The National Pickleball League (NPL), Australia's premier Pickleball association, has entered into a three-year partnership with PlaySight, an industry-leading provider of automated AI sports video and analytical technology. The merger of advanced AI technology with one of Australia's fastest-growing sports signals an exciting era for the Pickleball community.
The collaboration's main goal is to enhance the NPL members' play experience by offering advanced AI-powered technology to record, live-stream, dissect, and share their individual and team Pickleball replays and highlights online. PlaySight's technology, highly regarded in numerous sports, offers real-time insights into athletes' performance and, with features like automated production, instant video replay, AI-powered highlights, and interactive coaching tools, players at all abilities can fine-tune their skills and celebrate their milestones like never before.
The NPL is also set to unveil its inaugural Pickleball supersite in Melbourne later this year, offering even more venues throughout 2024, all equipped with PlaySight's innovative technology. This entails integrating PlaySight's SmartCourts products, such as its portable GoMobile broadcast system, into the state-of-the-art NPL Pickleball supersites across Australia.
NPL CEO, Ron Shell, expresses his enthusiasm about this innovative venture, saying, "The NPL prides itself on being a premium Pickleball organisation - delivering the best possible Pickleball product across its tournaments, events & venues to elevate the sport to mainstream status in Australia. A partnership with a market-leading sports technology company like Playsight exemplifies our commitment to delivering an unparalleled pickleball experience to Australia through premium technology and partnerships."
Similarly, PlaySight's CEO, Chen Shachar, shares the enthusiasm, declaring, "PlaySight Technologies is thrilled to partner with the National Pickleball League Australia (NPL) as we continue pioneering sports innovation. Our SmartCourt technology has already significantly impacted various sports, and we are excited to bring its transformative power to pickleball. By providing athletes, coaches, and venues with state-of-the-art video and analytics solutions, we aim to elevate the pickleball experience, helping players unlock their true potential. Together with NPL, we look forward to taking this exhilarating sport to new heights and making it more accessible to even more enthusiasts."
The NPL plans to debut the new technology in its forthcoming professional tournament - the NPL Championships - Sydney, held from 6th to 8th October in partnership with Voyager Tennis in Sydney. As the premium pickleball organisation of Australia, NPL aims to increase the total number of Pickleball players in Australia through professional league pathways, marketing, content, and venue investment, and intends to expand its product internationally in 2024.