Arjun's Kit Ready

When Arjun is running matches, he needs to know in one look which jerseys are washed and ready and which are still at the dhobi.

Who this is for

Arjun Pawar runs a kabaddi league in Kolhapur. Eight teams, about seventy players, matches on Sunday mornings on the maidan behind the vegetable market. He owns six sets of jerseys and lends them out set by set. At half past six on a Sunday, with the loudspeaker being tested and the onion trucks unloading, he needs to know whether the red set came back from the wash or is still sitting in a bucket at Sattar bhai's place.

How the job is done today

Arjun keeps a notebook in the kit bag. A set goes out, he writes the team name and the date, except half the time he writes it that evening and by then he has forgotten who took what. There is a WhatsApp group with the eight captains, but on match morning nobody is looking at a phone. So he calls Sattar bhai at six, then calls the captain who had the blue set last Sunday, and when neither picks up he sends a boy on a cycle to the dhobi's place to go and look. Twice this season two teams turned up expecting the same green set, and one of them played in whatever they had come wearing.

The screens, in order

1. The kit board — Shows every set as a big block of its own colour so Arjun can tell from arm's length, in sunlight, what is ready, what is out with a team and what is at the wash.
2. Set page — Opens one set to show how many shirts and shorts it holds, what sizes, and where it has been these last few Sundays.
3. Hand over and take back — Marks a set as given to a team with the date, and marks it returned when the captain drops the bag back.
4. Wash list — Keeps track of which sets went to Sattar bhai, the day they went and the day he said they would be back.
5. Sunday sheet — Lays out the day's matches with the set each side will wear, so the board and the fixtures agree before anyone reaches the ground.

What it keeps track of

• Kit sets — the colour, how many shirts and shorts, which sizes, and whether it is ready, out or at the wash
• Teams — team name, captain's name, captain's phone number
• Handovers — which set, which team took it, the day it went out, the day it came back
• Wash trips — which sets went to the dhobi, the day they went, the day they are promised back, whether they have actually come
• Matches — which two teams, which Sunday, what time, which set each side wears

The one decision that matters

The real choice is whether the site tells people things or whether it is a board people look at. Sending a message when a set comes back sounds sensible, but the maidan has a loudspeaker, two hundred people and a vegetable market on the other side of the wall. A phone buzzing in a kit bag is a message nobody receives. So build it as a board. One page, colour blocks, no scrolling to find the answer. Arjun can hold the phone up and the captain standing six feet away can read it. Sattar bhai's boy can open the same link on his own phone. Nothing depends on anyone hearing anything.

What to leave out of the first version

Leave out individual jersey numbers. It is tempting to track shirt 7 and shirt 11 separately, but Arjun never asks that question on a Sunday morning. He asks whether Sangram can wear red. The set is the thing that moves, the set is what gets washed, so the set should be the unit. Also leave out logins. Three people use this and they all know each other. A link that opens straight to the board is worth more than a password nobody remembers at six in the morning.

How you would know it worked

On a Sunday when two matches run back to back, Arjun makes no phone call about jerseys, and no team stands at the line waiting because the set they expected is still in a bucket.

Build it

Paste this in and let it run.

I run a kabaddi league in Kolhapur with eight teams and six sets of jerseys, and I want a small website that shows me in one look which set is ready, which is out with a team and which is at the dhobi. Make the front page big blocks in the colour of each set, readable from arm's length in bright sun, because the maidan is far too loud and busy for me to be squinting at small lines or waiting for any message to arrive. I should be able to tap a set to hand it to a team with the date, tap again when the bag comes back, and keep a wash list showing what went to Sattar bhai and the day he promised it back. Add a simple Sunday page with the day's matches and which set each side wears. No login please, my two helpers should just open the link and see the same thing.