Description as a Tweet:

Pocket Pick-Up is an app that allows people at UMASS to connect in real time to play spontaneous games from a wide array of sports. Users can pick their preferred sport and enter times and location to make contact easy.

Inspiration:

One evening our friends were doing work together, as we are oft to do, and when we finished we realized it was a Friday and we had more time to spend together. It was a nice night outside, the balmy air was inviting, and we decided to play an extemporaneous game of basketball. Many college students are busy people with packed schedules filled with classes, extracurriculars, social events, work, etc. That night we ended up on the court for a couple hours, the spur-of-the-moment nature of the activity allowing us to exercise and socialize, without the stress of planning. Spontaneous activities allow freedom within the confines of strict timing to connect with people and spend time with passions that otherwise would be neglected. Many people can relate to the difficulties of planning around multiple people's schedules, often culminating in activities falling through. Pocket Pick-Up allows people to cultivate their sport and connect with others in real time without the hassle of wrangling a group together.

What it does:

Pick-Up games are common all around the world, while the phrase is typically reserved for basketball, the sentiment is the same for all sports. They are impromptu sports games between people who are at a court, field, etc. at the same time. Sometimes they know each other, oftentimes many are strangers who spend time playing together. Our project allows users to bring a modern twist to this by using technology to connect people on the UMASS Amherst.

How we built it:

Once we decided on our idea, we began to sketch out a prototype of what we wanted it to look like. We assessed core functionality that we would need and tried to get those done immediately. We used git to collaborate with each other and tried to keep everyone occupied with a task.

Technologies we used:

• HTML/CSS
• Javascript
• Node.js
• Express
• React
• Misc

Challenges we ran into:

The first challenge we faced was figuring out what environment to get started in. We had to switch from making a mobile app with React Native to making a mobile web app with React.
Backend was completely unfamiliar to us so we had a lot of trouble just figuring out how to get started with that and connect our backend to the front end.
We had some issues with git eating our code when pushing, because we were all working on different branches. It was sometimes difficult to merge and we should have pushed more often.

Accomplishments we're proud of:

We are very proud that we actually submitted something. In the beginning we had a lot of trouble setting up our environment and we had to make tough choices like going from mobile application to a mobile web application. There were many times when I felt demotivated but we persevered through all the errors and bugs and had a great time overall. I'm proud of my team, everyone contributed and put in a ton of effort, even though many had never worked with the technologies we were using.

What we've learned:

I really began to understand more of the big picture of web applications when it comes to the full stack. Like how the front end and back end communicate, and where hosting and cloud services come into the picture. I learned about different stacks and technologies. We all improved our CSS and React skills and picked up a couple tricks.

What's next:

Connecting the backend
Turning it into an app
Making it secure by authenticating emails
Google Maps API
Adding a setting when creating the form to choose the level of play(beginner,intermediate,advanced)

Built with:

We used React,CSS,Began to use MongoDB,Express,Node.js

Prizes we're going for:

• Best Software Hack
• Best Web Hack
• Best Beginner Software Hack
• Best Mobile Hack

Zaid Takriti
Yusuf Elley
Mounir Kanane
Yousef Ibrahim
Youmna Alnasrallah

Table 30