Since I started Lifeskate.com back in September 2007, I kept running into a site called Figure Skaters Online (FSO). FSO is the official website for many of our top skaters (Johnny Weir, Jeremy Abbott, Evan Lysacek) as well as many up-and-coming skaters. I assumed that FSO was a service that the athletes partnered with and therefore, there was a business aspect to the relationship. Well imagine my surprise when I found out that it is completely organized and run by volunteers! Recently I had a chance to ask Jamie Blanchard, administrative webmaster for FSO, about the site and here's part 1 of our conversation.
How did Figure Skaters Online start?
Figure Skaters Online began as another website called Figure Skaters on Ice sometime in 1998. At first, skating photographer Leah Adams and one of her friends started it just as a hub for small official sites, which they saw as a great way to support skaters. Once Lisa Patterson, the original administrative webmaster, came on board in 1999, the site became known as Figure Skaters Online and it expanded to include things like contests. It continued under Lana Martin until she passed the duties on to me in 2003, when I was still a junior in high school. The project has developed into something that I honestly do not think anyone could have imagined even a few years ago. It’s definitely more than official websites now but our main purpose is still to help skaters establish their online presence in a way that truly reflects them. The official websites are primarily news based but a lot of skaters use them as the primary way to connect with their fans socially.
Figure Skaters Online has provided more than 100 skaters with free
official websites over the years. Currently, we are supporting about 30
active sites, with athletes ranging from the novice to professional
level. Since the 2009 U.S. Championships, we’ve agreed to produce about
10 new sites so we will probably have around 40 active pages by the
fall. Our newest athletes are Jonathan Cassar
and
Alexander Johnson.
How did you become involved with web design? What is your day job?
I first got involved with websites when I was in the fifth grade. By the time I was in middle school, I was running one of the largest Michelle Kwan fan pages on the Internet, which was creatively named “Jamie’s Michelle Kwan Page”. I started it because I really thought she was like the coolest person ever. Most kids would probably just write her a letter but no, I started a website for her. Who knew where it would take me in life?
I interacted a lot with other people who ran figure skating websites. I’m completely self taught so I was always e-mailing them saying “How did you get the picture there?” or “What did you do to make the text there?” In 1999, I was approached by Lisa Patterson of Figure Skaters Online about working on an official website for Scott Smith. I of course could not turn down the opportunity to work with a real figure skater. It was like working with a rock star!
Besides running all of the skating websites that I do, I also do some freelance work for small business like insurance companies and leadership institutes. I’m so fortunate that many of my clients are able to pass my name along to other people who need small websites. My day job is working as the Coordinator of Marketing and Communications for the Amateur Softball Association of America/USA Softball in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. I do a lot of things from writing press releases to updating their two websites, www.asasoftball.com and usasoftball.com. I also make sure that they’re using social media outlets like Facebook and Twitter to engage with members and fans.
Who is on the FSO staff?
Our current staff consists primarily of me and two other webmasters, Daphne Backman from Ice-Dance.com and Devon Stein of Ice-Skate.net. We also have a couple of other webmasters who run one or two official sites. From time to time, we get new webmasters and designers in the rotation but most people are not willing to work for free like everyone on our staff does. Without Figure Skaters Online, most skaters would really have no way of connecting online with fans, on their own terms.
What do you think makes FSO special?
An important aspect of having an official website for an athlete is that athletes like Evan Lysacek and Johnny Weir can tell their fans when they are doing social networking. If they did not have an official site, how would you know, for example, that a Facebook profile claiming to be Evan Lysacek is actually Evan and not some teenager with too much time on their hands? How would you know it’s actually Johnny Weir on Twitter? It would be a lot harder for fans to figure out I think.
Also, knowing what I charge for my freelance web design work, I think very few of our skaters would be able to afford a quality website if they had to pay for it. Most of them can barely afford the essentials of the skating season! While we provide the labor for the sites, skating photographer Leah Adams provides the financial backing for things like our domain name and web space. Leah has been the sole supporter of Figure Skaters Online for the entire 10 years. She does it because she loves the athletes. Her commitment to the sport is really unrivaled.
Part 2 of my interview with Jamie Blanchard continues tomorrow. Topics include dishing about her favorite skaters as well as her favorite memories as webmaster of FSO.
Figure Skaters Online is great! Thanks for doing what you do ladies. We love hearing from Johnny and Evan.
Posted by: Kathleen | July 20, 2009 at 11:35 AM