The first interview on our blog has seen the light of day. We are pleased to welcome Martin Kop, Dominik Stasiowski, and Marek Šulc, who came to introduce their project Training lights. We learned how such training equipment works, what the team is currently focusing on, or what the creators are planning for the distant future. Read now more about the idea, which was spontaneously born at the Czech men's national volleyball team training camp, and which includes the Spectoda system.

Please give us a brief introduction to your product, Training lights.

Training lights are an innovative sports aid that is supposed to advance the level of peripheral vision, the speed of player reactions and to some extent simulate game situations. All this with the help of a visual stimulus - light. We are currently working hard on a model focused primarily on volleyball. These are light strips that can be hung on the net and manually or automatically controlled via a mobile app, both individually and all at once in any color of your choice.

Let's take a practical example of use: in the middle of the volleyball net, a ready player waits for a light signal from one of the strips. The signal is sent by another person via a mobile phone app. Once the strip lights up, the player is tasked with moving as quickly as possible in that direction and performing a predetermined volleyball action - for example, a block move. In addition to the aforementioned, this innovative way of training brings us greater efficiency and variability. The players themselves and their coaches benefit.

What stage are you currently in?

Just before the launch - at least as far as the first sales prototype is concerned! With Spectoda, we have knocked off the final design of the tapes and are gradually finalizing the app, the website, in short, all the necessary things around the market launch. We believe that within a month or two Training Lights will be widely available.

Will I be able to get training lights for myself, or are they more for larger clubs at a certain level? Would I find an individual use for them?

The lights can certainly be purchased by an individual - either find a training partner to set the pace manually, or set up an automatic sequence in the app. However, a more appropriate use is for whole groups with multiple players working together at once.

The level doesn't matter as much. Training lights will serve top athletes as well as beginners and adults. While the lights will help professionals with their decision-making processes in the game, other players will improve a peripheral vision and experience interactivity, creativity, and indispensable fun while practicing.

What is your current goal? Where do you see yourself in five years?

First, we want to launch official sales and get our product to individual clubs across the country. If successful, the next step is to dominate the whole of Europe.

Later, we would like to spread the idea of Training Lights globally, not only in the volleyball sphere but also on other sports fronts - for example, in football, tennis, basketball, and wherever it makes sense.

What are the secrets behind your team's story?

Among career achievements, we can mention the successful launch of a mobile app for the Czech Volleyball Federation. It is available on the App Store and Google Play platforms under the name Czech Volleyball. It is an information service designed for players, coaches, and fans. Originally it was the subject of Mark and Martin's bachelor thesis, but the management of the federation liked it so much that they decided to turn it into an extracurricular public work. At that point, the guys decided to invite me and I didn't hesitate. The project is still running; we are continuously maintaining and expanding it.

Does your immediate community support you? Are there people who help you with the product, or how?

All of our family members are definitely big support. Mark's cousin David continues to help us with marketing and brand management, Martin's mum keeps the company accounts meticulously and mutual friends have taken on the legal stuff. When we need to arrange something or establish cooperation with a professional in a given area, we first search in the closest circles. Actually, we find it incredibly fun and fulfilling to create in conjunction with those close to us. We have received great support from Mr. Zdeněk Haník, a former national team player and a leading volleyball methodologist in the Czech Republic. He liked our idea and is helping us to keep the idea in the right direction while promoting it himself.

Thank you all, even the unnamed ones, very much. Without you, this vision could not have become a reality.

Why did you decide to use Spectoda for your product?

To be honest, there was nothing to decide. Fate threw it all into our hands! I've known Anna Veselá for almost 9 years and we've been through a lot together. I knew that she had started a business with an interactive light control system, Spectoda, and we had just had a big task ahead of us - to work on the luminous tapes.

We had no idea about the production. Plus, none of us know anything about hardware. At that moment I remembered Anna's product and I agreed that we would try to reach her. We have been working together intensively for almost a year now, developing training lights, and we are incredibly grateful for the development of the situation!

What role does Spectoda as a system play for you?

Spectoda as a system is a secret ingredient in driving light strips. It makes our job of creating control tools and connecting through the app easier.

Do you feel like we missed something? What would you like to add?

Thank you very much for the interview and our long-standing collaboration. I think I can say that we are creating something valuable here. We can't wait for the grand finale!

We also thank you for the pleasant and informative interview. Fingers crossed for the guys to bring Training Lights to the market and to develop more similarly nifty sports aids.

Wondering how this story will continue? Follow the @traininglights Instagram account and keep up to date with all the news first hand!