Rookie
A beginner-friendly sports WordPress theme for small clubs and amateur leagues, with a straightforward layout and easy setup.
Compatibility
Built for SportsPress and SportsPress Pro. All SportsPress shortcodes, widgets, and template sections are fully supported. The theme declares add_theme_support( 'sportspress' ) so SportsPress template overrides load from the theme's sportspress/ directory.
Installation
Download Rookie from your ThemeBoy account or ThemeForest.
Go to Appearance → Themes → Add New → Upload Theme.
Upload the theme ZIP file and activate it.
Design
Rookie is designed to be the most accessible entry point for sports clubs building their first website. The layout is clean and uncluttered, with a straightforward two-column structure that does not require visual design experience to configure well. It is well suited to grassroots and amateur clubs that need a functional, presentable site without complexity.
For clubs that grow beyond Rookie's feature set, Rookie Plus offers additional layout options and BuddyPress styling while maintaining the same approachable character.
Bundled features
Mega Slider — Full-width homepage image slider with text overlays.
News Widget — Sidebar widget displaying recent posts with thumbnail and excerpt.
Social Sidebar — Widget area for social media links and feeds.
Customization
The theme supports the WordPress Customizer (Appearance → Customize) for colours, logo, and layout options. Widget areas are available in the sidebar and footer columns.
SportsPress integration
Rookie overrides SportsPress frontend templates with its clean, minimal style. Configure your sport at SportsPress → Configure, then create events, teams, and players to populate the sport sections on team and player pages.