Technology and sport have had something of a rocky relationship over the years. Innovation has long been held at arm’s length by stuffy blazers within the sporting establishment. But with technology’s encroachment into our daily lives, its potential to enhance performance, endeavour, understanding and enjoyment has led to a dramatic recent increase in adoption.
Improving player safety
Anyone who watched the recent Rugby World Cup in England will have witnessed monstrous collisions between players who have been conditioned through years of training, gym work and nutrition plans to be bigger, faster and stronger than ever before. Injuries became a defining image of the 2015 tournament, with Wales notably losing 10 members of its back division (a back line consists of seven of the starting 15 players to put this into context). Across the Atlantic, it’s a similar story where the NFL recently agreed a $1bn payout plan to compensate former American football players who suffered head injuries.
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Player safety is an area where technology can play a big role. With concussion such a hot topic in contact sports, wearable technology has already been seen in action. English rugby union side Saracens has initiated a programme to monitor impacts to the head that its players are suffering. Using a small sensor taped behind the ear to measure the force and direction of a hit, the medical team is getting vital data to build up a picture of medium and long term damage that might be occurring. Similar programmes are underway in the US for gridiron, while New Zealand club rugby has experimented with an electronic gum shield containing a gyroscope that calculates the G-force behind each hit. As the NY Times reported, the data collected in this study are suggesting that players “sometimes face the same strain as when two cars collide.”
It must also be said that high production levels in live television broadcasts have helped with player welfare. The availability of television replays to referees in-game in some sports, as well as citing league leaders post-game, has meant that players are much more likely to think twice before committing an act of violence. This is because the number of cameras now in place within stadia means it’s highly unlikely that they’ll get away with it.
Painting a picture for coaching
Aside from their welfare, technology can play a big part in player development. Video analysis is now a key tool in a coach’s armoury. But up until recently, as I discovered during a chat with an analyst at an English football club, its use has been fairly abstract. Now though, coaches are turning to professional graphics tools used by broadcasters. Vizrt’s Viz Libero is being used by more and more clubs now as a way of painting a clearer, more comprehensive tactical picture for their players, in the same way as the networks do for their viewers.
The availability of cheaper video cameras, combined with the increased performance of graphics cards and computers, and the portability of the equipment mean that it’s now a realistic investment for clubs. Multiple cameras can be quickly rigged up at each stadium they play at, home and away, as well as at the training ground, and then video clips can be enhanced with visual analysis and sent to players to view on their own devices.
Recognising the benefit of using images to highlight key messages, the NFL recently signed a huge $400m deal with Microsoft for teams to use 25 of its Surface Pro 2 tablets both on the sidelines and up in the coaching booths during games. The bespoke units have been modified to fit with the NFL’s strict rules on coaching tools, to ensure a level playing field for its 32 teams and only allow access to a viewing app that shows photos of recent plays. They were brought in as a means to replace the banks of printers stationed at the side of the pitch. The reaction from coaches and players, used to be looking at hastily printed images, has been very positive. To ensure the tablets are not misused by teams, they must all be returned to the NFL after each game.
The aggregation of marginal gains
Modern sporting philosophy suggests that if you improve everything by 1%, you’ll get significant increase when all of the elements come together, so the race is on to find gains where others aren’t looking. This has led to a surge in studying statistical data captured in a wide range of sports, looking for patterns that lead to success. Performance trends have been discovered when analysing data such as number of sprints, amount of possession, hematocrit ratio (think Lance Armstrong) or on-base percentage (read Moneyball), that have led to big changes in coaching and recruitment philosophies. Now people who can build data models and find trends are becoming as useful to an organisation as grizzled scouts who have spent their lives on the road, spotting talent in players, or weaknesses in the opposition.
In truth, I’ve not even touched the surface of this topic. There is just so much to look at in so many sports. In an increasingly crowded marketplace, sports need to stand out from the crowd if they want to benefit from television money and the subsequent raise in profile this generates. Athletic endeavour, increased performance levels and success are the key to this. We want our sport to be bigger, better and faster, and technology is the key to making this happen. We just need to make sure it’s kept in check, so it’s not just those with the largest budgets that benefit.
Tristan Earl works at specialist communications agency, Red Lorry Yellow Lorry, where he promotes new technology within the M&E industry.