High school sports are a staple of the school experience for more than eight million teens in the U.S. Whether you're an athlete or the proud family member of a sports star, you know that those team experiences are worth remembering. A high school sports photo book is perfect for capturing precious memories and celebrating a hard-working athlete.

Why Creating High School Sports Photo Books is Important

Participating in high school sports has many proven benefits, including increasing self-esteem and helping teens connect with their communities. You're proud of what the student athletes in your life have achieved — and you want them to remember the lessons they've learned from sporting for years to come. They might have some keepsakes, like trophies and uniforms. But these items don't always capture the team spirit and friendships that make high school sports so fun.

That's where photo books for athletes come in handy. Whether it's a hockey photo book for your favorite goalie or a cheerleading photo book for the teen in your life with serious school spirit, a custom-designed album can make a big impression. A photo book is a great way to show off an athlete's accomplishments while helping them remember the teammates who supported them along the way.

How to Capture Team Spirit in Sports Photo Books

A sports photo book should be all about celebrating school spirit and the bonds between teammates. You'll need to gather photos before you start designing your photo book. Look for shots that include:

The athlete practicing at home or school
Candid shots of your athlete with their teammates
Action shots of your athlete playing their sport
Posed shots of your athlete and their team in uniform
Photos of awards or trophies your athlete has earned

Next, you'll need to choose a template for your photo book. Mixbook has a wide variety of sports themes ranging from vintage baseball photo books to beautiful dance team photo books. Remember that you can change the templates if you need — if you love the layout of the tennis photo book, but your athlete plays lacrosse, simply adapt the design to suit your needs.

You can use other themes from the Mixbook collection to create an athlete-focused photo book, too. For example, a school yearbook theme is the perfect choice if you want to track the progress of an athlete over the full school year. Yearbook themes also work well if your athlete plays multiple sports but you want to include them all in one photo book.

Formatting Tips for Youth Sports Photo Books

Gathering photos of your athlete and choosing the right theme are great steps toward crafting an amazing photo book. You can also make a high school sports album stand out by

Using school colors for different design attributes, like borders and fonts
Incorporating text stickers with your athlete's jersey number
Asking coaches to write a short statement about what makes your athlete special
Leaving blank pages at the end of the book for autographs from teammates and coaches
Including a page that lists all of your athlete's games or meets for their year, with scores and highlights

Many high school athletes play the same sport all four years. Creating a volleyball photo book or football team photo book at the end of each season is a meaningful way to record an athlete's progress over time. As your high school athlete approaches graduation, think about creating an athletic grad photo book that celebrates their whole high school career.

Preserving Youth Sports Memories with Mixbook

High school sports might come to an end, but the memories that athletes make last forever. Are you ready to record your student athlete's practices, victories, and accomplishments? Get started on your sports photo book today. You'll find unique templates and sports-themed stickers perfect for celebrating any athlete on Mixbook.