Spalding Partners with ShotTracker

Spalding announced a multi-year partnership with ShotTracker, the manufacturer of wearable technology for basketball. The first technology resulting from the partnership, a system that tracks real-time basketball performance stats in multiple-player environments, debuted at the 2016 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas.

“A multi-player product has always been ShotTracker’s ultimate goal, and our partnership with Spalding is key to reaching that objective,” said Davyeon Ross, COO of ShotTracker. “This technology is a true industry benchmark because it captures stats on multiple players at the same time and there’s nothing like it on the market. While many competitors have attempted to automatically capture stats on multiple players in real-time, ShotTracker and Spalding are the only companies to develop a solution that is commercially viable for use at all levels of play.”
 
With technology from Ultra-Wideband (UWB) chip partner, Decawave, this game-changing system is comprised of three components that communicate with each other to capture player and ball movement, in addition to court location. A small tag on each player’s shoe and the ShotTracker-enabled Spalding basketball connect with portable sensors placed around the court. The software generates a real-time shot chart for each player and automatically tracks other metrics such as possession, passes, assists and turnovers. Players and coaches can use this performance data to identify areas of strength and opportunity as well as inform game time strategy.
 
"For more than a century, Spalding has been a driver of innovation in the basketball category, and our partnership with ShotTracker signals our ongoing commitment on this front,” said Paul Sullivan, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Spalding. “Analytics are changing how sports are played and impacting the game on many levels. We believe this trend is a remarkable opportunity for basketball. From players to coaches to fans and recruiters, there are many constituents that will benefit from real-time information on player performance.”
 
While the new tech is was released in demo phase at CES 2016, the commercial product is set to be available for purchase Summer 2016. Consumers can find out more at ShotTracker.com.