Ball on Board: a clearer story for players and parents

For a young basketball player, the move to America often starts with a sporting ambition. Parents also consider education, preparation and support. The existing website already contained Ball on Board’s experience and materials, but the connections between them could be clearer. Publishing events and working with photographs also needed attention.

I started with a short analysis and examples of a different first impression. We then discussed what visitors need to understand and what the team wants to change themselves. That gave the project a clear direction: explain the service better and simplify everyday content management, while keeping Kirby and both languages.

The new opening gets straight to the point: “Speel basketbal. Studeer in Amerika.” — play basketball, study in America. It explains who the support is for and how the first conversation works. Players can discuss their options; parents have a separate route to information about the journey.

The rest of the page builds on that. Visitors see the stages from the first meeting to preparing for departure, meet the team and get an impression of players who went before them. Each player’s school name gives the photograph context.

The existing colours and basketball imagery remain recognisable. On a phone, the introduction video sits at the top with a cream heading over a dark gradient. We reviewed and refined this with the client. Buttons, text sizes and photo frames follow a consistent approach across the other pages.

The website continues to run on Kirby, with content management organised around the material Ball on Board works with.

Events have a prepared structure for practical information, programme, photographs and a registration link. Dutch is the starting point; the English version keeps shared information and the structure together. Team members and players can be edited individually.

Presentations have their own web viewer and a shareable link. The team selects the PDF in the CMS and can replace it later while keeping the same link for families.

We reviewed the website step by step in a test environment. Feedback covered the mobile video placement, calmer team cards, concise player information and making uploaded presentations visible. I implemented the chosen changes, and the client also tried editing text, photographs and documents in the CMS.

Before moving to the main domain, a backup, important existing links and technical behaviour were checked. The new version went live on 24 October 2026. Contact forms, images, language routes and the CMS were checked again after the switch.

The redesigned website brings the service, the people and the journey together. Players and parents can see where to go with their questions. The team can publish new events and presentations and keep the content up to date in Kirby.

The result is visible in the design and usable in everyday work. Brian’s review describes the collaboration in his own words: