Alright, so this whole thing started because my nephew plays for the Rockford Hawks, and honestly, I kept missing his games. Live streams weren’t working half the time, and checking scores constantly? Forget it. I needed something right to my phone the second they scored.
Starting the Hunt: App Store Frustration
First stop was the app stores. Searched stuff like “high school football alerts” and “Rockford Hawks scores.” Felt like digging through mud. Found tons of big league apps – NFL, Prem, you name it. Some local news apps claimed score alerts, but setting them up for specific high school games? Nope. Tried a few generic score alert apps too. Most focused on colleges or pros. When I did find something mentioning high schools, Rockford wasn’t listed, or the alerts were delayed or just… unreliable. Got pretty frustrated clicking download, setting it up, hoping… then disappointment.
Deeper Dive: Python Came Through
Ready to give up, honestly. Then, poking around forums, I see mentions of footballNotifier. Sounded nerdy, but figured, what the heck. The idea was simple: a little Python script that could watch for goals and text you. Grabbed it from a code place (can’t link here, but easy enough to find searching that name).
Getting My Hands Dirty: Setup Time
Okay, time to roll up sleeves. Had Python already, thankfully.
- Step 1: Install the script. Wasn’t hard, just followed the basic readme.
- Step 2: The trickiest part: Finding the Team ID. This script needs to know exactly which team to watch. Spent way too long hunting this down. Turns out, the place it pulls scores from has specific codes for teams. Found a list, searched for Rockford High School Hawks (our full name!), and got the magic number.
- Step 3: Texting setup. Needed a way for the script to send SMS. Signed up for a free Textlocal account – took maybe 2 minutes. Got an API key and stuck my phone number in their account. Felt a bit like giving my number away, but free tier seemed okay for testing.
- Step 4: Stuck the Team ID and my Textlocal details (API key, number) right into the script’s config file. Plain text, just edited it carefully.
The Moment of Truth: Running it
Crossed my fingers and ran the thing. It just sat there quietly. No errors. Good sign? No idea. Left it running on my laptop.
BOOM! It Worked!
First time a Hawks game kicked off after that… ping! Phone buzzes. Simple text: “Goal! Rockford High School Hawks” and the time it happened. Couldn’t believe it. Instantly! Exactly what I wanted. Since then, it’s worked every game day. Might miss a minor status update, but goals? Bang on time, every time. Set it up on an old Raspberry Pi now so the laptop doesn’t have to be on constantly.
Looking Back: Why Bothered?
Yeah, it wasn’t as smooth as clicking ‘install’ on an app. Needed some basic setup. But none of those pre-made apps actually solved my problem for the Rockford Hawks. This little script? Does one thing perfectly: tells me the second they score. For this uncle? That’s priceless.