By Ryan Deal ’16

For any Sherwood student who was interested in reading up on the school’s various teams, their first visit to Sherwood’s new “Athletics” webpage must have been quite a pleasant surprise. The site, which was recently renovated using Press Box, a website which stems from the locally active Monumental Sports Network, has been updated to include links to the teams’ Twitter and Facebook page, as well as a larger quantity of photographs from the team.

For years the athletics page was not very interactive, with the site providing only mere stats and rosters. However, with the recent closing of the local newspaper, The Gazette, Sherwood went into action, devising an interesting way to draw attention to the program.

“I wanted a website with more versatility in terms of exposure for the athletic program,” said Athletics Director Kathy Green. Versatility is just what she got. With all the game recaps from The Washington Post and Baltimore Sun being collected into one central sports news outlet, student have easier access than ever to all the information about their favorite Sherwood teams. Additionally, as recaps are sent in, the Twitter account for that specific team is also gifted with a link to post. These qualities, many hope, will help offer colleges the proper statistics they need to recruit students.

With all the flashy technological elements of the site, many coaches believe that students will be more enticed to become athletes. “I think the site will promote our program and motivate our players as well as younger players to want to be a part of athletics,” said field hockey Coach Amy Morse. For many coaches, it is easier than ever to find necessary exposure for their players, because a helpful link is just a click away. For the athletes themselves, time will only tell if the sleek new site is truly a draw, but it certainly cannot hurt to have athletes who yearn for their picture on the homepage of a neat, fancy site.

While the advanced site is still in its infancy, the early reviews have been extremely promising. “I had a college recruiter from North Dakota reach out to me for contact info for a coach and player because he saw a PressBox post and read the recap mentioned on the Twitter feed; so, I know it’s working for the coaches,” said Green, who believes that the site’s inception could bring forth more technological enhancements to the school.

In this era when recruiting is so often done online, any little improvement that a school can make to improve a student’s chances of getting noticed is hugely important. With PressBox and Sherwood working together, the possibilities for student athletes are endless.