Tennis Industry Partners with Sportwall International
ITA, PTR, World Team Tennis, Brian Gottfried and Billie Jean King Joins Forces With Sportwall And Their "Computer Game That Makes You Sweat"FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Tom West
5045 6th Street
Carpinteria,
800-695-5056 Ext. 125
tomw@sportwall.com
04/26/04 - Through a strategic partnership with Sportwall International to be announced this week at the Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells, the tennis industry is taking the first serve in activating America's youth and challenging the current obesity and sedentary lifestyle epidemic. The partnership will also be instrumental in attracting more new young players to the game of tennis.
The Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA), Professional Tennis Registry (PTR), and World Team Tennis as well as tennis legends Billie Jean King and Brian Gottfried have partnered with Sportwall International.
Santa Barbara, CA based Sportwall International may be the first company with a real solution to the current health and wellness epidemic which has already been proven to motivate people of all ages to exercise while advancing brain and body fitness and motor skills.
Sportwall's three products, Sports-PC, SmartBall and TechnoTargets all combine the thrill of computer games with the simultaneous use of hands, feet, eyes and ears to achieve a total body workout.
In 1998, Sportwall's first product debuted at the US Open Tennis Championships in New York to incredible reviews. One of the first individuals to immediately recognize its impact was tennis legend Billie Jean King. "Individuals are getting cardiovascular fitness, sports training and having fun at the same time," said King. "It's a great way to get today's young computer game players off the couch and exercise again. This is the wave of the future and will help the youth of America get fit!"
The brainchild of company founder and Chief Executive Officer Catherine Lamberti, Sportwall's technology driven products are based on "Sensory Integration Training" , where the individual is required to be "in-the-now" and participate mentally and physically during the exercise process.
"Technology has produced a lifestyle swing to inactivity," said Lamberti. "The consequences are being evidenced by significant increases in obesity, diabetes and sensory integration dysfunction diseases such as ADHD, Autism, Alzheimers and Dyslexia."
Lamberti, one of 13 children who was born in South Africa, lived in Australia and moved to the United States in 1989, has an extensive background in education and technology. While at the Santa Monica Pier in 1993, she was fascinated by the motivation, focus and hand-eye coordination she witnessed in children playing video games, but unfortunately understood that those same video games promoted a sedentary lifestyle.
"I realized at that exact moment that if I could develop a product that was based on this fascination with technology and video games that simultaneously offered cardio-fitness and body fitness, it could have tremendous health benefits and a variety of applications in schools, clubs and even fast food restaurants."
"The tennis industry has always been a leader in encouraging kids to get out and play," said J. Wayne Richmond, a corporate development partner with Sportwall. "Now, you have three powerful tennis associations and two legends forming a strategic alliance with Sportwall, a company they feel has a solution to the current epidemic."
The original Sportwall prototype has given birth to three different products:
Sports-PC: An interactive backboard featuring lighted targets, scoreboards and time clocks that rewards players with scores for accuracy, speed, control, strategy and technique and can be used by individuals of all ages and abilities for tennis, soccer, baseball, basketball, fitness and play.
TechnoTargets: The "Physical Fitness Jukebox" for location based entertainment. This interactive game that challenges mind and body is McDonalds playground safety approved and is an ideal solution for active child care in clubs, parks, fast food restaurants, shopping malls and other child care facilities.
SmartBall: A curriculum driven system for instructor led classes in education and fitness which will be added to more than 300 schools in 2004. The National School Fitness Foundation recognizes this as a fun, playful and motivational environment to get kids started in sports.
Today, Sportwall's three products are in more than 85 schools, 70 McDonalds locations and 80 tennis clubs and parks facilities.
"This is the first product I have seen that not only activates kids, but really gets them excited about the game of tennis," said Brian Gottfried, the former #3 ranked player in the world. "In a very short time, we have turned the world on to tennis using a very non-traditional platform."
The Intercollegiate Tennis Association, the governing body of collegiate tennis is comprised of nearly 1,500 men's and women's coaches representing over 1,200 institutions across the nation. The ITA oversees activities involving over 25,000 college student-athletes.
The Professional Tennis Registry, with members in 122 countries, was founded by world renowned tennis coach Dennis Van der Meer to educate, certify and service tennis teachers and coaches around the world.
Sportwall International, Inc., Santa Barbara, CA, was founded in 1990 to develop, manufacture and market advanced interactive fitness systems for people of all ages to enhance their level of sensory integration, athletic speed and physical agility. Sportwall currently is marketing three
patented systems: Sports-PC, TechnoTargets and SmartBall. To learn more about
Sportwall visit www.sportwall.com
Links:
www.sportwall.com
