Case Study  /  WordPress Dev  /  Custom Theme

Manhattan Squash

A custom WordPress build for Manhattan Community Squash Center's Nicol Squash junior program — translating a dense, multi-tiered schedule, pricing structure, and tournament coaching calendar into a page that actually works for the people who need it.

Goal: Turn complexity into clarity
WordPress · Custom Theme
Full Project
Client
Manhattan Squash
Scope
Strategy · Design · WordPress Dev
Platform
WordPress · Custom Theme
Program Tracks
3Junior player tiers on a single page
The Problem
Complex programming.
Multiple audiences.
One page.

Manhattan Community Squash Center's Nicol Squash Academy offered a layered junior programming structure: multiple player tiers, weekday and weekend tracks, per-session pricing for members and non-members, a tournament coaching calendar, private lesson options, and a lineup of elite coaches. The information was real and valuable. The challenge was making it readable.


The audience wasn't just one person — it was parents trying to figure out if their 10-year-old belonged in Rising Stars or Tournament Players, and serious competitive players checking tournament prep schedules. Building for both meant building architecture that could serve both, without requiring either one to wade through the other's information first.

The Complexity
3
Player tiers — each with distinct schedules, pricing, and minimum requirements
6+
Pricing variants across session types and membership status
7 mo.
Of tournament coaching calendar to display clearly
The Build
Junior Programming — Nicol Squash
manhattansquash.org/nicol-squash/junior-programming
Manhattan Community Squash Center — Junior Squash Programming page, full view
The Solution
Architecture for two audiences at once

The page was designed to work top-to-bottom for a first-time parent, and also scannable for a returning competitive player looking for a specific schedule block or pricing detail.

📋
Tiered Schedule Tables
Three distinct player tiers — Rising Stars, Tournament Players, and Performance Players — each with their own schedule block, age range, minimum requirements, and pricing, organized so parents could self-select without reading the whole page.
Info Architecture
📅
Tournament Coaching Calendar
A multi-month color-coded tournament schedule showing PCt, Silver, Gold, Open, Bronze, JCT, and National events — giving competitive players a clear view of the full coaching calendar at a glance without needing to cross-reference external sources.
Visual Design · Data
💰
Pricing with Member/Non-Member Split
Session pricing was presented alongside each program tier rather than in a separate section — reducing the cognitive load of having to match a tier to a price table. Member and non-member rates were shown together, making the value of membership immediately visible.
Conversion · Clarity
🎾
Sold-Out Session Callouts
High-demand sessions were surfaced with a prominent sold-out badge at the top of the page — creating social proof and urgency for open sessions without compromising the clean layout of the scheduling section.
Social Proof · UX
👤
Coach Bio Section
A dedicated section featuring Peter Nicol MSC and the full Nicol Squash Academy coaching staff — with photos, credentials, and individual bios — positioned to build credibility and trust before a parent makes a booking decision.
Trust · Credibility
🏗️
Custom Theme Build
Built on a custom WordPress theme matching Manhattan Squash's existing brand identity — black and gold, bold typography, structured tables. No off-the-shelf template; every section was designed from the ground up to serve the specific content needs of this page.
WordPress · Custom Dev
Design Thinking
The hardest thing about this page was deciding what not to hide

Sports programming pages tend to fail in one of two directions: they either bury the detail behind too many clicks (frustrating serious players who need specifics), or they dump everything on the page at once (overwhelming parents who just want to know if their kid will fit in).


The solution was strict visual hierarchy — bold tier headers that let scanners self-sort, then progressively detailed content within each block. The tournament calendar and private lesson pricing were positioned at the bottom as deliberate "dig deeper" sections, not buried, but clearly post-decision content.

🎯
Self-sorting navigation
Tier labels as wayfinding — parents identify their player in seconds
📊
Inline pricing
Rates adjacent to each tier — no hunting for a separate table
🔴
Sold-out as social proof
Sold-out callout at page top signals demand without cluttering the schedule
🗓️
Color-coded tournament calendar
Level-differentiated color system makes 7 months of events scannable
Under the Hood
Built on a custom WordPress theme designed to match Manhattan Squash's brand — not adapted from a template. Page structure used native WordPress custom page templates with structured HTML/CSS tables for the scheduling sections. The tournament calendar was implemented as a visual layout system with color-coded tier indicators, built to be editable by non-technical staff through the WP admin. Responsive at all breakpoints, with schedule tables collapsing gracefully on mobile.
WordPress Custom Theme Custom Page Template Responsive Tables CMS-Editable Layout Brand-matched Design
The Result
A page that worked as hard as the program it represented

The programming page handled a volume of information that would typically require multiple sub-pages or a PDF download — and consolidated it into a single, scroll-friendly layout that served both casual browsers and committed competitors without compromise.

3
Player Tiers
On one page, each clearly delineated by age, level, and price
2
Schedule Windows
Weekday and weekend tracks unified in a single visual system
7 mo.
Tournament Calendar
Color-coded coaching schedule covering Oct through April
4
Elite Coaches
Peter Nicol MSC and staff profiled to build booking confidence