Sports imPULSE

New Balance and iPhone - A Very Cool Combination

Wow, New Balance and MapMyRun have teamed up and released a very cool application for the iPhone. Yes, there are a number of similar apps, but New Balance has really pushed the envelope by combining mapping, coaching, history and fitness. Now comes the two pieces that make it way cool, training partners and Photos.  You can keep in touch with your own group, providing them with your workout updates via Twitter and gain access to other runners for tips on training and where to run.  And, you can take pictures of that giant hill without having to switch out of mapping and losing your progress.  Like I said, very cool.

Sports Intelligence: New TechTrainer Provides Better Data Quality Feedback

Lake Erie Medical of Ohio, in cooperation with BTE Technologies and Keiser Corporation, have announced the launch of TechTrainer High Performance Pneumatic Conditioning System, whew! In all seriousness, this new computerized athletic training and strength conditioning system does raise the bar a bit for smaller equipment. 

The TechTrainer provides athletic trainers and physical therapists with functional, objective, real-time feedback that they use to evaluate trends, imbalances, and improve athletic performance. The TechTrainer is used to establish baseline, symmetry, and progress.

An athlete's stregths and weaknesses can now be evaluated with a level of data quality that hadn't been available before for smaller businesses and private practices, which would make this perfect for physical therapists, athletic trainers, and strength conditioning specialists.

We at Sports imPULSE are huge advocates of sports intelligence and are always thrilled to find companies or organizations who work towards the improvement of better data and the analysis of that data. 

The right information for the right people at the right time improves the entire athletic ecosystem, from the athlete to the entire sports organization.

Same Old Workout Routine? Try ClimbStation - Rock Climbing Indoors

So here we are in mid-winter, some of us doing the same workouts every week:  treadmills, stationary bikes/spin classes, etc.  ClimbStation is looking to shake things up.  With no ropes or harness to put on, and no supervisor needed, the ClimbStation is perfect for amateurs as well as pros.  ClimbStation now makes climbing available to all climbing fans and provides a robust workout enhancing fitness and strength through mulitple muscle groups.

So what does a rock climbing simulator have to do with technology?  With ClimbStation, users begin with a touch-screen, user interface.  A track is selected and away you go.  During the climbing workout, climbing statistics are displayed, such as, time, height, length of route climbed, and calories burned.  at the end of the climb, users can save the workout for future use.   Top scores are recorded on a leaderboard for comparison against others.  Additionally up to six ClimbStations can be linked together for climbing competitions.  Yet another creative application of Sports Intelligence.

Football Engineering

As we approach the NFC and AFC playoffs, has anyone considered what technologies could enhance US football?  Or, how can we be sure the team made the first down on 4th and inches?  Well, the folks at Carnegie Mellon are actually working on research projects focused on developing new technologies that can assist referees in making calls during specific game situations (e.g., determining the position of the ball when forward progress is stopped, determining whether a player has control of the ball). These key decisions can often change the momentum of a football game dramatically, and it would be useful to supplement the referee's decision-making process with additional information.

Using a combination of sensors, wireless protocols, and embedded devices, they are currently working on developing a smart football that can be tracked in real time in 3D space, even when it is obscured under a pile of players (making computer vision techniques difficult to use in such situations).  Additionally, they are working on enhancing other athletic equipment (e.g., gloves worn by the players) that is used during the game in order to track the players' contact with the football to determine their control and possession of the ball.  All of the sensory capabilities that are provided to the football equipment will allow the extraction of key statistics (e.g., hang time) that will inevitably be useful in training and coaching games, and not just on game day.  These technologies truly become enablers for sports intelligence, something we are very passionate about, and accelerate improvement for the athlete and the organization.

How Technology Changed Football

The use of technology in the National Football League has come a long way since that October day in 1920 when the Dayton Triangles beat the Columbus Panhandles 14-0 in the first NFL game in history.

Instant replay. Sky cams. Radios transmitters in the quarterback’s helmet. Statistical analysis by the screenful. All are now taken for granted as an indispensable part of today’s sports scene. But it wasn’t always so.

Today’s technology not only helps the fan see more and know more about the game, it also helps coaches and players. Here are a couple ways technology has impacted professional football today:

1. Instant replay, of course.
The first use of instant replay in a football game came on Dec. 7, 1963, near the end of the Army-Navy game in Philadelphia when Army quarterback Rollie Stichweh scored on a 1-yard run. Famed CBS director Tony Verna had come up with the idea for “video replay” (as he called it) to fill dead air time between plays. After three quarters of frustrating glitches trying to get the technology to work, Verna finally told announcer Lindsey Nelson, “Here it comes!” as Stichweh faked a handoff and darted into the end zone. “This is not live,” Nelson told his viewers as they watched the Army quarterback’s run again. “Ladies and gentlemen, Army did not score again.” A new era was born.

