As all sports technology startups try to become mainstream, one of the several, underlying prevalent issues remain constant: education of a respective company’s benefits from its technology to the consumer level.
Be it derived from the tech sector over sports or vice versa notwithstanding, common ground needs to transpire in order to reach desired target markets. Communication, above all else, is paramount for the continued development and progression of these startups. Just about any single opportunity that presents itself to speak and share their information to the right public forum should be a prudent one.
While the sports tech world awaits its grand showcase at the 2015 International CES, the individual trade entity for tennis, the Tennis Industry Association, has prepared its own event to convene the technology and business minds of the sport.
Today, a day leading up to the U.S. Open, The Tennis Show 2014 held in New York City commences to celebrate the past, present, and future of the game. This marks TIA’s seventh consecutive year of hosting for the gamut of influencers, including teaching professionals, coaches, retailers, manufacturers, and players. A state of the industry address will cover tennis participation levels, equipment sales data, and grassroots programs among other aspects as well.
There will be over 50 companies and organizations in attendance to demonstrate their technological products and services. Some of them, in particular, will be holding prize drawings to be valued collectively upwards of $20,000 from their respective exhibitions for those on hand.
“The TIA has always had a strong emphasis on using the latest technologies to help grow this sport. At The Tennis Show this year, we’ll have companies that are changing how players hit the ball with devices designed to track and improve tennis strokes. We also have companies exhibiting the latest in match and player analysis systems. In addition, we’ll have companies showing off cutting-edge software that helps find playing partners, find tennis instructors, and help tennis businesses run more efficiently,” TIA’s Executive Director, Jolyn de Boer, tells SportTechie.
This trade oragnization’s mission, of course, is to promote the growth of tennis and the economic well-being of the industry as a whole. By arranging such an event, they’re in a position to support the range of tennis providers with the latest tech innovations. This relationship intends to help these businesses grow–regardless, if it’s for selling more products, services to aid players, or any other function–and, in turn, more importantly, grow the interests for tennis.
The various tech startups at this show share similar sentiments as the governing association, in terms of improving the way the game is played and sustaining engagement for it.
For one, PlaySight’s Chief Executive Officer, Chen Shachar, mentions to SporTechie that TIA and everyone in the tennis industry has been receptive to what they’re doing, bringing analytics to the forefront. These parties are recognizing that good technology at reasonable price points for the masses means all of them win in the long run. Placing any more barriers besides the learning curve involved for non-early adopters wouldn’t be viable, especially in relation to the initial monetary investment. Thus, the continual education part of their products as tools serves as a prime reason why they’re an exhibitor at The Tennis Show 2014.
Another, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of PlayYourCourt, Scott Baxter, affirms the strong relationship they have formed with TIA. This partnership has manifested itself to boost their software, SaaS, business significantly, be it for education, networking, or encouragement purposes. And, similar to the aforementioned PlaySight, creating awareness of their brand presents more than worthwhile time spent here.
A third, Jon Bloodworth, TennisSource’s Chief Operating Officer, has worked with TIA for over a decade. The avenue TIA provides them the chance to reach specific tennis facilities across the country, which is critical towards their success as a silo, niche company. They hope to receive feedback on their latest features of its software solutions, notably crucial with the shift to mobile platforms.
Accordingly, TIA acknowledges the role they have to understand these incoming players in the space.
“As consumers continue to become more tech-savvy, look for instant gratification, and adopt the latest in technology products and services, it’s important that we, as a sport and industry, stay on top of these trends and be sensitive to how consumers are searching for information, booking court time, and buying products,” says de Boer.
Still, hurdles persist for tennis to completely embrace technology insofar as its visibility, daily usage, and scalability.
Schachar states: “We think the biggest issue is acceptance of change. Tennis is very averse to change and that has slowed its growth.”
Meanwhile, Baxter believes Generation Y tends to be more about convenience than ever before, which causes a greater emphasis for an online strategy. Of course, a lot of the solutions that this young demographic seeks would be through the internet first. The sport as a whole must create efficient and appealing ways to deliver tennis programming. Otherwise, there’ll be very little traction to get them to want to play as much.
That said, TIA’s de Boer identifies four potential areas to spur tennis expansion through technology–in spite of the impediments just mentioned.
There’s over 50 kind of companies trying to tap into the SaaS segment. At its essence, these software applications as a cloud-based service intend to drop costs at some tennis facilities and other providers; and continue to offer the latest technology of its kind available. Growing and managing related businesses would prosper, provided it’s serviced the right way.
Secondly, line-calling systems should pervade courts as they become more affordable. The goal here would be to make the game more accurate and enjoyable for players and fans alike. A conceivable byproduct of it would be to stimulate people to play more–the overarching objective to permeate this desire.
Thirdly, “smart racquets”, like Babolat’s Play Pure Drive, are out there in the market already. The fact that it’s the key device that players utilize allows them to stand out, specifically as the user experience funnel for their respective tennis strokes. Multinational tech companies have expressed a lot of interest to see the latest iterations.
Fourthly, TIA, themselves, manages one of the industry’s prominent mediums called PlayTennis. This unbranded website is dedicated to helping players and any users looking to get involved in the game with the information they need to play it, more frequently, at that. This free platform functions as a search engine to find partners, courts, tutors, retailers, and just about anything else.
“We want to continue to offer players every chance to play this game,” added de Boer.
These tennis tech startups, in turn, will be serving it up as it’s their turn to shine among the game’s most important minds at The Tennis Show 2014.