By Michael Adams
Austin Sports Journal

When I started the Austin Sports Journal, the mission statement I set for the company was “to bring communities together by connecting fans, athletes and families through authentic storytelling that highlights the achievements and hard work of their local teams, fostering pride in the communities in and around the Greater Austin Area.”

I feel that I’ve got away from that mission, and I truly believe it’s because I let my ambitions get the best of me.

I often have bigger ambitions than my bandwidth can accommodate. This past weekend proved that the Austin Sports Journal’s weekly e-edition might be a little too ambitious of a project for a one-person staff.

I find that many of you don’t know that I’m a one-person show. Notwithstanding a handful of contributors, I’m the one producing the content, editing it and publishing it on the web. I also play the role of CEO, advertising manager, web developer and any other hat needed to keep this operation running.

Saturday morning, I woke with a fever of 101 degrees and whatever respiratory bug that’s going around. It took every bit of energy I had just to publish the Friday football content on the website that morning.

Without any backup, everything else got pushed aside including the e-edition.

Sick or not, the truth is that the bandwidth needed on Friday nights to cover games, collect scores from around the area, edit copy and photos from freelancers, design the football pages for the e-edition, put together the Saturday newsletter and publish everything online is more than one person can handle.

While the e-edition had good intentions, the financial and physical cost of producing it has taken away from the quality of coverage I expect of myself and aim to provide to my rapidly growing audience.

Therefore, I have made to the decision to discontinue the weekly e-edition indefinitely. I may consider bringing it back when we can get a steady flow of revenue to support its production.

Until then, I encourage you to sign up for the ASJ’s bi-weekly newsletter to get all the Austin area high school sports news directly in your inbox. I also encourage you to like and follow us on Facebook.

This is just one change I’ve decided to make moving forward to return to the mission of the Austin Sports Journal.

Another change you will notice is that there will be more video content. This will include game highlights and interviews. I have done video periodically in the past and it’s always been well received, so look for more robust offerings moving forward.

Finally, beginning on Nov. 1, I will be labeling more content as premium content, which is available exclusively to subscribers. This will include the upcoming all-metro teams, any type of in-depth game coverage, all player profiles and premium features, such as bracketology and season previews.

If you’d like access to this type of content, consider subscribing. The ASJ offers two levels of subscriptions – an annual subscription for $29.95 and a monthly subscription for $8.99. If you sign up for an annual subscription, it comes to $2.50 per month.

There will still be free content available to the casual reader. Free content will include things such as rankings, player of the week, scores, standings and schedules, photo galleries and roundups.

I want to thank all of you for being a supporter and reader of the Austin Sports Journal. There’s a lot more to come. We just needed to take a step back and reorganize with the football and volleyball playoffs are on the horizon.