Munich, 16.06.21: interactiveSQUASH today announced the collaborative partnership with World Squash Champion Nick Matthew, OBE to drive participation in squash by bringing it to the digital age. As the new Brand Ambassador Nick will support and enhance the promotion, perception and participation of squash through the interactiveSQUASH product line. 

After playing squash on the world stage for 20 years and delivering squash coaching for more than five years, Nick has always understood the importance of inspiring the next generation of players:

“The sport of squash needs innovations such as interactiveSQUASH to ensure squash continues to be played on the world’s biggest stages. I am convinced technology is the driving force to maximize talent, unlock potential and glue aspiring young players to the court. Together with interactiveSQUASH, we aim to capitalize on the opportunities digitalization offers for court operators, coaches and players to boost the future success of our sport.“, said Nick Matthew, OBE.

The power of gamification attracts new players to the court

Gamification is one of the biggest up and coming trends of the sports industry at the moment. Merging real sports with interactive gameplay is a huge opportunity for the sport of squash to attract new players by lowering the entry barriers for beginners and kids to try out the sport for themselves.

Advanced digital training modules allow experienced players to test movements and skills specifically related to competitive play.„We strongly believe gamification and cutting-edge technology play a key role to make squash more accessible and engaging to the existing and new generations of players,“ explained Markos Kern, inventor and CEO of interactiveSQUASH.

“The new partnership with Nick will help us to reach a broader audience and raise awareness for the opportunities innovative technology has to offer as the sport of squash ushers in a new era. Working with such a talent and technology enthusiasts inspires our team of developers and engineers even more to display this level of greatness, pushing the limits of what technology can do even further.“ 

interactiveSQUASH community is growing

The latest installation in the National Squash Center Manchester is the next highlight in our UK expansion. With two systems already installed at Centerparcs in Whinfell Forest and Elveden Forest as well as Birmingham University the interactiveSQUASH community is growing continuously. 

What is interactiveSQUASH? How can squash center benefit from an upgrade?

With a broad selection of different kind of games, from retro arcade to the more creative and educational ones, every game has been developed to meet fun and entertainment with the need of improving players’ skills like hand-eye coordination, speed, strength and reaction time.

InteractiveSQUASH training: InteractiveSQUASH is the most sophisticated digital training system for racket sports on the market. Training modules which have been designed in consultation with professional coaches and professional players can test movements and skills specifically related to competitive play.

InteractiveSQUASH Games: InteractiveSQUASH’s games are designed to get everyone and in particular kids thrilled to jump on court to start playing.

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A new interactiveSQUASH system is ready to welcome squash players in UK.  The National Squash Center is located in the Etihad Campus in East Manchester. Built in 2002 for the Commonwealth Games the centre opened it’s doors to the public shortly after the event.

Since then the location is hosting a range of sporting events such as PSA Squash World Tour tournaments, British Athletic Championships and sporting events from local schools. The center has 7 squash courts including one glass court and now an interactiveSQUASH court.

The interactiveSQUASH system which was joint funded by MCRactive and England Squash is now operational.

Paul Hulme, Sport Strategy Officer: “Innovations such as interactiveSQUASH are important to ensure squash continues to be attractive to new and existing players of all ages and abilities. The digitalization gives us a great opportunity to reach out to new users and showcase the possibilities within the sport. We want to embrace the opportunities it can offer and excite the next generations of players in Manchester and beyond to get involved and play squash“

Lee Wicks new interactiveSQUASH partner in the UK

The interactiveSQUASH installation in Manchester was the first project managed by our new partner Lee Wicks. The head squash coach from the Crowborough Squash Club will work together with Fun With Balls to introduce interactiveSQUASH to squash centers in the UK.

After a long career as a client manager in the IT sector, Lee decided to change his life in order to “only do things he liked as a kid”. One of his passions was squash. So Lee decided to join our mission and uses his technical experience, networking skills, his love for the game and the desire to get children active to attract juniors to the sport.

interactiveSQUASH community is growing

The latest installation in the National Squash Center Manchester is the next highlight in our UK expansion. With two systems already installed at Centerparcs in Whinfell Forest and Elveden Forest as well as Birmingham University the interactiveSQUASH community is growing continuously. 

What is interactiveSQUASH? How can squash center benefit from an upgrade?

