Tennis is a sport that attracts around 18 million athletes worldwide and is ranked fourth in the global sports ranking.
Mission
Tennis is a sport that attracts around 18 million athletes worldwide and is ranked fourth in the global sports ranking. There are over 74,000 registered players in the Czech Republic, and the number of fans is continuously increasing. Vista Sport has been among them for already several years. It has long been specialized in the use of modern technology in sports, especially in tennis. The lack of tennis match recordings (which are very often only limited to players with a certain level of performance) and the problematic approach to their acquisition have then brought Vista Sport to its own project: recording of matches and broadcasting them over the Internet.
Solution
Vista Sport needed a hardware and software solution that would allow tennis matches to be uploaded, utilize recordings during video coaching and analysis, and also broadcast high-quality tournament matches on the Internet.
The requirement was both a wide viewing angle and remotely controlled zoom and focus. The solution rests in the
Axis cameras along with CamStreamer and CamOverlay applications that allow live Internet broadcasting with graphics displayed as the current score.
Result
Vista Sport has established a partnership with Hamr Sport, which offers players of all categories the opportunity to play on its so-called diagnostic court in two of its premises. At this facility, the tennis players and coaches can use recordings from several Axis cameras to analyse games and provide coaching or just to “share” their games with other players or fans. The number of tournament organisers, sports clubs, and players themselves interested in the services provided by Vista Sport continuously increases. The satisfied customers include, for example, Kateřina Siniaková, Petr Nouza (in 2017, he moved from his ATP rank of 2031 to 712) or fed cup team coach Petr Pála.
Not only players and coaches appreciate match recordings and broadcasts
Vista Sport has launched its tennis match recording and broadcasting project while it was supporting another product: Break2Win. The developers of this technology, which allows a detailed tennis game analysis, were significantly limited by the lack of sports recordings that they needed for their work. So they decided stop relying on various Internet resources and started recording matches on their own.
“The lack of materials for analysis was very critical especially among the young players,” explains Miloš Táborský of Vista Sport on the initial stages of the idea. ”We decided to select the Axis cameras because they have proven their robustness, wide viewing angle, and they also come with interesting add-on software,” he continues. Vista Sport’s assortment features a total of 20
AXIS Q3505 Network Cameras and AXIS F41 modular cameras, of which 14 are equipped with the CamStreamer and CamOverlay applications. One of the main benefits of network cameras, the ability to simply broadcast HD ready quality matches on the Internet, has met with Vista sport’s customers’ tremendous interest. Currently, Vista Sport mainly broadcasts tennis youth tournaments both at home and abroad, providing a complete service including camera installation, recording, and broadcasting of matches through its own server or YouTube. “Thanks to streaming, junior players can be watched by their loved ones anywhere in the country. It has already happened that grandparents had the very first opportunity to see their grandson playing tennis,” says Miloš Táborský.
How the diagnostic court works
During the Vista Partner program, cameras may enrich the daily lives of tennis clubs through so-called diagnostic court. It is equipped with two AXIS Q3505 fixed dome cameras, which, upon the players’ or their coaches’ request produce HD quality recordings. The high resolution is very important for a quick and dynamic sport that tennis undoubtedly is.
These cameras monitoring the player’s movement from behind and from the side are usually installed at about 4-meter height to fully cover the court. Another, mobile AXIS F41 camera then takes the players from an angle, which is most suitable for analytical purposes. The cameras feature their external microphones. There is also a tablet through which you can instantly play his produced recordings, which can be slowed down or stopped. Players can use their final HD quality recordings to improve their game, either through their own analysis, in cooperation with their coach or through the Break2Win application. A live broadcast from a diagnostic court can certainly be appreciated by the club. “Especially the better recreational players are interested in playing on a diagnostic court,” says Miloš Táborský and adds that at the Hamr Sport Branik centre in Prague, customers order this service about four times a week.
The future of sports broadcasts
Vista Sport sees its future in continuously improved analytical possibilities. In the ideal case, the camera may be able to complete partial analyses, for example, by inserting time stamps into its recording, which would greatly speed up one’s work with its recording. At the same time, there are other people interested in cameras for their tennis clubs, but people involved in ballroom dancing or golf are interested as well. The company’s focus is not limited to the Czech Republic – in February, Vista Sport provided its online broadcasts from the Intime Tennis Junior Open 2018 tournament in Zoetermeer, Netherlands. The growing interest in Vista Sport’s services shows that the use of camera technologies for the recording and online streaming of sports activities has a promising future. ”The number of inquiries keeps rising. There is a potential collaboration with a partner from Italy, which has a contract with almost 700 clubs. The potential is still big,” concludes Miloš Táborský