Shutterfly Keeps Parents in the Game with Youth Sports Share Sites

Mar 24, 2010

REDWOOD CITY, Calif., Mar 24, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) — To kick off spring sports season, Shutterfly, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFLY), the leading Internet-based social expression and personal publishing service, is partnering with Washington Youth Soccer to create the Sideline Pass program, bringing access to the sidelines by designating credentialed team photographers. Additionally, Shutterfly is releasing survey results from team parents on ways to stay organized and connected all season long through Shutterfly Share Sites.

Shutterfly Youth Sports Share Sites, free personalized web sites that provide an easy way for parents and coaches to stay connected, are helping Washington Youth Soccer open restricted sidelines during its 2010 Cup series. For the first time ever, Washington Youth Soccer is allowing coaches to designate a team photographer, usually a parent, with an “Official Sideline Photographer Press Pass,” granting them limited access to game sidelines. The team photographer will use a team Shutterfly Share Site to share photos and videos from the amazing moments they’ve captured with the teams’ players and their parents.

“Washington Youth Soccer has long received requests from parents to get access to the sidelines during semi-final and final game play at State Cups, but due to space restrictions and safety concerns has never been able to allow parents to get so close to the field,” said Amy Wallsmith of Washington Youth Soccer. “By designating a team photographer and using Shutterfly Share Sites to register and generate credentials, each team will have their own set of photos to remember this once in a lifetime experience.”

Shutterfly solicited feedback from its Youth Sports parents, and beyond designating a sole photographer, here are some ways to make the youth sporting experience more organized and enjoyable for all:

1. Say goodbye to the phone tree – In addition to building the season practice and game calendar, create an announcements section of your site where you can share other information about team gatherings or game locations. Whenever you make changes or cancellations, team parents are notified instantly; no calls necessary.

2. It’s the next best thing to being there – Photos, videos and game information assembled together in one location let cross-country relatives share in the season’s excitement. If a parent has to miss a game due to schedule conflict, Share Sites can fill in the missing action better than the local sports page.

3. Full color commentary – Encouraging comments on photos and videos gives teammates a chance to provide their own play-by-play analysis on game highlights and encourage each other to greater heights each week. When the last game is played, the site becomes an online page-turner from an action-packed season.

Shutterfly Youth Sports Share Sites help coaches and parents gather player information, publish game and practice schedules, host discussions and share photos in one secure online location. Sites take just minutes to create and publish using the youth sports setup wizard, a site creator that guides the coach or team parent through the process from choosing the site colors to inputting the roster to building the calendar for games and practices. Once created, sites also serve as private, password-protected locations for sharing team photos which can be easily made into coach gifts such as photo books or posters. Site members can also play back videos and share out photos and videos to social networking sites like Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and Blogger for one-stop posting.

About Shutterfly

Founded in 1999, Shutterfly, Inc. is an Internet-based social expression and personal publishing service. Shutterfly provides high quality products and world class services that make it easy, convenient and fun for consumers to preserve their digital photos in a creative and thoughtful manner. Shutterfly’s flagship product is its award-winning Photo Book line, which helps consumers celebrate memories and tell their stories in professionally bound coffee table books. More information about Shutterfly (NASDAQ:SFLY) is available at www.shutterfly.com. Shutterfly and Shutterfly.com are trademarks of Shutterfly, Inc.

About Washington Youth Soccer

Washington Youth Soccer is the largest youth soccer organization in Washington. Washington Youth Soccer is the state’s affiliate for US Youth Soccer, which is the largest sports organization in the United States and the most populous member of the United States Soccer Federation, the governing body for soccer in the United States. The Washington Youth Soccer is the sixth largest membership in the nation; our organization represents over 128,000 players (ages 4-19) and their families, 15,000 coaches on 12,000 teams and 6,500 referees in the state of Washington. Washington Youth Soccer’s mission is to foster the physical, mental and emotional growth and development of the State of Washington’s youth through the sport of soccer at all levels of age and competition. More information is available at www.WashingtonYouthSoccer.org.

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SOURCE: Shutterfly, Inc.

Shutterfly, Inc.
Gretchen Sloan, 650-610-5276
Media Relations
gsloan@shutterfly.com

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