Individual sports can get incredibly heated. Imagine being in the semifinals of a club tennis tournament, tied at 5-5 in the final set tiebreak. Two players separated by a net – eyes locked scores aligned, tensions flaring. In those critical instances, a dispute in score could set everything ablaze: vehement exchange of insults, indefinite pause of play, arrival of arbitrator, and an otherwise extraordinary match ending in enraged controversy. That’s a common problem associated with amateur racket sports, in which players frequently lose track of scores in the heat of the moment.
Get The Latest Sports Tech News In Your Inbox!
Seeing the problem in amateur circuits around the U.S, former professional tennis player Andy Ram developed Pulse Play, the first wearable scorekeeper for racket sport enthusiasts. It has three main functions:
- To keep and announce score without interrupting gameplay
- To track player’s game history and calculate a ranking against competitors
- To create a community that finds nearby opponents who play at a similar level
Pulse Play’s main competitors focus only on tracking technique instead of establishing a racket sport community with uninterrupted scorekeeping features and a ranking system. With Pulse Play’s features, amateur players can enjoy the game as professionals would, with efficient and accurate scorekeeping, a clear understanding of their level of play, and a connected group of players to compete with.
Ram says that Pulse Play’s current focus is to create “a global community of racket players, each with their own profile, game history, and rank.” Once a healthy user-base has been established, the team will “consider developing a next generation Pulse Play that tracks technique.”
Although Pulse Play will be available for all racket sports (notably ping pong, badminton, and squash), a demographic of over 275 million people, its primary target market is tennis players between 30 and 40 years old, the age group most likely to buy wearables. The U.S tennis market contains an estimated 28 million players.
“In a way wearables are still very much luxuries that require a moderate income,” Ram explains. “Think about it: why buy an Activite Pop at $150 when you could buy a pedometer for $8?”
A unit of Pulse Play will retail for $75, and a pair for $120. Discounts will be given to those who made generous contributions to their Indiegogo campaign . The campaign, launched on April 28 and has already raised $55,276 of the $75,000 requested.
In five years’ time, Ram hopes to establish Pulse Play as a “must-have wearable with high brand awareness in the largest racket sport communities.” Specifically, he says, “our goal is to have the largest email community of amateur racket players in at least three sports. We’ll be able to do this if we give players everything they want.”
Pulse Play is set to hit the shelves in November 2015.