“Match Analyzer is our founding vision finally coming to life” – Meeting with Tristan Vernay, CEO of SPASH, at the heart of the official launch

It's in the Esprit club Padel, in Saint-Priest that the official launch of the Match Analyzer developed by the Lyon start-up SPASH. This intelligent video system analyzes matches in real time to foster liveliness while they're still fresh... and offers personalized follow-up via the app. This place is highly symbolic since it was in this club, six years ago, that the adventure began with the installation of the first version of the system. President of SPASH Tristan Vernay reveals to us here the inside story of the new version of Match Analyser, more stable, more fluid... finally ready to conquer padel clubs.

A product refined over six years

When asked how long SPASH has been around, and how many years it took to get to the finalized version of the Match Analyzer, the President of SPASH doesn't hesitate for a second: "The Match Analyzer is a product that is part of SPASH's vision since the first dayWe tried to develop it for the first time in 2019, but we made the wrong technological choices. Failure." And Tristan Vernay continues: "In 2020, we tried again... and failed again. We learned, and in 2022, with the new versions of AI, we finally found the right model."

It is therefore a matured, reworked and “validated by failure” projectIt is the resilience of its creators that contributes to its robustness today.

Experience at the service of performance

Over the years, SPASH has refined its alignment with the needs of the market and its users, as Tristan tells us: "At the beginning, we said to ourselves that we absolutely had to succeed in the player experience. We were right. But then we understood that it was a prerequisite, not an end in itself. What we want is to create of emotion. The player who experiences something unique will want to interact with the system, and therefore with the club.

Today, Match Analyzer is both a direct player experience tool, but also a powerful device for club managers, with a complete back-office interface: levels, stats, notes, highlights automatically detected by AI, ready to be shared on social networks. And Tristan specifies the main target of Match Analyzer:

"Our customers are clearly the clubs. They're the ones we have to satisfy. And to satisfy them, we must first satisfy the players."

A tool designed to enhance coaches, not replace them

In an ecosystem where several European solutions compete in ambition, The Match Analyzer is not there to take the coach's place, but to enrich his work, as Tristan Vernay points out: “We never say to a player: you have to do this. We give data, easy to compare, to comment among friends. The coach, he will just be able to spot an anomaly, place a small palette, and maybe trigger a one-on-one lesson afterward. He's not supposed to spend an hour in front of a screen."

SPASH even plans a training for coaches, so they can easily understand how to leverage the data.

A version now ready for the field

After several testing phases (alpha end of 2023, beta beginning of 2024), the technology has been tested and consolidated in several clubs in France and ItalyThe result: an ultra-robust tool in the eyes of the President of SPASH: “We have more than 1000 matches analyzed, with a availability rate greater than 99%In the past, we've released products too early, which was a mistake. This time, no. We're on solid ground."

The Match Analyzer is already marketed and the first feedback from customer clubs is eagerly awaited.

A fun technology, inspired by video games

Some people see the Match Analyzer as something like FIFA or Rocket League… and they’re right! Tristan Vernay acknowledges this affinity: “200%, yes! Our two main models are Rocket League for gamification et FIFA for the data analysis part. I play Rocket League, I suck at it but I love it. When you leave the field, you get your little trophy, your nickname... that's exactly it.

Each part ends with a gamified “mini debrief”, with trophies like “Small Defender” or “Movement King.” And with one click, you can go deeper into performance analysis. Tristan loves that… and he hopes his clients will do the same!

A living product in perpetual evolution

While the current version is finalized and stable, SPASH isn't stopping there. The roadmap for the coming months is already ready, Tristan explains: "I can't reveal everything, but I can say that the first evolution will be the automatic match suggestion between teams of similar level.

Enough to create balanced encounters and strengthen the “complicit-community” dimension of amateur padel.

A hot debrief, but a cold follow-up

Finally, the Match Analyzer plays on two complementary temporalities. First, the immediate moment: we leave the court, we have a drink, we tease each other, we watch each other on the screen. Tristan Vernay explains: "The tool is there for that. To laugh. To tell your friend: look, you play all your balls 10 cm from the windows. You hit a mutant shot, well done. But most of the time, you make a mistake."

And then, at home, via the SPASH app, each player can scan a QR code at the exit of the field to find his match history and personal data, with a clear head.

Tristan Vernay at Esprit Padel SPASH presentation

A tool designed to extend the experience... without weighing it down

If you Match Analyzer is designed to enrich the moment of play, it does not seek to transform clubs into data analytics rooms. For the President of SPASH, padel remains a moment of pleasure and conviviality and the Match Analyzer is in line with this philosophy: "In the club, players will stay an extra half hour after their match. And it's perfect for a quick debrief, laughing about stats, teasing each other with friends. But a full scan, when you really want to see the evolution over several matches… it can quickly take an hour and a half. And frankly, the club is not the place for that."

This is why SPASH has implemented a simple system: a QR code to be scanned directly on the club screen, next to your name. It then redirects to the SPASH application, where each player finds his match history, his personal data, his stats… with a clear head, at home.

"Technology is there to enhance the game, not to keep us glued to a screen. It's there to help us have a drink, laugh, and extend the game in a different way," concludes Tristan Vernay.

After years of development, testing, accepted failures and technological rebounds, The Match Analyzer is here, ready to transform the padel experience, without ever distorting it.

Maceo ZERHAT