Proud sponsors of Basingstoke Colts Under-7s football team

Basingstoke Town Colts Youth Football Club is a local club dedicated to coaching boys and girls to play football, providing the encouragement and opportunity to play in matches. Teams compete in the Peter Houseman Youth, North East Hants Youth and East Berkshire Youth Leagues.

As well as being Basingstoke printers, THEMPC are also proud sponsors of the Colts Under-7s football team and our Managing Director, Paul Marsh, is the Assistant Manager of the young squad.

The Colts’ club ethos is to promote achievement, teamwork, respect, and good behaviour. Of course, they also strive to provide football for children of all ages and abilities in a safe environment – and to have fun!

Using personalised print to celebrate early sporting achievement

With fun and team spirit in mind, the club called upon Paul to combine his enthusiasm for football with his extensive knowledge of bespoke print and design.

Managers and coaches wanted to create a commemorative gift for each player, to remember their first season as a Colt and capture some of the wonderful memories.

At the beginning of the season, we used our graphic design and personalised print capabilities to produce a personalised welcome box for new members of Basingstoke Colts Under-7s. It included their football kits and a personalised notebook with their names printed on it.

Everyone involved felt it would be nice to echo this theme in the end of season gift – but to give the team something a little bit different and truly memorable. THEMPC always like to go the extra mile for our clients and let our creativity run free.

Thinking back to his own football-mad childhood, Paul remembered how much he loved the renowned Panini World Cup sticker books. Collecting football stickers and card trading with friends is still so popular with kids today.

The idea for a personalised sticker book and trading card set for each of the players in the team was born. It would be a keepsake like no other that the children would cherish for years to come, remembering where it all began in that first season playing grass roots football.

 Personalised print creating a keepsake like no other! 

A fun, personalised, and interactive souvenir for every young player

THEMPC are experts in personalised print, providing graphic design and printing services for a wide variety of clients. We went through the following stages to create a gift for each of the Colts Under-7s football team:

  • Organised a photo shoot to get high quality individual and team images of all twenty-two players, which could be used to create print on demand stickers
  • Kept the purpose of the photo shoot a secret so the gift would be a surprise
  • Captured a serious shot and a funny shot of each child, allowing their individual personalities to shine
  • Designed a sticker book in the style of the football kits, replicating the look of the shirt onto the front and back cover
  • Included three football pitch layouts in the middle section of the sticker book, one for each team: Lightning, Thunder and Storm. Here, the children could add the printed stickers of their teams in the formation they think works best for their team – making it personalised and interactive
  • Also incorporated action shots taken at matches and images of loyal supporters, friends and family who turn up to cheer, whatever the weather
  • Used our bespoke glossy sticker printing capabilities and the individual photographs to produce forty sticker cards and trading cards for the kids to trade with teammates
  • Metallic sticker printing allowed us to produce the coveted limited edition ‘shiny’ card that every collector wants!
  • Inserted extra cards as keepsakes for family and friends
  • Added a message of thanks from us, as their sponsor, saying we look forward to continuing to support them and watching them develop on their football journeys

 “This is like a dream come true for my son, featuring in his very own sticker book"  

Special moments captured forever

As sponsors of the Basingstoke Colts Under-7s football team, keen supporters of youth sports and avid footie fans, we were delighted that we could use our onsite equipment for print on-demand stickers and the accompanying sticker book.

  • Each team member was delighted to receive a unique, personalised gift like no other
  • All those special first year achievements in football have been captured forever
  • Team spirit and friendship has been fostered through card trading
  • Leaders of Basingstoke Town Colts Youth Football Club and THEMPC got the chance to show how much they care about the team (…and indulge a little nostalgia!)

Every element of this book was designed and created in-house, showcasing the infinite possibilities of personalised print and what our team at THEMPC has to offer. Next year’s personalised stickers and sticker books are already in the pipeline.

Paul Marsh, Assistant Manager for the Basingstoke Colts Under-7s, and Director of THEMPC, comments:

“Collecting and trading football cards is timeless fun, and the kids absolutely loved them! Who knows, maybe some of our players will join the England squad in future and these cards will become highly sought after. For now, we’re just happy they’ve brought some extra fun to the end of a fantastic first season.”

To talk to our friendly team about design, personalised print, production and fulfilment, contact us on 01256 352415.