conduct and safety measures. People who violate the house rules are to be expelled from the facility.
  2. The general government guidelines must always be complied with (minimum distance rule, restriction of gatherings of people).
  3. Mouth and nose protection must be worn in the indoor customer area (secretariat / office, club room / home, indoor sports facility / cloakroom, …). No mouth and nose protection are necessary while exercising.
  4. The provision of disinfectants and / or disinfectant dispensers at heavily frequented areas of the system and on the squares is recommended.
  5. It is recommended to provide special playing times and / or tennis courts for the risk groups.
  6. It is recommended to set up an electronic tennis court occupancy system. If this is not possible, it must be ensured that possible physical contact with other people is avoided when reserving the seats.
  7. We recommend a documentation (schedule) of the daily operations for each club.
  8. Benches or seats are to be positioned with a sufficient safety distance – at least 2 m.
  9. Persons who do not actively play tennis are only allowed to stay on the facility outside the tennis court.
  10. Group gatherings outside the tennis court are permitted with an appropriate safety distance (1m rule).
  11. A COVID-19 prevention concept should be worked out and implemented at the following events: indoor from 50 people, outdoor from 100 people.
  12. A COVID-19 officer should be designated for events with over 50 people in closed rooms and over 100 people in the open air.

Game Operation

  1. Every player participates in the game at his own risk.
  2. In the case of a double game, it is essential to ensure that people who do not live in a shared apartment complex keep the prescribed minimum distance (2 m). The 2 m distance may exceptionally and briefly be undercut during sport.
  3. Side changes must be carried out with a sufficient safety margin. Physical contact between players (shake hands etc.) is to be avoided.
  4. Personal items such as clothing, towels, beverage bottles, etc. must be kept in the bag.
  5. The playing field should be cleaned and vacated in good time (approx. 5 minutes) before the official end of the game to avoid contact with the next players as far as possible.
  6. It is recommended to clean the tennis court bench and the trawl net or broom with disinfectant before use.
  7. Spitting on the tennis court is prohibited.

Training Operation

  1. Buffer zones (“waiting area”) for changing players must be set up and observed – see the following graphics.
  2. The players come onto the field with a sufficient safety distance (2 m).
  3. Disinfectants are provided on every training ground (disinfect hands before and after the game).
  4. Balls are collected through collecting tubes whenever possible to avoid contact with the ball. The collecting tubes must be disinfected after each training session.
  5. Physical contact between players and between players and coach is to be avoided. The 2 m distance may exceptionally and briefly be undercut during training.
  6. Benches or seats are to be positioned with a sufficient safety distance of at least 2 meters and, if possible, disinfected after each training session.
  7. Training is to be carried out in all age groups as individual training or in small groups with sufficient distance as a station. Aids should be used to maintain physical distance.
  8. Aids may only be touched by the coach.
  9. Several groups with up to 10 people per seat can train next to each other in one hall. Mixing of these training sessions or pairings must be ruled out.
Tennis Club Corona (COVID-19) - Documentation of done reservations

Disclaimer

Any liability on the part of Court Reservation or Webmühle e.U using the rules of conduct and safety measures is excluded.

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How you digitize your tennis club – Step 1 – Website

How you digitize your tennis club – Step 1 – Website

How you digitize your tennis club – Step 1 – Website

The digital transformation has changed entire industries in recent years. The tennis scene is not one of them. Tennis centers and tennis clubs are still barely digitized. And that is exactly what will become an ever-greater problem in the future. While all industries and thus many consumers and users are increasingly relying on digitization products and services, this is not possible in tennis. We are convinced that the first step in digialization is creating an own tennis club website.

Why your tennis club needs an own website?

MORE VIEWERS THROUGH ONLINE INFORMATION

Clubs report that online reservations mean that visitors come to the tennis facility even without playing tennis, to watch challenge or tournament games or simply because they know who is on the tennis court. Game dates, whether in a competition or as training, can be arranged more easily and increase utilization. Due to the high number of viewers, the advertising space is also very attractive for sponsors and can be used for refinancing.

