Professional squash is taking the plunge into the world of analytics.
At upcoming tournaments beginning Thursday with the J.P. Morgan Tournament of Champions in New York City, the Professional Squash Association will debut a number of technological enhancements to its game.
The Tournament of Champions, which runs through Jan. 25 inside Grand Central Terminal, will see the PSA team up with Sports Data Labs to capture athlete performance data, specifically heart rate, using a sensor the squash players will wear on their chests. Sports Data Labs will track the data using a real-time transmission and data platform that will then send the info to the PSA for use in the broadcast of the Windy City Open in Chicago in February.
“As revealed by Forbes magazine, squash is the world’s healthiest sport and we’re excited to be able to demonstrate the hard work and sheer athleticism needed to compete as a professional squash player,” Lee Beachill, the COO of PSA, said in a statement. “Squash is one of the world’s most physically demanding sports and the data captured by Sports Data Labs will help to highlight the incredible fitness and endeavour that our athletes showcase every time they step on to court.”
“We are excited to be partnering with the PSA, an organisation that has been at the forefront of technology, innovation and adoption in professional sports,” said Mark Gorski, the CEO of Sports Data Labs, which previously trialled biometric sensors with the ATP. “We look forward to helping the PSA achieve its objectives of utilising human data to tell new stories around athletic performance in professional squash.”
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The PSA has made another technology deal with a company called interactiveSquash, which will provide technology to track a number of performance metrics in real-time at February’s Swedish Open, specifically motion tracking of the players and ball. The system — called MoTrack — will use cameras and sensors capture player speed and distance covered, as well as ball speed and trajectory off the front wall of the glass squash court. They’ll also track momentum and hot zones.
“With our system, squash will in time become the first sport ever to achieve a full merge between sport and technology in truly real time – with data instantly available to fans and players,” interactiveSQUASH founder Markos Kern said in a statement.
“The feature, developed in partnership with the PSA, court manufacturers ASB and pro athletes, will greatly add to the attractiveness of the sport both in venue and via online or mainstream broadcast.”
The organization is looking toward combining MoTrack with another interactiveSquash innovation: an augmented-reality front-wall training module. The module uses a projector and cameras to provide squash players with a variety of “modes,” from training games to intense individual practices. Combining the two technologies could allow the PSA to project player and ball statistics onto the front wall between games, according to the announcement.
All of these technological advancements are viewed by Reuters, and perhaps by people inside the PSA, as a major push for inclusion in the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. Reuters reported that squash has thrice been refused as an Olympic sport, and the Olympics are taking a much more tech-friendly approach in an effort to capture a younger audience.
“With its bend of physical and tactical pressure, squash is one of the toughest sports out there and the opportunity to help illustrate that with the use of real-time, in-depth data is something that we have been working towards over the past few years,” Beachill said in the PSA announcement.
“The kind of data that we will be able to use, both in-game through social media and broadcast, along with further advanced data which will be accessible post-game, will add a new dimension to the sport. We’ve long considered squash to be physically demanding and we will now have access to the statistics that will help to reinforce that belief and demonstrate the kind of athleticism and fitness that our players possess.”