Catapult Sports
This article contains promotional content. (July 2014) |
Catapult Group International LTD | |
Company type | Public |
ASX: CAT | |
Industry | Sport, Technology |
Founder | Shaun Holthouse Igor van de Griendt |
Headquarters | , |
Area served | Worldwide |
Key people | Shaun Holthouse (Founder, CEO) Igor van de Griendt (Founder, CTO) Adir Shiffman (Chairman) Brian Kopp (President, North America) Barry McNeill (CEO, Europe, Middle East, Africa) |
Website | catapultsports |
Catapult Sports, or Catapult, is a public athlete analytics company that engineers wearable technology for elite sports. The company is headquartered in Melbourne, Australia, with offices in Leeds and Chicago.
Catapult is a large supplier of athlete tracking monitors for elite sport,[1] with over 500 elite teams worldwide[2] using the technology to assess athlete risk, readiness and return to play.
Products
Its marquee product is the OptimEye S5,[3] a GNSS-enabled monitor that accesses both GPS and GLONASS satellites, but also a ClearSky local positioning system that was developed in conjunction with the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), which won the 2013 Australian Engineering Excellence Award.[4] Catapult also invented the world's first goalkeeper monitor that quantifies dives (direction and intensity), jumps, accelerations, decelerations, changes of direction, repeat high intensity efforts, and time to recovery. [5]
History
The company was founded by two engineers, Shaun Holthouse and Igor van de Griendt,[6] who were working with the Cooperative Research Centres (CRC) during a project with the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) in 2001. The AIS were looking to use microtechnology to replace laboratory-based performance testing as athletes were not exerting themselves in the same way as they do in competition. Catapult was commercialised in 2006 and now has nine patents in the field of athlete tracking.
Clients
Catapult is currently reported to be represented in over 35 countries, in 35 different sports and has over 500 clients.[7]
- 17 NFL teams
- 13 NBA teams
- 7 EPL teams
- All AFL, ARU and NRL teams
- Over 30 NCAA teams
- 1 ((Indian Super League)) CFC
- 15 high school football teams in the United States[8]
Awards
Catapult was named twelfth on Fast Company's 2015 list of 50 Most Innovative Companies. They also came first in the Big Data and Fitness categories.[9]
In September 2013, Catapult along with CSIRO, won the Engineering Australia President's Award, recognised for its revolutionary technology that is able to eliminate current limitations in GPS poor environments in order to track elite athletes; fulfilling a growing need by coaches and broadcast media for accurate results. [10]
GPSports
In 2014 Catapult acquired the sports technology company GPSports.[11]
References
- ^ "Sports wearables are the wave of the future - Sports". The Boston Globe. 2014-05-25. Retrieved 2014-06-24.
- ^ Nate Cochrane. "Catapult Sports is 'Google analytics for athletes': wearable technology start-up series". Brw.com.au. Retrieved 2014-06-24.
- ^ Chris Pash Nov 14, 2013, 11:49 AM Bookmark (2013-11-14). "FIRST PHOTO: See The Tracking Device That's Changing The World Of Professional Athletics". Business Insider. Retrieved 2014-06-24.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ "Innovative Engineers Awarded with Top Honours". Engineers Australia. Retrieved 2014-06-24.
- ^ "Recording the Fenzy of Soccer Goalkeeping 1000 Times a Second". Wired. 2014-09-02. Retrieved 2014-09-02.
- ^ "The Australian Tech That's Improving The World's Best Athletes". Forbes. Retrieved 2014-06-24.
- ^ "Catapult Sports is a Pioneer in the Sports Technology Industry". Sport Techie. 2014-11-20. Retrieved 2015-04-20.
- ^ Dyer, Mike (August 11, 2016). "St. Xavier football players wearing GPS health devices this season". WCPO-TV. E. W. Scripps Company. Retrieved October 2, 2016.
- ^ "The World's 50 Most Innovative Companies". Fast Company Magazine. Retrieved 2015-04-20.
- ^ "Innovative Engineers Awarded with Top Honours". Engineers Australia. Retrieved 2015-04-20.
- ^ "Catapult Sports Buys GPSports Ahead of US Expansion". Herald Sun. 2014-07-07. Retrieved 2015-04-20.