Baylor University’s Football program is teaming up with Athletigen Technologies Inc. for the 2016 season. The sports genetics company is hoping to help Baylor’s football team and coaching staff individualize training for players in order to maximize everything from performance to mental health.
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We covered Athletigen Technologies a couple of months ago when they received seed funding to help improve their sports genetic testing. Since then we also highlighted their work with a top Track and Field training compound, that prepares athletes for the Olympics.
As of now, they are able to help athletes in a few ways; first by analyzing their genetic traits, and then later by working with coaches and staff to design a regiment that works best for the individual, based on unchangeable genetics. Partnering with Baylor will be their first step into the high profile and ultra competitive world of NCAA College Football.
Baylor Football made their first Bowl Game in 15-years, two years after their current Head Coach Art Briles took over in 2008. Since then Baylor has become a national powerhouse and counties to get top recruits. However, Briles has done more than recruit top talent and coach winning football during his time in Waco. He has built a program that is at the forefront of innovation, technology, and sports science. Baylor Football uses everything from GPS tracking and heart monitors for all their athletes, to working with a Slovenia company who specializes in TMG (tensiomyography), a technology that allows users to monitor and track performance of specific muscle groups.
The partnership between Baylor Football and Athletigen could prove to be a vital next step for both parties as they try to build on their competitive advantages.
Athletigen Technologies Inc. will be able to collect and test a large number of top college athletes. Baylor’s spring football roster lists 99 players, a number that will only grow as the season approaches. They will be able to test how effective their collection methods are, as well as adding massive new data sets to help provide all their athletes with greater insights and tools for improvement.
Athletigen’s CEO Dr. Jeremy Koenig is excited about this new relationship. “Partnering with a world class athlete performance program like Baylor Football allows us to make significant advances in our understanding of how genetics can be used to optimize player performance at the elite level…”
Baylor Football will be able to use the genetic data profiles to help their players improve in a multitude of facets. By submitting the saliva of every player on the team to Athletigen, the coaching and training staff will be able to see a vast array of genetic traits. The results that Athletigen provides hone in on all of the genetic information collected, it is then analyzed and broken down into three main categories: athletics, sports psychology, and nutrition. These categories then have sub-categories, for instance athletics, then breaks down into injury, metabolic conditioning, and weight lifting.
The goal is to dive into a players’ genetic make up to see what traits they possess naturally and how the coaching and training staff along with the experts at Athletigen can provide a regiment to allow athletes to reach their maximum potential. No two athletes are the same, therefore Baylor Football wants to help each of theirs, eat, train and recover in the way that benefits them the most.
With the ability to test genetic predispositions to injuries, the Baylor coaching staff can set up training to help prevent a specific injury from happening. Baylor Football wants their players to excel on field, but they also want their players to be healthy and not just throughout their playing careers but long after football is over. The hope is that by working with the players’ genetic traits as the focal point of the overall athlete experience, they will be able stay as healthy and injury free as possible, while maximizing their potential on the field.
By partnering with Athletigen, Baylor Football will be able to help develop nuanced training, nutrition, mental health, and recovery programs for all of their players. When they officially start working together during training camp in August 2016 both parties could be at the helm of leading a revolution in sports.