When we get to the level of junior hockey, it’s important to realize this has not only become a business, a big business at that, it is vital teams and leagues are run as such. Putting a professional face on your organization is key to prospects, parents and colleagues continuing to take you serious. While many are successful at this, I’d put forth that the majority are not.

It’s not a question of your bottom line staying in the black, although it can be a big factor. Running your program like you would your average youth association doesn’t work at the junior level when operating budgets are significantly higher.

So, why put out unprofessional news stories and press releases? Writing for your team should be taken as serious as any journalistic approach in professional sports. Go read some stories on NHL team sites some time. Take away their quirky, fun stories they will do from time-to-time on a player, although those are still done very professionally, and look at the structure and writing involved. 

Your website, or Information Superbook as I called it Tuesday, needs to be as professionally handled as you would expect your coaches to bring to their job teaching the players. I mentioned in previous columns the importance of having a regularly updated social media strategy and website. To do this requires quality writing with relevant stories.

Quality writers can make all the difference in the world in promoting your team. Just a small example from my past as a writer; a few years ago I was doing some media relations work for a league while I was also coaching in that league. I took it as my responsibility to make the entire league look as good as possible, the definition of public relations in my book. I gave each team the same amount of respect, whether they were in dead last struggling to even get one win or the first place team who was seemingly running away with the league. 

Making that last place team appear, in writing, to sound like a championship contender, without making up stories or exaggerating what they were doing, was a challenge, but was key in doing a professional job as a media director. It could only help the league as a whole to promote every team as a success in their own right.

Just a few months into the job the league decided spending money on a position like mine, despite overflowing league bank accounts, was not a wise move. Just a few years later, that league no longer exists. Perhaps keeping someone in place to put a professional touch to their public image may have helped.

Yes, that’s a little bit of tooting my own horn, but there’s a lesson to be learned here. Having a profession in place to handle your public relations, news and information writing can make a massive difference in your team’s public appearance. Obviously not saying this is the reason the league folded, there were a lot of factors involved and their deciding to lose their media relations people, myself and one other guy, was just a very small part of that in my opinion.

Many teams and leagues out there use interns from local colleges and universities to handle a lot of this extra writing. I am a HUGE advocate of this as someone who cut his teeth as a writing intern for the Dallas Cowboys for three seasons. Internships within teams and leagues are such a positive for the teams and leagues, but more importantly for those students to gain experience.

But, interns still need direction. You still need that professional in place to make sure interns are still going about the process in the right way, not only for your organization, but for their educational credit. I couldn’t have done it without such a person within the Cowboys organization.

As I continue to mention, my company 5-Hole Graphics’ partnership with juniorhockey.com is no different from what your team or organization can have. Becoming a partner with juniorhockey.com allows you the opportunity to post news and information about your program as often as you want to promote your team.

Imagine now, you have a professional in place to handle your freelance writing, whether directly or by overseeing a group of interns and those stories are now available, not just on your team website, but on juniorhockey.com and in front of its thousands of readers each month (anywhere between 40,000-over100,000 page views per month on average).

It’s the same opportunity 5-Hole Graphics is afforded. Just like I get to sell myself as a potential major asset for your organization, you can do the same for your program. But here’s the sales pitch, partnering with 5-Hole Graphics AND juniorhockey.com gives you the peace of mind that you have someone getting the work done for you at a quality level and with 36+ years experience in hockey as a player, official and coach and who also happens to have a lengthy history as a writer, graphic designer and more.

Let that partnership sink in and contact me today at fiveholegrfx@gmail.com or find me on my social media at www.facebook.com/5HoleGraphics. I can talk to you about what 5-Hole Graphics can do for you and how we can get you set up on juniorhockey.com.