With a broad selection of different kind of games, from retro arcade to the more creative and educational ones, every game has been developed to meet fun and entertainment with the need of improving players’ skills like hand-eye coordination, speed, strength and reaction time.

InteractiveSQUASH training: InteractiveSQUASH is the most sophisticated digital training system for racket sports on the market. Training modules which have been designed in consultation with professional coaches and professional players can test movements and skills specifically related to competitive play.

InteractiveSQUASH Games: InteractiveSQUASH’s games are designed to get everyone and in particular kids thrilled to jump on court to start playing.

Related Posts

Zushan Hashmi: A little bit about yourself outside of the SportsTech space? Perhaps, sports and technology?

Markos Kern: I started my first company in events and marketing at the age of 20.

Since then I’ve been known to do a lot of crazy projects, always circling around visual media, tech and channelling people’s attention to certain topics, which also led me to open a surf school in North Korea and do art installations in Antarctica.

I always loved to play with tech and use it to amaze people.

Tell me a little bit about Multiball?

Multiball is our latest product, bringing mixed reality sports tech into schools, smaller clubs, or even in your home.

The system works with sensors tracking every ball and the players’ motion to create an immersive playing experience that will make you engage in all sorts of physical activity for hours.

And how about interactiveSQUASH? The idea and technology?

interactiveSQUASH is where the idea was born and also part of our focus on the first sport we wanted to upgrade to the 21st century.

Given that squash is not one of the most attractive sports for youngsters today, we wanted to make it a much better experience.

Developing the tech was tricky, especially due to the extreme velocity of the ball and the players and the precision we wanted to achieve.

Where did the idea of MultiBall come from? and in particular, interactiveSQUASH?

Being hyperactive and easily bored myself, the idea to mix the words of sports with gaming was actually pretty obvious to me.

The trick was then to create a working and scalable product with my team which is easy to use for a variety of audiences.

What have been some of the personal challenges of growing interactiveSQUASH?

Definitely my impatience. I’m used to be very effective and make things move fast.

Developing such a complex system and also looking at a very conservative sport, many things take their time. It’s a classic “Startup meets old industry” case.

We were able to speed up many things and work with great partners like the Professional Squash Association, but also had to learn that sometimes a little patience is needed.

Squash is not the first sport that comes to mind when you hear of Sportstech innovation.

What was it about squash that made the sport a great option for this technology?

First, it’s an immensely undervalued sport when it comes to athleticism, speed and the level which it is played on.

There is a longstanding debate that squash is now an ‘oldies’ game, however, interactiveSQUASH has shown that kids and young people can also enjoy the game. Can you tell me a little bit about that?

When you look at the numbers it definitely is, but we’re on a very good route to change that. Squash had its high in the ’80s and ’90s and neglected focusing on the next generations since.

This is also the reason that the audiences on the pro tour reassemble the same demographic as in most centers around the world. Men over 45. There are some exceptions like the US where squash is still strong as a college sport, but there is a massive need to get kids into the courts to show them that this sport can be pretty awesome.

How do you bring the ‘fun’ to squash? Making it more accessible for children.

Everybody loves computer games and they present an easy way to lead kids and beginners over the first, sometimes very annoying, few hours to learn the sport.

Even if it’s just learning how to throw the ball or some hand-eye coordination stuff, once you have to hit monsters on the front wall, your mind switches into game mode.

It is then when you completely ignore the tough parts of the sport and start learning, later on, it even tricks you into going far beyond your fitness to beat that desired global high score.

What are the types of virtual games on offer with interactiveSQUASH?

We start with very simple games that include colourful, big targets and then slowly lead up to very sophisticated training modules for professional athletes. Some of the games are also used for other sports or even training children with disabilities or going through rehabilitation.

And what are the difficulty levels of the various games on offer with interactiveSQUASH?

They start by throwing a ball at a very large target from 2-3 meters away, something even three-year-old kids can have fun with for hours.

Once you pick up a racket, timing and strategy are added to make the games more complex and also establish some competition.

The upper end is very complex games like Memory where you have to find pairs of animals while playing squash against your partner and competing with their strategy to sabotage each other for points.

This then becomes a crazy game of chess added to an already very complex sport, which might be slightly overclocking to some people in the beginning.

But once you look at a nine-year-old beating a squash pro in that game, you’ll understand that this is only the beginning.

