It takes precise planning, extensive preparation and a perfectly coordinated infrastructure before a ball can roll in a skills.lab Arena.

Walter Kochauf, project manager from the skills.lab engineering team, is a key figure in this process. With his extensive experience from several projects of this kind, he is leading the construction of the new skills.lab Arena at the Legia Training Center, which will open in early 2025.

In this interview, Walter gives an insight into the requirements that need to be met, how the construction is progressing and how the entire team is working together to make a project of this magnitude a success.

In April, Legia Warszawa commissioned a skills.lab Arena for the Legia Training Center in southwest Warsaw. It is scheduled to open in early 2025. Walter, as project manager, you are responsible for the implementation. How long will the construction take and what are the conditions that need to be met beforehand?

Before we can set up the skills.lab Arena, the customer must provide the appropriate infrastructure – basically a hall that meets certain requirements. This includes a concrete floor, power and Internet connections, roof mounting options, and precautions to ensure constant humidity and temperature. Once this is in place, it takes about four weeks from the bare concrete floor to the point where all the components of the skills.lab Arena are in place.

How does the assembly work?

About three weeks before the installation begins, we set up a daily schedule of who will be doing what. We time this precisely to make the installation efficient and fast. The beginning is dominated by mechanical work: the steel structure is installed, the field floor is built at the same time, and work is already underway on the Arena’s electrical installation – that is, the cabling and installation of all the components, such as ball machines, ball lifts, projectors, moving heads, cameras, and so on. This is followed by a cold test of the electrical installation. After the artificial turf is laid and 37 reference points are measured, six tarpaulins are raised and ball-proof nets are installed. At this point, our R&D department takes over the calibration and initial operation. After that, our team of coaches will come to Poland to train the Legia staff in the various training options. 

Does this mean that the whole Anton Paar SportsTec team is involved?

Yes, a project of this magnitude affects our entire organizational chart. I would also like to emphasize that we receive great support from Anton Paar GmbH and Anton Paar ShapeTec. The purchasing, legal and finance departments ensure that we can concentrate on our strengths. Without Anton Paar ShapeTec, it would be difficult to set up a skills.lab Arena. With their unique ball machines, they have provided not only the core of the skills.lab Arena, but also ball lifts, ball pits, mounts for laser scanners and cameras, and sheet metal parts needed for the Arena.

How do you ensure that all skills.lab Arenas are the same?

During construction, we check every step – if one part is inaccurate, it can set off a chain reaction and lead to inaccurate data. The ball machines are aligned with a laser and secured to the floor. When they are commissioned, the laser scanners are aligned and the cameras are calibrated to the reference points and projected images on the screens.