Another Top Pro Athlete Websites

As a Professional Athlete myself, I’m always interested to see what other athletes are doing to promote themselves on the internet. I published the first Top 25 Pro Athlete Websites list over a year ago which became a very popular resource for athlete website design on the web.

Following on from it’s popularity, I have compiled a second list of Pro Athlete Websites. These are my favourite athlete websites and updated sites that I have come across in the past few months. It is not an exhaustive list as I simply could not find any others to even come up with a ‘Top 25′, which is either a result of other athletes having terrible SEO which meant I couldn’t find them on Google, or their websites weren’t up to par. It still suprises me how many athletes don’t put the effort (or money) in to their websites and social media when the brands of the world have very much taken up this challenge and appear to be putting their money where their mouth is in terms of spending marketing dollars on web-based opportunities rather than TV and print alone.

Click on the screencaps to go direct to the athletes website [ websites are NOT ranked in any particular order]

Lewis Hamilton
I really like everything about Lewis Hamilton’s new website for 2010. The dark graphics, the use of jquery (only the header section is Flash, navigation and other elements are lightweight jquery) the simple navigation, the minimal and professional look. I also love the attention to detail on the favicon logo.

Lance Armstrong
Off the bike, Lance Armstrong has accomplished many things. His new website captures not only his cycling but his charity work, his multiple books and his LiveStrong Foundation. It is very minimal, very clean and white. I’m not a big fan of the use of Flash where jquery could’ve worked better, but I do like the way the site is put together and the use of BIG images (very 2010~!).

Rafael Nadal
I’d already featured Spanish tennis superstar Rafael Nadal’s website in the previous Top 25 Athlete Websites article, however his new 2010 website also gets a mention. I love the fact it’s entirely using jquery instead of Flash for all the animated and navigation elements. Nadal’s ‘next opponent’, ‘current tournament’ and ‘pro shop’ sections allow the user to easily and visual follow Nadal at any of his competitions and purchase the latest merchandise straight from the front page. The colour use of blue/white/grey looks very slick also.

Steven Jackson
Despite the fact this website has terrible ‘auto-play’ music which I absolutely DESPISE, this website of NFL running back Steven Jackson has great use of big images and integrates some motion video in to the background. Again it overuses Flash when unnecessary which adds to the loading time, but overall the site has a very chic look.

Amanda Beard
I also featured Amanda Beard’s old website in the previous post on Athlete Websites, but I had to include her 2010 website just because it is so visually stunning. Although it’s a full flash website and links more to her twitter and facebook pages than actual content on the site, the graphics and composed photos are really, really cool and well polished. The site gets a 10/10 for visual appeal, even at the expense of usability.

Monica Abbott
Team USA Softball star Monica Abbott’s new website by FusionSports is very cool. Although there is absolutely no use for the splash screen, inside the website the layout is very clean, professional and the use of ‘mobile connect’ integration as well as the sign-up elements are second to none. I really like this website.

Victoria Azarenka
I included this new website of Victoria Azarenka (designed by Hallpass Media) because it uses ‘Delegate’ theme by Woothemes.com; the same theme I use for my AUS120.com website. I like the integration of video and twitter on the frontpage and the fact that this theme uses jquery entirely to power all the elements. The use of purple/pink in the colour-scheme is very girly and suit’s Victoria.

Ana Ivanovic
There are a lot of tennis girls in this list, as there are a lot with cool websites. This Serbian born tennis star’s new 2010 website is very 2010. Combining Flash with some jquery elements, the website focuses more on Ana’s good looks rather than just the tennis as there isn’t much ‘tennis related’ images on the frontpage. The website colour scheme is great and the overall site layout is top notch.

Joel Parkinson
This pro surfer’s website is really, really simple – a blog layout. It’s in the list because of it’s simplicity and easy of navigation. Admittedly, the real fans of surfing are the <15 kids who hit the beach every morning before and after school; this site works perfectly targeting that audience.

Mick Fanning
Mick Fanning is an Australian pro surfer. His website is very simple again, but uses great images and a very minimal layout to quickly showcase the talents of Mick and what’s going on in his career and life. I especially like the clean use of white text on dark backgrounds. Reminds me very much of Kimi Raikkonen’s website (the F1 driver featured in the first ‘Top Athlete Websites’ list).

Justine Henin
I read somewhere that Belgian tennis player Justine Henin is the highest paid player in women’s tennis. I’m not sure if that’s true but her website is definitely the coolest looking in women’s tennis. Using a fluid-width site the graphics, layout and overall look of the site really shout 2010! Although its a full flash site it is running on some very smoking fast servers and the loadtime is very minimal.

Misty May
American beach volleyball Olympic Gold Medalist Misty May’s new website is very white, minimal and clean; which I like. I think the top slider would’ve loaded much quicker with jquery rather than flash, but overall the site has a very clean look which I believe works well for professional athletes.

Ray Lewis
This website is actually a product page for American NFL linebacker Ray Lewis’ new iPhone app for training. That being said the site is very clean, very informative and uses some great images of the iPhone and layout to promote the app.

Gary Player
This website makes the list simply because of the amount of content built in to this website, which would have been a mammoth usability headache when originally designing the site. Apart from all the info on legendary golf player Gary Player (nice name, huh?) they’ve managed to fit in all the information on Gary’s golf course design, real estate, hotels, charity work and foundation, in a very clean, slick looking and minimal layout.

Krystal Weir
Australian Olympian and World Champion sailor Krystal Weir’s new website uses a WooThemes.com template and the simple background of the ocean and a jquery slider to showcase the athletes abilities in multiple sailing classes. Using a simple 2 column blog layout with video, images and sponsors showcased on the frontpage, the site is simplistic and designed to be easy on the eyes.

Kasey Kahne
This American NASCAR driver’s new website is very cool. It’s layed out much like a blog with two columns and features a nifty, simple jquery slider at the top. The layout is clean and intuitive and the colour scheme is very slick.

Jimmy Brennan
This one is well down the list as I don’t particular like the fact the full flash site took so long to load. It does get points for the layout and colour use however. This pro soccer player’s website is quite cool in a sport that is not famous for good websites for it’s super high-payed athletes.

Samantha Stosur
Another site with a simple clean layout and great colour scheme. Tennis star Samantha Stosur’s new site focusing on the news in a blog format with an easy to navigate menu and great first image on the homepage.

Tim Berkel
Australian triathlete Tim Berkel’s new site is sold simply on the top image alone. Using this fantastic shot, the overall colour scheme of the site blends in with how simple it is; another 2 column blog which is easy on the eyes and straight to the point. An athlete’s site doesn’t always have to be complex, it just needs to show off the athlete – job well done.

Parting Notes

I hope you enjoyed this second list of athlete websites and once again if you do some research yourself you’ll find that there’s not as many pro athletes out there (as we might think) with cool looking modern websites and even less using the glorious WordPress as a CMS. I’d love it if you guys could Digg this article or at least spread it over the social bookmarking websites below as I’m sure there’s many up and coming athletes out there who see the benefits in promoting themselves on the web and want some inspiration when they build their personal website.

And feel free to post any more athlete’s sites in the comments!

As a bit of a plug, here is my new website for my alter-ego – pro windsurfer AUS120.com!

One more for the road …