Hendersonville Sporting Club
Up the Mighty Bears! This week we’re visiting one of the few remaining mountain towns on the list: Hendersonville. This town is nicknamed “The City of Four Seasons” and boasts a proud historic downtown center along the main street corridor. No matter if you are grabbing a beer at nearby Sierra Nevada or visiting one of the many historical landmarks, Hendersonville has a lot going for it over the years.
For their club I wanted to capture the idea of a sporting club that is seen overseas more regularly. A club’s main draw may be their soccer team, but they can also dabble into other sports like basketball, tennis, baseball, volleyball, etc. With that in mind I tried to create a sport-neutral badge that could be used all over. As a starting point I wanted to land on a mascot or symbol for that universal-ness and landed on a bear, which sits at the center. The lines behind the bear gives off a cave appearance, like the bear is exiting it. The club name flanks the bear with a sun at the top for what I intended to be a nod to the four seasons nickname, but on retrospect doesn’t really nail that.
I have three options for this club’s home site. The first is the Hendersonville High School stadium, a field set up for American football. It has stands and lighting, which is more than the next two options. The second option is William H King Memorial Park. This park is a baseball field with limited seating, and I wasn’t able to confirm lighting. My idea here is that as a sporting club, it wouldn’t be unrealistic that they would want to make their home grounds multi-use. Along that same line of thought is option number three: Jackson Park. This multi-sport complex does not have a main field, but there is enough room to shuffle the fields around into a proper first team home for both sports.
I feel like teal has become the new orange as my go-to color for crests recently so this will be the last time I use teal as a main color in the series. That being said, I really like the tan/yellow color behind the bear, and it think it looks great as the base color for a shirt. I added the darker tan as a stripe down the crest side of the shirt to keep those colors together. The off-white highlights the trim and teal shorts and socks round out the look.
Special thanks to Russell Varner for his help editing.
About me
First and foremost I am an amateur with no formal training. My hope is that this series will spark other creatives to make their own versions. Learn more about the series here. I was born and raised in Middlesex, North Carolina and have spent most of my adult life living in Raleigh. I am a fan of the beautiful game who wants to see it grow at the grassroots level.
