An introduction to the new site, it's features, and functions. Learn where everything is, how to set up your account, and how to best use the site.

It's a new year for Creek baseball and time for a new website. As Creek powers up its offense, I figured it was time to build a strong and multi-functional website to match. This website will serve as a portal for all new information concerning the Creek Baseball Program. As well, I hope that the social networking capability will help foster a sense of community and involvement among the ballplayers, their families, Creek students, and the community - everyone with a stake in Creek Baseball.

Please do two things:

1) Register on the site. It's free, fast, and easy.

Members will have access to more areas of the site, as not all the info is public. Members can also submit their own content, such as video, images, blogs, news articles, and much more. Of course, your profile will end up being your hub on this site. You can post status updates, instant message your friends, and write on each others' walls - just like on Facebook. More features will continue to be added as the site grows.

2. Browse the site. The website is set up as a multi-media news magazine. It will display all the latest news pertaining to Creek Baseball, including articles, images, and video. Familiarize yourself with the various main areas:

CALENDAR: This section is a quick link to each teams schedule, Booster Club events, and general school activities.

BASEBALL NEWS: The All Teams news tab displays all the latest information about any aspect of the CCHS baseball program. It is a catch-all category that pertains to the entire baseball program, not just one team. The Featured News section will contain any news that deserves special recognition. This tab also contains our "Where Are They Now" feature to keep track of Creek graduates that have gone on to play baseball in college or the pros. If they are still playing baseball somewhere, we want to know about it! This section needs help from Creek families to keep it updated with current information.

Newsflashes is important - this is where all the up-to-the-minute info will go and is displyed on the front page in the Newflashes scrolling box (lower right corner of the front page). Always check here for any schedule changes, last-minute reminders, or announcements.

Any time I find media coverage of our team, or parents froward me article or links, I will post them under the Media Coverage tab.

And lastly, the Archives tab will show any old articles that are past the date, but you may need to refer to for information.

NEWS FEEDS (moved under Baseball News): This page will consolidate all the RSS news feeds from various baseball news sources. Members of the site can submit RSS news feeds for display on this page.

TEAMS: Each team has its own section, which will display rosters, schedules, scoreboards for each game and any attending articles. As soon as I get team photos, they will go here too. The Coaches have their own section as well, to post their objectives, inspirational reading material they want the boys to have, and their bios.

BOOSTER CLUB NEWS: This area is for all the news, announcements, articles, and fund-raising activities of our Booster Club. It's common knowledge that the Creek Baseball Booster Club is well organized, very supportive, and involved. All Wildcat supporters are welcome and invited to join! Your involvement is important to your son's experience in high school sports.

VIDEOS: This is a very fun feature - it allows members to upload their own videos, or capture videos from other video hosts (like YouTube). It's very fast and easy, and I encourage anyone with footage of baseball events and games to post their videos in this section. It will grow to be a great library archive of Creek baseball.

And finally the pièce de résistance...

WILDCAT COMMUNITY:This fun social networking software is what connects members to one another. Like Facebook, it is set up so that member can form their own groups, share photos and video, leave messages, and generally stay connected while online. The Wildcat Community is open to all ballplayers, fans, CCHS students, families, and supporters. It is my sincere hope that staying connected and being involved will help foster teamwork and inspiration for the ballplayers and increase the student body's and community's investment in Creek Baseball. As long as the vibe of the community stays uplifting and positive, and members adhere to the User Code of Conduct, the Wildcat Community will add a great deal of support and fun to the Baseball Program!

**Some fun bonus resources that are also included on the site are Weather, Blog Updates, and a stream of Online Activity. This can be found in the tabbed box in the upper right corner of the front page. Also, you will see a Txt Me! option. This is a very cool function that will allow you to subscribe to messages so that you can stay in the loop as to Scores, Events, and Announcements. This can be very, very handy when we have a last-minute schedule change due to weather!

There is also a mini-calendar (for checking the schedule at a glance) and a Recommended Reading list in the sidebar. If you've got any suggestions, I'm all ears!

Sidenotes:

Now here are a few notes about the current state of the site. It is brand new and does not have a lot of content yet. As the season progresses, articles will become more plentiful. In the meantime, though, you may see some spaces with text in an unfamiliar language - like Latin! Don't be alarmed. This "filler text" is there to help with the presentation of the new website. As I explained at the Booster Club meeting, wherever I didn't have any content, I had to use filler text so that the site wouldn't have blank white squares everywhere. In fact, the site is using a powerful Content Management System (CMS) that is deliberately designed to collapse some components and modules that are devoid of content. That way the site doesn't have gaping holes of nothingness, but it also means that "filler text" is needed for proper presentation. I have already whipped up a few mock articles for each team - but the rest is standard web design filler text. As content is created, the filler text is replaced with the real thing.

This site is infinitely scalable. If there is a function you would recommend, or a category, or a feature - simply let me know and we'll see where we can work it into the design. For instance, I'd like to include PDF copies of past annual programs for viewing on the web. That entails a tedious and time-consuming job of scanning, so I may not get to it right away. But it's features like that that I want to offer in the future.

Like any brand new site, you are bound to encounter a glitch or bug here and there. If so, please send me a quick IM through the website or email me at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Lastly, I cannot emphasize enough that much of the content on this site is USER GENERATED. That means that the Wildcat Community will be supplying much of the content in the way of images, profiles, web links, news articles, and video. You must be a member to contribute, so please register today and get familiar with the Wildcats' new home on the web. the more you get comfortable in these new surroundings, the more you'll be able to contribute. The infrastructure is built, now it's up to the Wildcats to populate it.

Join TODAY!

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