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PlaySight Interactive is a connected camera and artificial intelligence sports technology company, offering its Smart sports video platform for over 25 sports and across 20 countries, including basketball, tennis, ice hockey and soccer. There are over 1000 SmartCourts installed around the world, including with the NBA's
Golden State Warriors The Golden State Warriors are an American professional basketball team based in San Francisco. The Warriors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference. Founded in 1946 i ...
,
Toronto Raptors The Toronto Raptors are a Canadian professional basketball team based in Toronto. The Raptors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NBA), Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), E ...
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and
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and over 70
NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...
sports programs, including
Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...
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University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...
,
Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a state university system, system of Public university, public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. The system has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration o ...
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Claremont Colleges The Claremont Colleges (known colloquially as the 7Cs) are a consortium of seven private university, private institutions of higher education located in Claremont, California, United States. They comprise five undergraduate colleges (the 5Cs) ...
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Fairleigh Dickinson University Fairleigh Dickinson University () is a private university with its main campuses in New Jersey, located in Madison / Florham Park and in Teaneck / Hackensack. Founded in 1942, Fairleigh Dickinson University offers more than 100 degree prog ...
and
Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...
. The
United States Tennis Association The United States Tennis Association (USTA) is the national governing body for tennis in the United States. A not-for-profit organization with more than 700,000 members, it invests 100% of its proceeds to promote and develop the growth of tenn ...
installed PlaySight's SmartCourt technology on 32 courts at its new national campus in Lake Nona, Florida. PlaySight was named one of Fast Company's Most Innovative Companies for consecutive years in both 2017 and 2018.


Company history

In 2010, PlaySight was founded in
Kfar Saba Kfar Saba ( ), officially Kfar Sava , is a List of Israeli cities, city in the Sharon plain, Sharon region, of the Central District (Israel), Central District of State of Israel, Israel. In 2019 it had a population of 110,456, making it the 16th-l ...
, Israel, using technology with roots in the Israeli military. After years developing weaponry and war simulators for the Israeli army and other defense clients, the three partners looked to apply their skills and knowledge to a new challenge. After one of the partners, Evgeni Khazanov, observed his daughter’s tennis practice, he wondered why a sport with so much money did not have any advanced technology to help players improve their game. It was from that idea that PlaySight was born. PlaySight has continued to grow through partnerships and investment from players in the tennis industry including
Billie Jean King Billie Jean King (née Moffitt; born November 22, 1943), also known as BJK, is an American former World number 1 ranked female tennis players, world No. 1 tennis player. King won 39 Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam titles: 12 in singles, 16 in w ...
,
Ana Ivanovic Ana Schweinsteiger (name at birth, née Ivanovic; born 6 November 1987) is a Serbian former professional tennis player. She was ranked as the List of WTA number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in women's singles by the Women's Tenn ...
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Chris Evert Christine Marie Evert (born December 21, 1954) is an American former professional tennis player. One of the most successful players of all time, she was ranked as the world No. 1 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) for 2 ...
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Pete Sampras Pete Sampras (born August 12, 1971) is an American former professional tennis player. One of the most successful tennis players of all time, he was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the A ...
,
Novak Djokovic Novak Djokovic ( sr-Cyrl-Latn, Новак Ђоковић, Novak Đoković, separator=" / ", ; born 22 May 1987) is a Serbian professional tennis player. He has been ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players#Weeks at N ...
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Tommy Haas Thomas Mario Haas (; born 3 April 1978) is a German–American former professional tennis player. He competed on the ATP Tour from 1996 to 2017, and was ranked world No. 2 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) in May ...
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Paul Annacone Paul Annacone (born March 20, 1963) is an American former touring professional tennis player and current tennis coach. He is the former coach of 20-time Grand Slam winner Roger Federer, 14-time Grand Slam winner Pete Sampras, and 2017 US Open c ...
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Darren Cahill Darren Cahill (born 2 October 1965) is an Australian tennis coach and former professional tennis player. In addition, Cahill is a tennis analyst for the Grand Slam events on the US sports network ESPN and a coach with the Adidas Player Developm ...
, and Mark Ein. Since the technology was commercialized in 2013, the technology has been adapted for numerous other sports including soccer, martial arts, volleyball, squash, handball, gymnastics, dancing, hockey and wrestling. So far, PlaySight has raised over $20 million and now has offices in Kfar Saba, New Jersey and Los Angeles. In June 2017,
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Ventures and golfer
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announced an $11 million investment in PlaySight to further SmartCourt expansion in tennis, basketball and other sports and to also introduce the technology to golf. PlaySight installed its first SmartSchool in 2017. A SmartSchool is a fully connected high school, college or university campus (including Trinity-Pawling School,
Oaks Christian School Oaks Christian School (OCS) is a co-educational, college-preparatory, non-denominational Christian school serving grades 4–12. Oaks Christian School is located on in Westlake Village, Los Angeles County, California. The school was established ...
and
Sierra Canyon School Sierra Canyon School (SCS) is a private, coeducational university-preparatory day school located in Los Angeles, California. Sierra Canyon enrolls students in preschool through grade 12. Sierra Canyon School is accredited by the California A ...
with PlaySight technology across several sports and venues – basketball, ice hockey, soccer and more. To date, there are over 20 SmartSchools across the country at the prep school level alone. In 2018, PlaySight added new strategic investors, including
SoftBank Group is a Japanese multinational investment holding company headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, that focuses on investment management. The group primarily invests in companies operating in technology that offer goods and services to customers in a m ...
's Asia Ventures investment arm, CE Ventures, and
Naver Naver (; stylized as NAVER) is a South Korean online platform operated by the Naver Corporation. The company's products include a search engine, email hosting, blogs, maps, and mobile payment. History Naver was the first Korean web provide ...
Corporation, an Internet content service company headquartered in Seongnam, South Korea that operates the Korean search engine Naver.


