Zalgiris Kaunas have not only used their pre-season preparations to strengthen their squad, but have also set a strong example for the new season in terms of technical infrastructure.
With KINEXON PERFORM LPS, KINEXON PERFORM IMU, and KINEXON COMPETE Vision, the club is investing in three different tracking and analysis products from KINEXON Sports. Not only does the pro team benefit, but also the youth players.
“By integrating KINEXON’s cutting-edge technology into our training and practice regimes, we can now tailor individual programs for each player with remarkable precision. This allows us to identify areas where players can be pushed further and areas that require more focused attention. Our commitment is to enhance our players’ performance while ensuring their long-term health and sustainability in the sport”, says Zalgiris General Manager Gediminas Navickas.
“Zalgiris Kaunas is not only the most successful club in basketball-loving Lithuania but is also among the top 15 in Europe. The fact that such a heavyweight relies on all our basketball solutions is a strong sign that the rapid development we started as market leader in the NBA is continuing in Europe”, says Maximilian Schmidt, Managing Director at KINEXON Sports & Media.
While 80% of teams in the NBA already track and manage their players’ load with KINEXON Sports, Zalgiris will now be able to do even more. By combining no fewer than three analytics solutions from KINEXON Sports as part of a multi-year deal, Zalgiris will have an unparalleled quantity and quality of data on areas such as load, performance, shot statistics, player movements, and more.
“Our primary goal with KINEXON is to take athlete performance and load management to unprecedented levels”, explains Navickas.
High-end tech for one of Europe’s largest arenas
From the 2024/25 season onward, Zalgiris will analyze training sessions and home games using high-precision 3D live player data from KINEXON PERFORM LPS.
The system is a permanently installed network infrastructure in the training hall and the Zalgirio Arena, one of Europe’s largest basketball arenas, and is considered the gold standard in real-time player tracking. Combined with wearable sensors in the players’ waistbands, it provides the coaching team with over 200 performance metrics of their players in real time.
The data is available to the coaching staff for training and game analysis. Arena management, club media, and marketing also can use selected data insights.
The software innovation KINEXON COMPETE Vision is the third part of the new setup. This AI-based software allows coaches to automatically evaluate training videos. Computer vision technology captures all players and balls in the video and simultaneously calculates further information such as hits, misses, shot rates, shot load, contested or uncontested shots, shot position, and more.
KINEXON COMPETE Vision completes the performance and load data with an essential piece of the puzzle: quantitative and qualitative insights into the shooting performance of individual players and the entire team.
For the first time, coaches receive comprehensive qualitative evaluations of athletic ability, physical load, and shooting performance, providing the most holistic data picture of their players ever.
“The decision to partner with KINEXON was driven by the company’s innovative approach to data analytics and technology. KINEXON seamlessly integrates player analysis into our daily routines, ensuring that the data flows effortlessly within our training framework. This collaboration allows coaches and strength & conditioning coaches to find common ground, particularly in the critical area of load management. With KINEXON, we can now pinpoint underperforming areas with accuracy, ensuring that both coaches and players are on the same page regarding player development”, concludes Zalgiris General Manager.
