How is new technology shaking the Sports industry?

Both amateur and professional sports are being shaken up by new technology that adds fun, challenges and can be taken advantage of to improve people’s performance in almost any discipline. Let’s take a look at the major impact of technology in sports. Ready, set… go!

In the past, all you needed to practice your favorite sport was joggers and a decent pair of sneakers. nowadays, on the other hand you can´t go without a digital watch that tracks calories, a yoga class via streaming, sneakers with microchips or an app with thousands of training sessions on-demand from the comfort of your home. These are only some of the more obvious ways in which technology has impacted sports in recent years. However, if we think of new technology, such as AR, VR, machine learning or other sports could change in a way that we never even dared to imagine.

Amateur and pro

Though the impact and motivation for sports to take advantage of tech may differ depending on the athlete’s level, sports tech is of great importance for both amateurs and professionals.

Sports enthusiasts are incorporating a smartwatch or smart devices to challenge themselves and work on their training performance. Of course, training apps and live workout sessions via streaming have shown an enormous growth since the pandemic started, which can be explained by home-office and lockdowns.

For pros, the impact of technology is even greater, with devices for training and tracking performance and software that puts in evidence and allows working in every single detail regarding performance.

What can tech do for sports?

• Apps for everything:

Workout apps, fitness tracking apps, analytics apps, meal-planning apps, weight-loss apps, meditation apps… the point has been made, right? There are all types of apps related to sports and well-being as a whole, meant for all types of disciplines, goals and athletes. In fact, during the pandemic, fitness apps downloads grew by 46% in the world. This leaves the door open for further developments related to home training.

• Virtual Reality:

Physical and time boundaries have never been so insignificant since the introduction of virtual reality to sports. Simulators and the rapid development of eSports which take advantage of Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality took sports out of courts, gyms and stadiums to everybody´s living room, dismissing the affirmation that gaming was a synonym of sedentarism.

• Devices and wearables:

Sports tech has greatly developed in clothing and wearables. From fitness tracking watches that provide detailed data of the athlete’s performance, mobile apps that act like personal trainers, microchips that track every move and electro stimulated jackets that became a new training discipline by themselves. The latest devices also include dumbbells with sensors, smart suits, glasses or helmets. Furthermore, the impact is massive, as these futuristic gadgets are not only being taken advantage of by top performance athletes but also accessible to all.

• Sports clothing and apparel:

Technological solutions applied to sports not only resulted in cool devices but also landed in clothing factories improving design, materials, functionality and more. Some examples are sneakers that can be personalized depending on the runner’s feet, helmets which are more resistant and lightweight, swimsuits that counteract friction.

• A new perspective for fans and referees:

Sports have never been so entertaining for people to watch, with mini cameras that allow them to see the game or race from the athlete’s perspective, recordings from every single angle and instant replays with measurements that reveal every single detail. Rugby was the first sport to bring technology on board to help referees make fair decisions and it was not long before other sports did the same. The VAR in soccer and the hawk eye in tennis completely changed the dynamics of these sports. AI opened up a new dimension regarding statistics such as distance, ball possession, precise timing and speed. This added new complexity regarding performance, which became less subjective and much more objective.

Sports tech impacting performance

Not only is data recording, analytics, precise measuring, statistics and machine learning of great help when it comes to gathering information regarding performance and making plans to impact the capabilities that need to be improved but also can be of great use for sports trainers to analyze a rival´s performance.

Thanks to technology, training has also been able to resemble the present game or race by the development of gym equipment that adds sensors, resistance and challenges that simulate the discipline to make mental and physical improvements that are specific to it. Formula 1, for example, uses helmets and machines that test the impact of G-force on drivers.

Definitely, the incorporation of technology on clothes and equipment like bikes, helmets, paddles, training masks or weighted vests also result in better performance through pushing the athletes to the limit and making the equipment lighter, faster and better.

Finally, apps to track nutrition, make meal plans or monitor weight goals progress provide valuable information to make decisions that will end up impacting performance.

A revolutionary system: Neural Trainer

One of the projects we developed at ThinkUp is an example of a perfect integration between tech and sports meant to improve the athlete’s cognitive capabilities. Neural Trainer consists of a mobile app connected with up to 12 nodes that can be set with several training programs depending on the abilities that want to be improved: attention, speed, reaction and memory, for example.

Soccer and basketball teams, professional athletes and even amateurs benefit from Neural Trainer’s programs ability to boost performance by improving different capabilities.

This type of development required the use of high-precision and innovative technologies and networks, and we can say that the outcome is a great product that is helping sports improve at all levels.

What will be next? We are not sure, but we are ready to help develop new apps and devices that can impact people’s lives by changing the way they play, enjoy, practice or watch sports.