Mike Dale investigates the usage of wearable technology in squash
The signs are there if you look closely: the Hi-Tec band around Nick Matthew’s wrist, the telltale square lump of a GPS unit between Mohamed ElShorbagy’s shoulder blades and the Hexoskin top worn by Camille Serme, with sensors woven into the fabric.
This is the age of the ‘quantified self’, where almost every aspect of athletic performance is measured and benchmarked by strapping tiny devices to the body.
These devices – familiar to most runners and cyclists – can measure outputs such as distance travelled, top/average speed, rate of acceleration and deceleration, calories burned, fatigue levels, sleep patterns, heart rate, recovery rate, step count and cadence. By cross-referencing some of those stats, brands such as Catapult can accurately measure how hard a player is working.
Tennis brand Babolat has even come up with a sensor, placed inside the racket handle, which sends real-time data about racket speed, spin, ball serve speed, ball impact location and more to an app on the user’s (or coach’s) phone.
Most sports (football, rugby union and tennis, for example) generally permit this technology being worn in competition, but outlaw players receiving or using the information it produces while a match is in progress, either directly or via coaching staff.
In June the WSF addressed the issue for the first time by adding Appendix 10 – Coaching Limitations to the Rules of Squash. It states: “Player analysis technology may record and/or store information. Such information may not be accessed by a player during a match.”
Policing this rule, however, is very difficult. Players on the PSA Tour are sometimes seen these days speaking to coaches via mobile phone between games. Nothing untoward is being suggested, but wearable technology would, in theory, enable those off-site coaches to be sitting in front of highly insightful real-time player performance data, upon which they could base their advice.
Squash Player understands Appendix 10 will be amended and tightened in the coming months. As the estimated $30.5billion wearable technology industry grows ever more sophisticated, all sports’ lawmakers will need to scrutinise potential loopholes in the years ahead.