IMPORTANT: FUTURE-PROOF

Of course, there are many other ways to make a tennis club better known and more attractive. The fact is, however, that modern technologies not only make tennis clubs more attractive to players, but the clubs themselves can also benefit enormously. With the use of the right tools, the administrative effort can be reduced, the utilization of the places can be reliably monitored and so on. The possibilities are endless when you get involved. So: Take the leap into the future and use the potential of modern technology to move your tennis club forward.

STEP 1 – Own tennis club website

The first step towards digitization is made easy. We are convinced that your own club website should be the linchpin of every digitalization strategy. In principle, it is even possible, with the right system (CMS), to organize and manage everything in and around your club. Creating your own homepage is often free of charge!

The advantage of a website is that everything that the trainers and administrators change can be seen live on the club website immediately. Whether it is a new activity in the calendar or a club news – your members are up to date.

CMS (Content Management System) for clubs with WordPress

With a CMS like WordPress you can create a club website for free and you are completely independent of any software manufacturer and decide for yourself what should be on your club website and what should not. The following features are often implemented on a club’s website, but it is up to you whether you do it for yourself.

Create a club homepage – individually

  • News: Of course, you can also post any club or team news on your club website. If you are interested, the news can be placed directly on the homepage or a blog page
  • Pictures and galleries: There are no limits to your creativity. Place individual pictures on the various pages of the club’s website or work with a slide show.
  • Online reservation: An online reservation increases the utilization of the facility, the service for athletes and saves time in administration. With an online reservation you have countless options that are available to you! This can also be easily expanded using a WordPress plugin.
  • Contact form: This is how potential new members can contact you and ask questions or applications. Creating the club website can pay off for this alone.
  • Sponsor slider: The homepage for clubs offers you the perfect platform to represent your sponsors. You can do this in the form of a slide show or individual pictures.

This is just a selection of the tools you can use with WordPress. Most of the functions are already integrated in WordPress or can simply be expanded using a plugin.

Club website for clubs and teams

While you can represent news, pictures, and activities of the club, you can of course do the same for the individual teams. For example, you can also create separate team pages on the club’s website. So that the individual members, parents, or fans can always find information and news that are of interest to them. Under the team pages you can insert the team calendar with all activities, as well as present the current team photo. Here you also can portray the players and coaches of the respective team. You can decide how much information you want to display on the club’s website.

Create the club homepage and win new members

The team pages are also useful as external visitors can directly view the activities of the team that interest them. You can also create registration forms on the homepage so that interested parties can apply directly to join a team.

A well-designed club homepage can be crucial in attracting new members who happen to land on your homepage. Fill your club website with rules, statutes, the history of the club, pictures and everything that attracts potential members.

Create club homepage: Who is responsible?

The club homepage is part of the club level. There should therefore also be a responsible person within the association who has the right to create, edit and publish the association’s website. You can also delegate the responsibility for the club’s website to other people, so that not only one person is responsible. This can be helpful if the webmaster leaves the club – so you still have people in the club who are familiar with the club website.

Club website with its own domain

If you already had a club website before and would like to continue using your old domain with the new WordPress site, that is no problem at all. You can simply use this for your new club website. For the individual steps to your own domain, you can contact your web space provider or our support directly as well. We will be happy to help.

CMS for clubs – the analysis

The club’s homepage can be connected to the free “Google Analytics” tool. As soon as this connection is established, you can analyze the behavior of your visitors. You can e.g. find out how long visitors have been on the various pages, which pages on the club website work particularly well or which should be revised. Google Analytics can be a very helpful tool if you want to analyze your data.

Google Analytcs in WordPress Backend

Call up club homepage at any time

The club’s homepage can be visited via PC, smartphone and tablet and you have the option of placing your own advertising in the form of banners on the page, for example if you want to advertise the start of the season or parties.

If you would like to create a club website and need support, you can of course contact our support at any time. Until then, we hope you enjoy trying it out.

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