AI-powered sports centre Airena hopes to use technology to help young basketballers grow
Russel Low, head coach of Project 95 Basketball Academy, making a slam dunk at the grand opening of Airena, an AI-powered sports centre, at Jalan Ampas. ST PHOTO: GIN TAY
SINGAPORE – With 10 cameras pointing at its basketball court at all times, newly opened sports centre Airena is equipped to capture movement data, which is used to analyse players' performance during training and matches.
The facility, which is located at Jalan Ampas off Balestier Road, officially opened on May 10, when guests were shown how artificial intelligence (AI) converts the data and gives coaches reports of their players, which can be viewed via an app.
Boasting smart tracking technology by Chinese company Qiuxiu, it offers real-time analytics in metrics such as strength, speed and reaction time.
Former Singapore Slinger Mitchell Folkoff, who is head coach of Project 95 Basketball Academy, speaking at the grand opening of Airena sports centre on May 10.
ST PHOTO: GIN TAY
Airena, which also has a gym, is also home of the Project 95 (P95) Basketball Academy, whose coaches are former national basketballers such as Mitchell Folkoff and Russel Low.
Speaking to the Sunday Times on the sidelines of the launch, Folkoff believes this AI-driven approach will help them take coaching to another level.
He said: 'How do you evaluate a player? There's no data to back up, like, what he's doing great, what he's not so good at… You only can see it through your set of eyes.
'And I think for us to take coaching to the next level, to catch up with the rest of the world, we have to implement all the analytics into our training, tracking, learning progression, and then into the games.
'What we're trying to do is to optimise how we can utilise this technology and help kids grow from it. And I think it's a great thing because it gives us something that's tangible, because basketball is transitioning to a very data-centric sport.'
With the usage of AI technology alongside conventional training, Folkoff is able to gain a deeper understanding of his players' condition and progress.
The real-time feedback has been useful for Kaiser Ng, whose sons, aged nine and 13, are enrolled with the P95 academy.
'As a parent, I like that P95 uses the AI capability at Airena to enhance the training programme by providing timely and objective feedback, and making the training more personalised,' said Ng.
'I believe it will accelerate skill development, and make learning the game more engaging and measurable.
'We are still learning how to take advantage of the AI technology that is available to us through the app and I hope our boys can use it to help them adjust the arc of their shots and to utilise their left hand more for dribbling and lay-ups.'
The Shootz app by Qiuxiu, an AI app that tracks athletes stats via the 10 cameras on court.
ST PHOTO: GIN TAY
Folkoff added that the AI is able to track statistics such as hit percentage, angle of shot trajectory, missed and made baskets, but added that it is still a language learning model.
Statistics may show that a player is leaning one way more than the other and the AI might suggest that they are more prone to injuries.
He added: 'The more data it collects, the more it can fine-tune the statistics and it will start to improve on the quality of the movement after it gets (the data) back.
'(We have received) pretty positive feedback on the AI aspect of training, because everyone loves videos, they love watching highlights and seeing analytics.
'The parents are actually quite futuristic with regards to the whole AI and how it can help develop their kids. We're living in a time where stats is a huge thing for kids, for parents… It's all about statistics.'
Alan Lim, director of Airena and P95 said: 'The basic step now is still visualisation and the kids see their own mistakes. That's where they improve a lot, and their general interests also spike up because they see themselves in action.
'AI data comes when you want to drive a point. Of course, traditional coaching means that moral values are already part of it.
'Airena is our first physical location. It's a showroom of top-tier technology and we're trying to build multiple locations such as this, to just grow the concept of what Airena is like and the ability to provide many aspects to basketball training.'
Melvyn Teoh is a sports journalist at The Straits Times.
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