What is the technology able to track in terms of the performance of the players?

To track the players, we developed our own motion tracking system which takes their position into consideration in our games.

It is great to track statistics but provides even greater value when it comes to using this data in real-time to make games harder or easier.

What are the numbers on the increased use of squash courts after they install interactiveSQUASH technology?

Our average of played hours of upgraded courts at this point is 213 hours per month.

This means there are some courts like in New York that clock in over 300 hours per month, but also some exclusive or private ones that are used less.

Generally, we’ve seen a massive increase and the nice thing is that 60-70% of players in commercial centres are people that never played the sport before interactiveSQUASH and tend to be below 25 years.

Together with the good financial feasibility, this creates a very nice picture for growing the sport by enabling the operators to grow revenues and their players base.

Recently, you’ve signed a deal to work with the PSA, can you share any details about that?

We started working with the PSA a while ago already to introduce detailed statistics and tracking at matches and had a very good relationship in developing attractive elements for events and the matches.

Our goals are very much the same in this respect and the PSA has proven to be one of the main players in the sport to innovate and make the sport more attractive.

What I can say for now is that we are working on some next steps to integrate tech into the sport and improve the event and viewer experience, but the rest is still in the making.

How about with Squash Bundesliga and England Squash?

In the beginning, we were very stunned to see that the [squash[ federations were not very welcoming (or even responsive) to what we were bringing to the sport, even after seeing that we provide a steady influx of new players.

After almost three years on the scene and our centres performing very steadily, we are now seeing more interest, to make use of this to help centres improve and grow participation.

Working with these institutions is very important for us and also provides us with more insights to deeply integrate into the sport.

And also to sometimes battle the scepticism of the older generation of club owners and operators which still don’t trust this scary “computer game squash”.

How many countries now have a court with interactiveSQUASH installed?

We are now in 14 countries with some more European and Asian countries in the pipeline.

What do you envision for the future of interactiveSQUASH?

Our lives will only continue to be more digital and our attention span will demand more and more entertaining activities to be considered as attractive.

Squash is an amazing sport, but even an amazing sport will have to compete with all sorts of other distractions in the future.

Also, we as a society will have to ensure we keep these sports alive and attract future generations to physical activity to stay healthy.

And this is exactly our mission by merging them with gamification to keep people hooked to what’s fun and healthy at the same time.

After all, what applies to our bodies, applies to whole sports as well.

Things that don’t move – normally die.

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Author

 Sportageous Editorial Team

“It is also lady-friendly, fun for beginners and a magnet for kids“

If you have any strange feelings about this quote from Marc Veldkamp, you are missing the interactiveSQUASH boat. But do not despair! There is still time and we are here to help you in upgrading your Squash centre with this groundbreaking technology.

With monthly earnings hitting over € 3500 at a single iSquash court, the owners of Nieuwe Sloot Squash Centre in the intermediate town of Alphen aan den Rijn in The Netherlands have many reasons to celebrate. Not only is the court booked more than ever before but also the interactive system allows to increase hourly rates due to the added value of the immersive gaming and training experiences.

Our numbers show that unless you have over 250 hours of play time on premium price every month at your courts, there is still room to improve. So it is really time to say goodbye to days of nearly empty courts and only hard-hitters coming at the peak hours to play. The new business model for Squash has every hour of the day optimised. Even at Nieuwe Sloot they still want to push the envelope further as they involve the whole community around interactiveSQUASH, including nearby schools, running an inspiring Junior program and several coaching sessions daily.

Working directly with the PSA, tracking and analysing every hit on a PRO match, or at global sports exhibition awards ceremony like the ISPO in Munich our goal is the same: to make Squash a great sport for everyone. The future of Squash depends on the centers taking action by innovating. Moreover, every centre will need to be interconnected within the next years.

The game will only be on the right path when every good score you accomplish in Squash can be seen as a challenge for other players across the globe, bringing extra motivation to help improving their skills. We are not resting until we reach this goal and neither should you. This is the recipe to promote the more than 50.000 Squash courts worldwide to not only survive but to thrive.

With new interactiveSQUASH systems being installed at the same time in the USA, Poland, New Zealand, Denmark and many other countries, the movement is truly on its way. We hope that soon it will be you taking the step forward!

Join the new era of Squash / Welcome to the interactiveSQUASH revolution.

