If you’ve been asked to put together your team’s media guide this season, you might be wondering what actually goes in one. Think of it as your team’s season in one booklet, with the roster, player profiles, schedule, coaches, sponsors, seniors, and photos in one place. It’s a little different from picture day and from a game program, so here’s how the three fit together:
- Media day is the photo session that builds your athlete photo library: poses, groups, and short clips. The sports media day checklist covers how to run one.
- A game program is usually a thinner handout for one game, with the lineup, opponent notes, and a few ads.
- A media guide is the fuller booklet families and sponsors keep, with the season, athletes, staff, schedule, and recognition pages.
One way to think about it: media day is where you take the photos, and the guide is one of the places you use them.
Must-have pages
Start with these sections. Delete the ones you don’t need, and duplicate the ones you need more of.
- Cover: school, sport, season year, and a team photo or featured athlete
- Welcome and table of contents: a short note from the coach or AD, plus a page map
- Roster: names, numbers, class years, and positions
- Player profiles: photo, bio, stats or fun facts, and position-group pages if you want them
- Schedule: dates, opponents, home or away, and key tournaments
- Coaches and staff: head coach, assistants, trainers, and team managers
- Sponsors: full-page, half-page, and business ad layouts
- Seniors and recognition: senior features, parent messages, and player recognition ads
- Photo gallery: media-day groups, action shots, and community moments
Some programs also add academics, clubs, program history, community pages, and a clean back cover.
If you’d like ready-made layouts for these pages, our Sports Media Guide Canva template is an editable 8.5×11 set with covers, rosters, profiles, coach pages, schedules, sponsor and recognition ads, and photo galleries. The High School Sports Media Guide page walks through how it works.
How media-day poses map to guide pages
Reuse your media-day shot list so you’re not hunting for a usable headshot in March.
| Media-day shot | Where it works in the guide |
|---|---|
| Straight-on (waist-up and full-body) | Player profiles, roster headshots |
| Arms crossed | Profile hero, senior feature, coach page accents |
| Looking aside | Gallery variety, section openers |
| Equipment pose | Position-group pages, sport-specific covers |
| Staged action pose | Gallery, schedule headers, social posts |
| Team and coach groups | Cover options, staff pages, welcome page |
| Vertical clips | Social and stories; you don’t need them in the print guide |
Sort the files by athlete and pose first. Then drop the best stills into the roster and profile frames.
Sponsor and ad pages
Some programs sell ad space in the guide to local businesses and families. Your booster club or AD sets the rates, and the money can help cover printing and other team costs.
Print, PDF, or flipbook
You build the guide once in Canva, then pick how to share it:
- Print booklet: 8.5×11 copies for game day, keepsakes, and the program table
- PDF: email it to families, post it on the team site, or share it with a QR code
- Online flipbook: upload the finished PDF to a flipbook tool such as Heyzine for a page-turn view (the tool isn’t included with the template)
Some teams do both, with a small print run for home games and a PDF link so out-of-town family can still see the whole guide.
Building it in Canva, from media day to finished guide
- Open the Canva link from your download PDF.
- Make a copy in your account so you keep a clean original.
- Set your team colors, logo, sport, and season year.
- Drop media-day photos into the roster and profile frames, then update names, numbers, and bios.
- Fill in the schedule and coach pages. Add sponsor and senior ads last.
- Delete pages you don’t need and duplicate layouts you need more of.
- Export a PDF for print or digital sharing, or upload it to your flipbook tool.
A free Canva account works for typical photo, color, and text swaps. School Canva for Education accounts can restrict outside templates, so check your permissions before you buy. There’s a note about this on the product page.
Season timing
- Fall sports: build the guide after August media day, once uniforms and the final roster are set.
- Winter (basketball, wrestling, winter cheer): an October or November media day leaves time to finish before league play.
- Spring: shoot and build before the first home games if you want printed copies on the table.
- All year: keep a digital master copy. Update scores and records only if you’re planning a midseason version.
The same photos can carry your social posts all season. Our 12 sports team social media ideas article works for any sport, and for winter basketball, the high school basketball social media ideas for November through February lays out posts month by month.
FAQ
What’s the difference between a media guide, a game program, and media day?
Media day is the photo session. A game program is usually a shorter handout for one game. A media guide is the fuller season booklet, with the roster, profiles, schedule, coaches, sponsors, seniors, and photos, and you can print it or share it digitally.
Should we make one winter media guide for every winter sport?
Usually not. Families look for their own roster, schedule, and seniors. A guide for each sport, or clearly separate sections with their own covers, is easier to follow than one booklet that mixes basketball, wrestling, and winter cheer. Shared school branding is fine.
Do we need a designer?
No. With an editable Canva template, you can swap the colors, logos, photos, and text, then export for print or PDF. Start with the layouts you need and delete the rest.
How do sponsor ads work in a media guide?
Programs can sell full-page, half-page, and recognition spots to local businesses and families. Your booster club or AD sets the prices, and the money can help with printing and team costs.
Print, PDF, or flipbook: which should we choose?
It depends on your budget and who’s reading. Some teams print a small run for home games and share a PDF or flipbook link with everyone else. Either way, you only build it once.
Where do the photos come from?
Usually from a planned media day: straight-on, arms-crossed, looking-aside, equipment, and staged action poses, plus group shots. Those same shots work in the guide and in your social posts.
