Grooming Talent With Tech

New facility Airena boasts AI-driven analytics to help young basketballers grow

- Melvyn Teoh

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. These can be viewed via an app.

Boasting smart tracking technology by Chinese company Qiuxiu, it offers real-time performance analytics based on individual player movements.

Airena, which also has a gym, is also home of the Project 95 (P95) Basketball Academy, whose coaches include 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.

The 35-year-old 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.