🦫 When Arty Got Bored: Why We Hand-Coded a Fast WordPress Site for Jetty Tennis Club
At Art Spot Web Studio, we work directly with real human beings—small business owners, creators, and niche brands who want a website that actually feels like them. We don’t do corporate fluff, we don’t present fake agency polish, and we certainly don’t believe every small project needs a heavy, complicated web stack.
So when the opportunity came up to build a dedicated merchandise landing page for Jetty Tennis Club (jettytennis.club), we knew we had to treat it differently.
🎾 The Design Goal:
Capturing Raw Youthful Energy
Jetty isn’t just another mascot on a logo. He is the official ambassador for the Junior World Tennis Series (JWTS)—a character who travels the globe to bring joy, drive, and encouragement to young players on the court.
The primary challenge was simple: How do we capture that bright, fearless, court-side energy in a digital format?
We wanted the website to feel:
- Youthful & Energetic: Vibrant colors, clean typography, and a fresh layout that resonates with young athletes and their families.
- Focused & Direct: A single-page experience where visitors can explore Jetty’s story and merchandise without getting lost in endless menus.
- Lightning Fast: An experience as quick and responsive as a fast serve on a hard court.
🦫 Enter Arty: “Let’s Make This Interesting!”
Normally, when setting up a straightforward one-page site, it’s easy to grab an existing theme framework, adjust the styles, and call it a day. But our mascot, Arty the Beaver, was feeling a bit bored with routine setup tasks.
He wanted a challenge. And because Jetty happens to be Arty’s older brother—the very first crocheted mascot created by my daughter, Emma-Nicole — Arty took his developer duties extra seriously.
Instead of installing a commercial WordPress theme packed with hundreds of unused scripts, slider plugins, and heavy page builder frameworks, Arty decided to build the site completely custom from scratch.
🛠️ Stripping Away Commercial Bloat
Most small business websites are bogged down by software fluff they will never use. For a clean one-pager, using a massive multi-purpose commercial theme is like driving an 18-wheeler to pick up a single bag of groceries.
To give Jetty Tennis Club the crisp performance it deserved, we took a minimalist, hand-crafted approach:
- Custom Child Theme Base: We used WordPress’s native Twenty Twenty-Four as a lightweight foundation, stripping away all unnecessary commercial code.
- Hand-Coded PHP & Modular CSS: We wrote custom PHP functions and lightweight CSS to handle specific layouts and interactive elements.
- Native Gutenberg Blocks: The entire layout relies on native WordPress blocks, keeping the content flexible for future edits while keeping the site’s footprint tiny.
The result? Zero script clutter, sub-second load times, and a website that loads instantly on mobile devices right at the tennis court.
💡 Real Results for Real People
We built jettytennis.club to prove that you don’t need giant agency budgets or overly complex software to make something memorable. When you lead with authentic design, respect your visitors’ time with fast-loading code, and add a little heart to the process, the result speaks for itself.
🌐 Project Summary
- Client: JWTS (Junior World Tennis Series)
- Category: New Projects
- Platform: WordPress
- Theme & Tools: Custom Theme, Gutenberg Blocks
- Built By: Art Spot Web Studio
- Portfolio Link: Explore Art Spot Portfolio
👉 Check out the live site: jettytennis.club
👉 Read the portfolio case study: Jetty Tennis Club Case Study
👉 Want a fast, custom-built website without the agency fluff? Get in touch with Art Spot Web Studio
