16: Technology in Sports: Part 2

“We all have FitBits and Apple Watches. Imagine if you can start connecting your numbers, your analytics, your sports performance with your favorite players.”

(click to tweet)

Welcome back to Verizon Ventures.

This is Part 2 of our conversation around sporting technologies. Last week we discussed how technology can enhance fan experience, and today we focus on how it can improve player development. Joining us are the talented:

• LJ Rader, Product Manager at Verizon
• Jeff Angus, Head of Marketing at Playsight

“We’ve been working with everyone from the Golden State Warriors to sports academies with 10-12 year-olds. It’s a tool for athletes to help them get better. Everybody can use it.”

(click to tweet)

Highlights

• Products like Nike’s Fuelband aren’t innovation in terms of disrupting a learning process
• Look at Verizon Ventures’ portfolio company PlaySight’s SmartCourt to see how an innovative product empowers a coach to more effectively cut through the noise in his/her students
• Simulating in-game conditions helps mentally train players
• Imagine being a soccer goalkeeper who can virtually look at all previous kickers tendencies/habits
• Most experts favor augmented reality or virtual reality
• A new jumbotron prototype empowers spectators to use the technology when dormant
• Utilization technologies repurposes assets that aren’t being used (ex: Lyft, jumbotron)
• Stadium AR could pipe venue analytics to the user to improve gameday experience (ex: concessions prices, bathroom lines, etc.
• Opening analytics to the public could mean knowing Lebron’s heart rate at the free throw line or distance run all season

“For athletes, the mental aspect is arguably more important than the physical talent.”

(click to tweet)

Resources

PlaySight SmartCourt https://www.playsight.com/

Full Show Notes at: VerizonVentures.com/podcast