Marc Veldkamp, owner of Court Performance,
official interactiveSQUASH Distributor in the Benelux,
Professional Coach & Ambassador of Squash

Follow us on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter, or send us an email at mail@funwithballs.com

The Squash Future is Today

interactiveSQUASH has been around for a few months now and anybody that ever set foot on a court will quickly understand what the hype is about. One of the latest clubs to join the squash revolution of the sport is the Tennis en Squashcentrum Nieuwe Sloot in the Netherlands. The center looks back on a 26 year history in the squash sport and is now the first center in the Netherlands to go all digital.

CEO Dave Kok is managing the center since 10 years “It was a few months ago when Marc Veldkamp, our squash manager, reached out to me to show me this amazing new invention. I saw the videos and was immediately sold on the idea to get it. It looked so fun and exactly like what we need to compete with the smartphones today, Kids and youth work are the backbone of our work here, especially since the sport of squash is normally played by an older group of players.”

Kids going on a monster hunt in Alphen, Netherlands

The fact that Marc Veldkamp actually was the person responsible for bringing this innovation to Holland is no coincidence as FWB CEO and inventor of the system Markos Kern explains: “When we launched our first video of the system, Marc was one of the very first to write us an email. Two days later he and his family came by with their caravan to test the court and he, his wife Maaike and his daughters Sanne and Nienke were very enthusiastic about the system”

The Team of Nieuwesloot

Training at the most advanced facility of the Netherlands

The system went live on the 14th of October and so far the numbers seem to add up. Quote Marc “The experience of being on the court surpasses the expectations for everyone. People stay longer on the court without noticing it and they get off the court with a bigger smile than before. Our coach was a little bit sceptic on beforehand, but he changed completely after just some coaching sessions on the court. Court occupation after only six weeks is a lot higher than we expected. The system attracts new customers to the squash centre, especially kids and parents and groups to have fun as a team.” This effect could also be seen on social media where the first videos of the opening went viral and Marc received multiple coverage by newspapers and TV stations.

With interactiveSQUASH courts slowly appearing in more and more countries the competition between players to rule the international leaderboards has already started. So far Marc and his daughter Sanne, a pro squash player can be seen in many of the top positions. We guess it will be only a matter of time until their high scores will be cracked, especially with the next courts coming up pretty soon. Let us know what you think and if you have any further questions, email us at mail@funwithballs.com

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The power of Court Admin.

Over the past few months, we’ve received enquiries from squash court owners across the world. interactiveSQUASH represents an exciting and revolutionary upgrade for the sport as it can enhance the training program of well-seasoned players, while attracting a whole new audience to the game. This post will provide you with a concise overview of what tools you have at your disposal as a
future interactiveSQUASH court owner.

At this point, most people understand how the system works and how it transforms existing squash courts into immersive technological training environments (watch the video below if you’d like a brief rundown of the system). However, many court owners want to know more about how they can manage the system on their end and what kind of support is available.

Fun With Balls, the company behind interactiveSQUASH, has developed ‘Court Admin’ an online tool that gives court owners and operators full control over their interactiveSQUASH courts at all times. The concept is simple, access Court Admin online, log into your court, and control the court from the comfort of your computer. In addition to being able to control all information concerning your court (facilities, cover photo, contact details), there are two major advantages that Court Admin provides to owners and operators, the ‘Pick Game’ and ‘Analytics’ tools located in the lefthand main menu.

The interactiveSQUASH System Rundown.

Pick Game

The Pick Game tool in Court Admin is a simple way of controlling your interactiveSQUASH court. Activate or deactivate the court easily, control lighting and volume effects, and most importantly choose between games and training modules. In-between sessions, you can also leave the front wall on screensaver mode as well.

The ‘Pick Game’ page.

Analytics

The Analytics tool is one of the most powerful features of Court Admin. It provides you with a comprehensive breakdown of all time played on your interactiveSQUASH court. Select the year and month you desire and easily compare statistics between games and training modules.

This way, you can establish how many hours of interactiveSQUASH are being played, which games or training modules are most popular, and determine your peak playing times.

Access the latest analytics from your interactiveSQUASH court.

Video Tracking

Imagine a court that provides you with realtime video tracking? The benefits of such a wealth of data are endless. Every interactiveSQUASH system comes equipped with a series of four cameras that will track every move and shot players make. As a court owner this feature will greatly enhance the training capability of your club.