2. Sports Intelligence
Thanks to the computer, football is joining baseball as a generator of reams of highly specialized and sophisticated statistics about teams, players and trends. Now numerous Web sites feature specialized statistical breakdowns of players in almost any game situation as well as seasonal and career numbers.

Stats are not just for fans either, but are becoming a tool for coaches and general managers as well.

As the emphasis on sports intelligence begins to expand it is very likely that we will see Sabermetrics type formulas for football personnel stats and evaluations of rosters.  At Pulse Jam, we've been developing a platform that we will introduce to a few limited partners next month as we further enhance this very important discipline

The Intellectuals

Not all coaches read only playbooks.  Our blog is dedicated to the intersection of sports & technology, with a heavy emphasis on sports intelligence.  Today, we would like to highlight a few coaches who really are intellectuals and employ sports intelligence to their advantage.

Mike Leach, the Texas Tech football coach, graduated from Brigham Young and then went to Pepperdine for his law degree.  He is the architect of a relentless and increasingly complex passing attack that has brought the Red Raiders to a national #2 ranking and undefeated thus far.

A common thread among coaches with advanced degrees is an innovative, risk-taking approach that pressures opponents.  Here are a few more:

Tom Davis,  "Dr. Tom" earned a doctorate in history at Maryland.  However, he learned his basketball from watching UCLA coaching legend John Wooden who focused on creating defensive pressure to try to generate poor passes and turnovers.  The aggressive press Davis used led to almost 600 college victories at several schools, most prominently Iowa.

Tony La Russa, earned a law degree from Florida State and has long been considered the thinking man's baseball manager.  The unconventional GM has popularized several now standard strategies, including a dedicated closer in the night inning.  That and having a pitcher bat eighth, instead of ninth enabled him to lead the Oakland A's to three straight World Series appearances.

Marv Levy, he took over the Buffalo Bills, with a master's degree from Harvard.  Instead of being another control freak, he let the quarterback, Jim Kelly, call his own plays in a no-huddle offense that led the Bills to four Super Bowls.

It's really not an oxymoron, sports and intelligence do go together.

Sports Intelligence Helps TV Audiences Get In The Game

Imagine watching your favorite sports team on TV, or on a mobile or internet device and being able to obtain detailed info on the game or your team's strategies.

SportVU has created an application which allows sports commentators to collect real time stats on players and teams while the game is being played.  By using a live radar view of the of player deployment on the playing field, the system instantly displays statistical performance data.  In addition to delivering dramatically enhanced viewing, the platform provides unique advertising and sponsorship opportunities and enables rights' owners to further leverage their properties by offering live graphical presentation of the event over the web, on a gaming console, or to a mobile handset.

SportVU is being used with American football, baseball, hockey, basketball, and soccer. This is an exciting step in the evolution of sports intelligence.  Now that this data is being measured how can it be managed?

Technology In The Dugout - Hitters

Videotape also works for hitters in slumps.

As it looks like we'll find out who will be playing the Phillies in the World Series this year, it might be interesting to take a quick look at some of the technologies that benefit baseball players.  There are a lot of technologies focused on pitchers, however the hitters have not been ignored.  One of the most amazing pitching machines ever developed is the Abner Batter Training System. The the machine is an 8-axis industrial robot that fires regulation baseballs at speeds up to 90 mph. Two spinning aluminum flywheels create top, bottom or sidespin, so the machine can duplicate just about every pitch in the book. A screen in front of the machine shows a major league pitcher in 3D animation. The hitter can even see the pitcher's grip on the ball, just like in real life. At the moment of release, a shutter opens in the screen as the machine fires the ball through the screen to the batter. The shutter then closes and the screen shows the pitcher's follow-through motion. It doesn't get any more realistic than that.

By enabling players to practice against replicas of major league pitchers they might face during a game, Abner has the potential to revolutionize training.  Professional hitters need to see the hand on the baseball all the way up to the moment of release, in order to see the finger placement on the ball.  By watching how a pitcher is holding a ball, players can predict the type of pitch and the trajectory of the ball.  Here is another great example of sports technology.  Now I wonder, who will have used it more this weekend, the Rays or the Red Sox.