Madrid, Jul 22 (EFE).- A track with 16.4 million LED lights and more than 8,000 cables. That has been FIBA’s commitment to dazzle the world of basketball in the Women’s Under-19 World Cup that is being held in Madrid, specifically in the WiZink Center pavilion in the Spanish capital.
The official name of this court is ASB Glass Floor and it works thanks to the software designed for the ASB GlassCourt OS itself. The infrastructure consists of more than 400 pieces of between 1.5 and 2 meters built and installed individually so that they can be replaced without problems in case of failure.
The assembly, which in this case lasted a day and a half -although it is expected to be reduced to between 8 and 10 hours in order to compete with the production time of traditional tracks- was carried out by means of a small custom-made crane to move the plates in any direction and inclination.
All these data were shared with Efe by the manager of the company that created the track, Christof Babinsky, who confirmed that the operation is being “as expected” thanks to a greater extent to the team of fifteen people who work for its maintenance and which is made up of engineers and ambassadors of the brand and staff.
“This is new and we have to see how it evolves in the next few years, we are creating new spaces for sponsors, for example, some animation could be shown on the ground during triples,” Babinsky commented.
And it is precisely that, in addition to the benefits intended for the game itself, such as the projection of team presentations or statistics, a world of options opens up for sports sponsorship, since it allows the projection of videos that take the viewer to an immersive experience.
“Our focus is to highlight the extraordinary performances of athletes and associate them with the sponsorship of certain brands, if this works well, it could be taken to the biggest sporting events because the land would be a source of income,” he added.
Another “revolutionary” aspect that stands out is the monitoring that can be done to the players on the court and that “without a doubt” would be very useful for the coaches because errors could be detected “at the moment” without the need to view videos.
The intention is to expand the initiative to other sports, as the company already works in Germany with volleyball, handball, and would work with almost any sport that is not played abroad, including tennis.
During the quarterfinals of this World Cup, up to eight teams tested the track and, in general, the sensations have been positive.
This was expressed by the Spanish player Iyana Martín, who commented that the experience was “crazy” and that the players felt “grateful” that the experiment was put into practice in a women’s tournament because it helps visibility.
The pros of this court are clear due to its spectacular nature and the possibilities it offers the sport to offer a better experience to the public, but among the negative aspects are the high cost of assembly and energy level, as well as the high temperature of the ground that warms the feet of the players.
From the organization they claim to have collected the testimony of components of all the teams with the aim of improving the performance of the track as much as possible. EFE
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2023-07-22 18:25:29
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