A preview of the power of realtime video tracking.

Court Admin designed in a way to be as simple as possible. That being said, the Fun With Balls team is always at your disposition if any problems should arise or if you have any questions or concerns. Court Admin provides future interactiveSQUASH owners and operators with all the tools they need to make the most of their state-of-the-art courts.

All that’s left to do is to order your new interactiveSQUASH system. Let us know what you think and if you have any further questions, email us at mail@funwithballs.com

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Still not convinced? Then this is for you.

Although summer and squash don’t typically go together, squash die-hards don’t mind taking a break from the heat in a club’s air-conditioned court. Summer is a time for vacations but also ambitious projects. We wanted to share a few of the benefits of an interactiveSQUASH upgrade, to give you an idea of how it could drastically improve your court. 

This summer why not consider an interactiveSQUASH upgrade?

Digital Functionality

If you’re familiar with the interactiveSQUASH system, you’ll know that the main modification is equipping the court with a projector and series of sensors and cameras that transform it into an immersive technological training environment.

With 20 games and training modules, it’s great for beginners, with tons of fun games for kids such as Monster Match and Ocean. It’s also equally beneficial for experienced players and professionals with tailored training modules such as Drive and Area Focus that improve both accuracy and consistency of shots.

Easily switch between games and training modules by simply placing your hand on the front wall, or you can download the interactiveSQUASH app to easily navigate the system and get up-to-date statistics and leaderboard scores.

For more of a technical overview, check out some more in-depth details here.

Playing a round of Darts. One of 20 interactiveSQUASH games and training modules.

Court Admin

The benefits of the interactiveSQUASH system aren’t simply on the court, but off the court as well. Court owners and operators have access to ‘Court Admin’ which allows them to easily control the system. You can manage games and training modules, access in-depth user statistics over time, and keep track of all hours played on the system.

Court Admin is designed to be user-friendly, so don’t worry if you aren’t the most tech-savvy person out there! 

Court Admin puts you in the captain’s chair when it comes to managing your court.

Built-in Surprises

We understand that some people might be a little apprehensive to upgrading their squash courts because they are unsure what interactiveSQUASH can do for them. The beauty of the system is that it combines the traditional sport with an innovative and futuristic twist.

However, the best is yet to come as we’ve hidden some great features in the system. For instance, the 4 cameras installed on each court will provide extensive video tracking and analysis, a feature that will prove indispensable for professionals.

In addition, we’re in the process of adapting the system to support soccer squash. Yes, you read that right, soccer + squash. Using a specially designed indoor soccer ball, players will be able to take part in this high-calibre workout that brings an extra twist to the traditional squash court.

We’re constantly working on new features for the system, so stay tuned for more news and updates!

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If you are interested in learning more about interactiveSQUASH, click here or contact us by phone or by email at mail@funwithballs.com

You’re going to want to play on this court.

The new BallsportARENA in Dresden is next level. The state-of-the-art fitness facility recently had its grand opening and it has a lot of people talking (here’s a timelapse video of the arena being built). Among other features, the BallsportARENA is equipped with an interactiveSQUASH court accompanied by an ASB SquashCourts GlassFloor.

This is without a doubt the most technologically advanced squash court in the world. We thought you might be interested to see what the future of squash looks like…

If you live in or nearby Dresden – or need a reason to check out this beautiful city – book an hour of play at the BallsportARENA today!

The court is equipped with the latest interactiveSQUASH system which boasts 20 games and training modules designed to make the most of your workout and to make for the most fun possible.

As with all our courts, you can control the system by placing your hand on the front wall or by downloading our free app which unlocks the best benefits such as statistics tracking, worldwide competitions and up-to-date news.

Training with Area Focus on the new interactiveSQUASH court at the BallsportARENA in Dresden.

A glimpse into the future of squash can be found in Dresden. Innovation has a way of shaking the status quo and disrupting what may be considered as normal and ok.

At Fun With Balls, our goal is to push sport forward, merging technology and fitness together to help people lead active, healthy, and most importantly fun lives. Let’s shake things up!

We’d love to hear what you think about the court as well. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter, or send us an email (address below).

If you are interested in learning more about interactiveSQUASH, click here or contact us by phone or by email at mail@funwithballs.com

Smashing some Squash Invaders.