Motion Tracking in the world of Sports
Whoever controls the data, will rule the new world order.
Whoever capitalizes the most out of that data, will become the winner.
Whether it’s across different industries, or in the arena.
We’re all familiar with data transforming the major sectors — be it banking or healthcare, education or transportation, agriculture or manufacturing, data has become a pivotal asset for all. But did you know that data can be harnessed, captured, and used in the sports industry as well? If not, then you’re definitely on the right track. Quite literally.
All sports involve some kind of movement. Whether it’s batting on the cricket pitch, or swinging a club on the golf course — there’s hardly any sport that doesn’t involve motion at its core. As multiple combinations of movements occur on the field, court, and rink, analyzing these movements allows us to quantify different parts of the game, which can generate performance indicators, assess drivers of success, help them become more accurate, and even allows viewers to enjoy the sport at a higher degree of detail.
For all of these reasons and more, the sports industry has seen a meteoric rise in the use of sensors and multi-angle, video-capture analysis. Recording the action over cameras has been in play for quite some time, but the widespread integration of advanced sensors like RFID and IMUs has become more common in the recent few years. With the use of real-time sensors or post-event analysis, one can render required aspects of the game in detail.
For example, in baseball, Trackman measures the velocity and spin rate of incoming pitches, measures the exit velocity and trajectory of hits, and extrapolates the end distance and pathway of the ball through the air. You can find local positioning and optical tracking in soccer with StatSports and Catapult, respectively. The NBA generates ball and player movement data using SecondSpectrum. The NFL incorporates Zebra RFID technology with tags on shoulder pads, as well as in footballs, to communicate their position and movement on the field. Sensor-enabled football helmets, aimed at detecting concussions and head injuries, are already in the market. Nike is prototyping IMU-embedded shoes, while multiple startups are pursuing ideas around camera-embedded jerseys, GPS-enabled soccer balls, and bluetooth frisbees.
The ability to generate statistics provides value to teams in their competitive analysis and training, but it also offers value to viewers interested in the details. As sports teams and leagues exist in a competitive space as they constantly vie for victory and viewers’ attention, such statistical abilities play a huge role in their success.
With respect to leveraging data in such competitive environments, the IT leader Mark Hurd shares that, “The way to overachieve in those situations is to have better information, to know who you’re talking to, and to know how to motivate the customer. To seize the very unique opportunity, you have to differentiate that relationship and be nimble enough with your technology to capitalize on that moment.” In order to do this, he adds, “Data becomes very important, and the ability to mine that information, and take advantage of that information at those unique opportunities.”
The use of motion tracking and capture in sports exploded over the last decade and today it’s quite hard to find a sport that’s not using the technology in some capacity. With sport being increasingly data-driven, motion tracking has become an extension of the interest in and acceptance of performance analytics.
Sports scientists and tech vendors have worked hard to embed the technology within training programs. The most rapid progress has taken place in sports where ‘wear and tear’ is a given — especially at the elite level and in global sports. Injury prevention and recovery have been one of the main drivers behind the adoption of the technology.
While injury and return to play might be the entry point for motion capture, the last 10 years have also witnessed the increased use of the technology to support talent improvement, training techniques, and player performance analytics. In the next five, it is set to become more present than ever. There is another huge advantage to tracking sensors. While lab-based systems still provide the gold standard in precision, capturing data in the lab remains inherently ‘unnatural’. As a controlled environment, it is impossible for lab-based motion capture to factor in the more chaotic nature of sporting movements and the different surfaces that respond in a variety of ways, depending on outdoor conditions and weather.
To minimize the risk of re-injury and to optimize performance — sports scientists, biomechanists, physiotherapists, coaches, and athletes need detailed information on specific limb loading and joint angles at the moment while they are ‘on the field’. It is the only way they can assess an athlete’s natural performance in real-time, monitor progress, assess improvements, make adjustments, stop a session or make a substitution if the analysis suggests a heightened risk. This is where wearable inertial sensors can play an incredibly vital role. They offer the only route to accessing detailed biomechanical data live, in a natural situation.
The advances in technology that we see today in the arena, are on the cusp of a far-fetched vision becoming a reality. As sensor technology becomes more sophisticated, supported by more intuitive apps and real-time wireless data uploads from sensors — by 2025 motion tracking will be firmly embedded in the fabric of sports forever.
