Welcome to Season 14 Episode 8 of the ParentingAces Podcast, a proud member of the Tennis Channel Podcast Network. This week, we travel to the metaverse and the new Tennis Australia digital world of Beyond Tennis with Ridley Plummer.

Ridley Plummer is Tennis Australia’s Senior Manager Digital Sales and Metaverse, leading the Australian Open (AO) Metaverse strategy and overseeing the development of the Metaverse and Digital Innovation projects. Spearheading the AO Digital Innovation Programs, Ridley is passionate about new technology and its potential to evolve industries beyond physical sporting events into the virtual world. Ridley has been instrumental in progressing the AO's launch into the Metaverse with multiple groundbreaking projects including Beyond Tennis, AO Adventure on Roblox, AO Artball and the AO School’s Block Buster Tennis Challenge in Minecraft Education. 

It was just a matter of time before Tennis caught up with the rest of the major sporting world and entered the alternative reality known as the metaverse. In this week's episode, Ridley walks us through Tennis Australia's commitment to innovation and technology and introduces us to its latest creation known as Beyond Tennis.

Beyond Tennis is not a video game in the classical sense, however. Rather, it is a digital platform which allows its users to coach and act as agent for a variety of AI-generated male and female tennis players from countries around the globe. As Ridley explains, the user can manage the player's training, fitness, nutrition, and social and media commitments in order to help the player improve in his/her performance in tournaments and team events held within the platform. You really have to see it to truly understand it, so be sure to check out the video version of this episode for a sneak peek!

To download Beyond Tennis, visit its website here or here are the quick links:

iOS: https://apps.apple.com/au/app/beyond-tennis/id6737754053

Google: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.onefuturesports&pli=1

For more information on Ridley and his work at Tennis Australia, check out his LinkedIn profile here.

If you’re so inclined, please share this – and all our episodes! – with your fellow tennis players, parents, and coaches. You can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or via your favorite podcast app. Please be sure to check out our logo’d merch as well as our a la carte personal consultations in our online shop.

CREDITS

Intro & Outro Music: Morgan Stone aka STØNE

Audio & Video Editing: Lisa Stone

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