From Idea to Launch: Building Our First Sports Platform

Building the Junior Sables rugby platform was one of our most challenging and rewarding projects. Here's the real story - the good, the bad, and what we'd do differently.

The Beginning

It started with a simple question: "Can you build us a platform to manage our rugby team?" We said yes, thinking it would be straightforward. We were wrong.

The Reality Check

Week 1: We thought we understood the requirements.

Week 2: We realized we had no idea what managing a sports team actually involved.

Week 3: We started over.

What We Built

The platform needed to handle:

• Player registration and profiles
• Match scheduling and results
• Team communication
• Statistics tracking
• Media gallery
• Fan engagement

Each feature seemed simple until we started building it.

The Late Nights

There were many. The night before the first match, we were still fixing bugs. The database crashed at 2 AM. We learned that "it works on my machine" is the most dangerous phrase in software development.

The "Aha!" Moments

1. User Testing is Everything: What made sense to us didn't make sense to coaches who just wanted to see who was available for Saturday's match.

2. Mobile First, Always: Coaches and players use phones, not laptops. We redesigned everything for mobile.

3. Simple is Better: We removed half the features we built because they were confusing. The platform got better when we simplified it.

What We Wish We Knew

1. Start with user interviews, not code

2. Build the simplest version first, then add features

3. Test with real users early and often

4. Sometimes the best feature is the one you remove

The Launch

It wasn't perfect. There were bugs. But it worked. And more importantly, the team started using it. Real users, real matches, real results.

The Lesson

Software development isn't about writing perfect code. It's about solving real problems for real people. The Junior Sables platform works because we listened, adapted, and kept it simple.

Building software is a journey, not a destination. And we're still learning.