Catapult's Perch P2 Redefines Athlete Performance Monitoring

BOSTON, MA – February 03, 2026 – Sports technology leader Catapult has unveiled the Perch P2, a next-generation athlete performance solution designed to unchain critical training data from the confines of the weight rack and deliver it to any environment where an athlete prepares.

The announcement, made today, marks a significant milestone following Catapult's strategic acquisition of Perch in June 2025. The new device aims to provide a complete, 360-degree view of athlete readiness by seamlessly integrating velocity-based training (VBT) data from the gym with on-field performance metrics, a long-sought goal for performance specialists worldwide.

A Strategic Leap Beyond the Rack

The launch of Perch P2 is the tangible result of a calculated strategy to build a comprehensive, unified athlete performance ecosystem. When Catapult acquired Perch, a company born out of an MIT lab, it wasn't just buying a product; it was investing in a core technology centered on advanced computer vision and AI. The goal was to bridge the data gap between strength and conditioning work and actual game-day output.

Perch P2 represents the first major product launch since that acquisition, designed to eliminate what Catapult’s Chief Product Officer, Matt Bairos, calls the “blind spots in athlete development.” The system’s core innovation is its extreme portability. Unlike traditional VBT systems that are tethered to a specific weight rack, the P2 is a compact, camera-based unit that can be mounted on a rack, wall, tripod, or simply placed on the floor. This flexibility allows coaches to capture high-fidelity data on everything from traditional barbell lifts to plyometric jumps and rehabilitation exercises, whether indoors or out on the field.

“With the launch of Perch P2, we are effectively removing the blind spots in athlete development,” said Bairos. “By extending elite-level monitoring beyond the rack, we're providing a single source of truth for athlete readiness. This isn't just about better data; it's about giving coaches the confidence to eliminate guesswork, streamline return-to-play decisions, and proactively mitigate injury risk with a level of precision that was previously impossible.”

Redefining Precision and Portability

The Perch P2 device is more than just portable; it’s a significant technological upgrade. The new camera features a 37% wider field of view at 105 degrees and a frame rate that is twice as fast as its predecessor, now capturing motion at 60 frames per second. This enhanced capture ability ensures greater accuracy across a wider range of movements. Furthermore, the system is engineered to operate seamlessly in bright, sunlit conditions—a notorious challenge for earlier camera-based solutions.

One of the most praised features during its debut at Catapult's 2026 Football User Conference was its embedded LED lighting system. This provides athletes with instant, color-coded visual feedback on their performance during a lift, allowing for real-time adjustments. For coaches managing a busy weight room, this feature is transformative.

Eric Rash, Director of Applied Performance at Baylor University, who had firsthand experience with the device, highlighted its practical impact. “The form factor is incredible, the LEDs, not to be overstated, are a game changer,” Rash stated. “As a coach, you can see it up and down the racks. Overall, the movements, the field of view, and the portability make for a lot of really incredible improvements in this form factor.”

Navigating a Competitive Field

Catapult is launching Perch P2 into a dynamic and competitive VBT market. For years, the space has been dominated by Linear Position Transducers (LPTs), cable-based devices like the highly-regarded GymAware, which are often considered the gold standard for accuracy in research and elite settings. Other competitors utilize different technologies, from accelerometers and inertial measurement units (IMUs) to laser-based devices and smartphone apps, each with its own balance of accuracy, cost, and convenience.

Where Perch P2 aims to differentiate itself is not by trying to be a direct replacement for every technology, but by carving out a unique position centered on portability, automated data capture, and ecosystem integration. While LPTs offer supreme accuracy for barbell-based movements, they are inherently limited to those movements. Perch P2’s camera-and-AI approach allows it to track a much broader array of exercises, including bodyweight movements and on-field drills, that are crucial for a holistic view of athletic performance.

By integrating this versatile data directly into the broader Catapult platform, which already tracks on-field metrics for over 5,000 teams globally, the company offers a value proposition its more specialized competitors cannot match: a single, unified data language for an entire organization, from the athletic trainer to the head coach.

Empowering Coaches, Safeguarding Athletes

The ultimate goal of technology like Perch P2 is to translate complex data into actionable human benefits. By automating the tracking of sets, reps, and velocity, the system frees up coaches from tedious manual data entry, allowing them to focus on what they do best: coaching. The immediate, objective feedback helps athletes understand the connection between their perceived effort and their actual output, fostering greater ownership of their training.

This precision data becomes even more critical in the context of injury prevention and rehabilitation. The P2 supports mobility and rehab-focused assessments, enabling athletic trainers and sports medicine staff to quantify movement quality alongside traditional strength metrics. This provides an objective benchmark for an athlete's recovery, helping to guide more confident and effective return-to-play decisions. By tracking an athlete’s performance profile over time, coaches can identify signs of fatigue or potential overtraining before they lead to injury.

The system promises a future where training programs are not just prescribed, but are dynamically adjusted based on an athlete's daily readiness, ensuring that every session is optimized for maximum gain and minimum risk.

Perch P2 is scheduled for a global release for American Football and Football in the spring of 2026, with plans to expand its availability to other sports later in the year. The launch represents a clear statement of intent from Catapult to create a truly integrated performance solution, pushing the boundaries of how teams unleash the potential of every athlete.