Method of operation

PlaySight was the first company to develop advanced artificial intelligence (AI) software for sports that has enabled a pro-level platform to be brought to all levels of athletics. PlaySight makes courts, gyms, fields and rinks 'Smart' by installing its software and connected camera technology. Once set up, SmartCourts provide several benefits to athletes, coaches, teams and fans, from automated HD broadcast live streaming and advanced coaching tools to instant replay video, VAR, and a content platform to store, manage and share video quickly and seamlessly. For tennis, the technology uses image processing and analytical algorithms to track strokes, ball trajectory, player movement and shot speed and spin. PlaySight's SmartCourt system provides players and coaches instant multi-angle video and detailed statistics through the court side kiosk and on tablets and mobile devices. The cloud-based platform allows teams to live stream matches and stores all video from SmartCourt sessions for coaches and players to review later from any web enabled device. In 2017, PlaySight unveiled its SmartField technology for soccer and also released its SmartTracker technology - an autonomous 4K camera that follows all on-court action automatically.


Automatic Production

PlaySight provides each of its clients with automatic production capabilities: automated live streaming and production tools, scoreboard integration and graphic overlays, as well as full tracking of games without the need for a cameraman or operator.


PlayFair and VAR

Cheating has become a prominent issue in tennis particularly on junior circuits where players call their own lines. PlaySight developed the idea of PlayFair Tournaments that use the line-calling feature of PlaySight's SmartCourt technology to tackle the cheating problem in tennis. These tournaments allow players to challenge close line calls and use the PlaySight court side kiosk to access video replay to confirm or overrule the call. PlayFair Tournaments have been organized at both the junior club and collegiate levels.' In late 2017, PlaySight and the ITA announced an expansion of the PlayFair initiative, bringing the technology to close to 30 NCAA dual matches for the 2018 season. PlayFair is being expanded into other sports beyond just tennis, as the adoption of
Video assistant referee The video assistant referee (VAR) is a Assistant referee (association football), match official in association football who assists the referee by reviewing decisions using video footage and providing advice to the referee based on those revi ...
technology is becoming more commonplace through all levels of sport.


