While living in Australia, Lavie Sak was studying for a Design Masters yet still found time to share his passion for tennis as an instructor. Of course he was asked many pertinent questions during his time in the classroom but it was a question posed to him on the court that helped shape his future.
One day a junior student of his walked up to him and asked the deceptively simple question “How fast do you think I’m swinging?”. As a tennis fanatic Lavie was surprised when he couldn’t come up with a good answer for this question, especially considering the technology available these days. This problem that needed solving was the inspiration for Lavie’s idea: a dampener that tracks your tennis game such as the speed and power of your strokes. Introducing The Shot Stats Challenger (Challenger)!
Who is the guy behind this idea?
Lavie is a self taught tennis player who, with an old racket and a wall, was eager to find new ways to learn and improve. As the importance of tennis grew in his life so did his tennis network.
Having this revolutionary idea of the Challenger in mind he started interviewing the people he knew within his tennis community to gather their opinions and tennis needs. They’ve been a tremendous help in pinpointing what features and hardware requirements would be necessary for the actual product.
But how to actually make the product a reality?
Well, it helps to have really supportive people around you. For example, a mutual friend introduced Lavie to Sergey Feingold, a Mechanical Engineer, who showed enthusiasm for bringing this idea to life. A few month and a few skype calls later, he realized he had found the perfect co-founder and lead engineer for Shot Stats in Sergey.
“Seeing something come into the world, something that was once just an idea in your mind, is one of the best feelings I can imagine”, said Sergey, who made the decision to start to facilitate the hardware and software development.
One of the highlights of this ongoing journey has been meeting Cyril Ebersweiler. As a managing partner at HAXLR8R, a venture fund that focuses on entrepreneurs building hardware devices, he represented a person who was passionate about bridging the gap between technology and sport.
The Shot Stats Challenger not only lets you view your stats after every swing and track your improvement over time but it also fits like a normal dampener while weighing less than three dampeners combined.
“The program allowed us to get a much clearer understanding of both benefits and downsides to working in China, specifically working with factories. Through the program we gained a great network of mentors and other peer startups (in the same boat we are),” proclaims Lavie.
Don’t hesitate to support their team in revolutionizing the tennis game. MyTennisLessons.com (MTL), an official supporter of their Kickstarter campaign, is excited to help out in this cause. Help Lavie and the team grow the game of tennis in the long run by contributing as well.
