Monitoring Athlete Progress: A Data-Driven Approach to Development - by Sarah Daren

From the Coach’s Clipboard Basketball Playbook
"Helping coaches coach better..."

Watch the Olympics and you get a sense of how timeless sports really are. Some of the games played in Paris this year have been around for thousands of years. And yet the way that people evaluate these events are changing all of the time.

Technology is now used to strategize, improve player performance, and even evaluate the safety of certain practices.

In this article, we take an in-depth look at how modern technology is shaping the world of sports. Read to learn more!

Internet of Things

In the world of remote monitoring, no technology has been as influential as IoT. Physical devices that connect directly to the Internet. This makes it very easy to monitor progress remotely and take highly specific data points automatically and on a constant basis.

Athletes can monitor their heart rate. Their blood pressure. Their speed.

Players in games like golf or baseball can access extremely detailed information on their swing planes.

These data sets will make it easier to train, but they also may serve as preventative health measures. How many times have you read a story about a high school football player collapsing during practice because they were overheated?

Wearable healthcare devices have the potential to analyze health conditions in real time and catch issues before they boil over.

Artificial Intelligence

AI has had its hits and its misses these last two years. While we've all laughed at the funny suggestions generative AI comes up with, the most impactful application of this new technology is in information processing. Artificial intelligence applications are able to analyze large swats of data and reach accurate conclusions faster than humans.

This will inevitably have many important implications in the world of healthcare technology. It is also also useful in the world of sports.

Algorithms can be used to analyze statistics for individual athletes as well as for teams. This makes it easier to strategize and plan for long-term health and wellness.

Better planning sure, but also better preventative care. What type of techniques or training are most conducive to health and longevity? These are the types of questions that artificial intelligence has the potential to answer.

AI in the future will be able to help athletes and the organizations they play for prepare in ways that are both sustainable and more effective. Better results. Fewer injuries. Talk about a win-win.

Stop Motion Video

It's also worth pointing out that video analysis has never been better. Stop-motion video cameras allow coaches to take extremely close looks at their player's techniques.

This technology gives the athlete an otherwise inaccessible look at every split second of their athletic motions. Sports- particularly when played at higher levels- are often decided by very minor differences. Look at the Olympics. How many track and field events were won by a matter of millimeters?

Stop motion video allows you to capture those tiny moments that tend to matter the most in sports.

Virtual Reality

Virtual reality allows athletes to train for a variety of situations they otherwise only would've been able to experience in a competitive match. These tools are a great way to pilot new strategies and also train without accumulating wear and tear on the players.

Statistics can still be taken. In fact, some VR programs can produce extremely accurate performance measurements. In golf, for example, simulation machines, are ideal for measuring club head speed, impact angle, and other factors that can't be evaluated on the golf course.

Competitive sports are continuing to explore the way virtual reality can be used to measure performance and strategize.

Just the Beginning?

Technology changes all the time. Many of the things listed in this article are only in relatively early stages of development. Who could say how AI and other burgeoning technologies will influence sports over the next 10 years?

One thing that everyone can agree upon now is that recent developments in technology not only make sports more interesting but they also make them safer. By monitoring performance indicators, coaches and doctors alike can get better insights into how to play sports in a way that is safe and effective.

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