Expansion into new sports and markets

PlaySight expanded into basketball, volleyball, soccer, and several other sports in 2017. In baseball/softball, PlaySight is partnered with Ripken Baseball and Big League Dreams, bringing live streaming and on demand video to all tournaments in addition to the coaching, analysis and player development technology. In basketball and other court sports, PlaySight works with leading academies and high performance training facilities across the country and world, including
Kobe Bryant Kobe Bean Bryant ( ; August 23, 1978 – January 26, 2020) was an American professional basketball player. A shooting guard, he List of NBA players who have spent their entire career with one franchise, spent his entire 20-year career with t ...
's Mamba Sports Academy
Purdue University Purdue University is a Public university#United States, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, United States, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded ...
was the first CAAprogram to add PlaySight back in 2017, and now many additional top programs in college basketball use Smart technology in their practices and video analysis -
Wake Forest University Wake Forest University (WFU) is a private research university in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, United States. Founded in 1834, the university received its name from its original location in Wake Forest, north of Raleigh, North Carolina. The R ...
, the
University of Oklahoma The University of Oklahoma (OU) is a Public university, public research university in Norman, Oklahoma, United States. Founded in 1890, it had existed in Oklahoma Territory near Indian Territory for 17 years before the two territories became the ...
, and the
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC, UNC–Chapel Hill, or simply Carolina) is a public university, public research university in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States. Chartered in 1789, the university first began enrolli ...
. Beyond college and the NBA, leading international professional clubs and several
NBA G League The NBA G League, or simply the G League, is a professional basketball league in North America that serves as the Minor league#Basketball, developmental league of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The league comprises 31 teams; as of ...
organizations have PlaySight SmartCourts for training and performance. In addition to a technology partnership with Tennis Canada, PlaySight technology is used by leading schools in Canada, including
McGill University McGill University (French: Université McGill) is an English-language public research university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill University, Vol. I. For the Advancement of Learning, ...
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Acadia University Acadia University is a public, predominantly Undergraduate education, undergraduate university located in Wolfville, Nova Scotia, Canada, with some Postgraduate education, graduate programs at the master's level and one at the Doctorate, doctor ...
and several other
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programs.


Fast Company

In 2017 and 2018, PlaySight was nominated by
Fast Company ''Fast Company'' is an American business magazine published monthly in print and online, focusing on technology, business, and design. It releases six print issues annually. History ''Fast Company'' was founded in November 1995 by Alan Webb ...
as one of the 10 Most Innovative Companies in Sport. PlaySight's CEO, Chen M. Shachar, was featured in the print publication of the magazine. "The company signaled its intent to transform youth sports last year by announcing SmartSchools, an initiative to install PlaySight tools in existing facilities, and PlayFair, which seeks to remove cheating from junior tennis (and eventually other sports) using technology."


Partnerships

In late 2018, PlaySight signed a partnership deal with the
National Junior College Athletic Association The National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) is the governing association of community college, state college, and junior college athletics throughout the United States. Currently the NJCAA holds 24 separate regions across 24 states ...
, becoming the official autonomous video technology and SmartCourt streaming provider. To date, several
National Junior College Athletic Association The National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) is the governing association of community college, state college, and junior college athletics throughout the United States. Currently the NJCAA holds 24 separate regions across 24 states ...
programs have added PlaySight's Smart AI and connected camera sports video technology, including the
College of DuPage College of DuPage is a Public college, public community colleges in the United States, community college with its main campus in Glen Ellyn, Illinois. The college also owns and operates satellite campuses in Addison, Illinois, Addison, Carol St ...
and the Mohawk Valley Community College."With the ever-growing need for technology in today's world, the NJCAA is pleased to announce its partnership with such a prominent company in the industry," stated NJCAA President & CEO Dr. Christopher Parker. "PlaySight will help take our student-athletes, member institutions, and the association as a whole to a new, much-anticipated level. PlaySight is the official broadcast, live streaming, and performance technology partner of Brussels-based Pro Basketball League, operated by the BPL. PlaySight installed its SmartCourt basketball technology in each team’s arena to bring HD live streaming and automated video highlights to fans, something that PBL General Manager Wim Van de Keere said he hopes will increase visibility and elevate interest in the league. PlaySight is also partnered with
NBC Sports Group NBC Sports Group is a division of NBCUniversal Media Group that is responsible for NBC Sports' media properties, encompassing the NBC television network's sports division as well as day-to-day operation of the company's sports-oriented cable netw ...
Sports Engine, with the goal to bring technology to the next generation of athletes at the youth and grassroots level.


References

{{reflist Sports technology Technology companies of Israel