Technology revolutionized sports in many ways. Sports might look the same from decades ago, but the truth is there are a lot of changes in the background.
Nowadays, trainers have better data to analyze athletes, technology for determining tough decisions, health trackers, and many other innovative products that make every sport what it is today.
In today’s article, we will take a look and some of the essential innovative technologies that are used in sports and take the time to appreciate the people that worked hard into making sports more entertaining for us.
1. Heart Rate Monitor
Let’s start with an essential piece of tech that is common in every sport. Heart monitors help out athletes to track their instant health.
This provides valuable metrics that can be used to improve an athlete’s performance and keep them healthy.
They are literally a lifesaver. Most sports use heart rate monitor trackers while training. This also helps coaches to design a specific training program for individual athletes.
Heart rate monitors can alert athletes of malnutrition and dehydration, which are crucial for achieving the best performance.
2. Hawkeye Tracking System Used in Tennis
As a referee, it is hard to spot a small ball going at 150mph. Fortunately, we don’t have to rely on our eyesight, since technology has the answer to this problem.
Nowadays, tennis matches are followed by computerized ball trackers that help referees determine if the ball is in or out. The machine is so precise that it makes a perfect virtual replay of the shot, which is perfect for eliminating arguments.
The first system of this sort used in tennis was the Cyclops. It incorporated six infra-red beams that were set just a centimeter above ground. Nowadays, there is an even more advanced technology called Hawkeye. The system works by tracking the ball movement through multiple cameras from several angles. The cameras now calculate a 3-D image of where the ball lands.
3. Bluetooth Headset Football
The most valuable piece of technology for football coaches is the beloved headset that they use to communicate. From time to time, we can see some coaches that slam the headset to the ground, but even then, the headset serves a good purpose by relieving them from stress.
The headset can be used in many different ways. For example, the coaches in the press box have an aerial view of the game, and with the headset, they can get useful information about the game.
There is also an option to communicate with players through the headpiece in their helmets. In other words, there is no shouting to players and no sore throat. This is a piece of technology that is crucial for running a successful team in the NFL betting odds.
4. Photo Finishes in Horse Races
Horse racing is a very popular sport, but it is hard to declare a winner when all competitors move at 55mph. That’s where high-speed cameras come in handy.
Back in the day, they used instant photo camera to capture a photo of whoever crosses the finish line first. Nowadays, a high-speed camera can catch a slow-motion video that shoots in 3,000 frames per second, making it easy to determine the winner of the race.
5. Camera Above the Net in Hockey
This might not be a revolutionizing piece of tech, but it is a huge game-changer for hockey.
Having a camera above the net is mainly used to see what goes past the goal line. Things move extremely fast in hockey, which is why such a piece of technology is crucial for the game.
The camera technology has changed many times, and now they have a sophisticated system that tracks the rubber to determine if it passed the line.
6. Multi-Faced Clock Above the Rim in Basketball
Very few people remember the ground clock back in the day that was set in the corner of the court that tracked the time that each team has. This proved to be very difficult for athletes, and it was a visual obstruction, especially when there are five or six players standing in the way.
Fortunately, the NBA found a solution by placing the clock above the rim. However, even that proved to be challenging for players. If someone is setting up for a baseline three-pointer, it is hard to know how much time there is left on the clock since it only faced the other basket.
Nowadays, there is a multi-faced clock with three or four sides. This improves the decision-making for athletes, and they can easily track how much time they got left for each attack. We are sure this technology will be controversial, but eventually will please the best players and coaches in NBA, according to BetAmerica.
7. Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS) in Auto Racing
Formula One was always the automotive sport that pushed the limits of technology. Many times in the past, teams from Formula One came up with an innovative automotive solution that is seen in cars a couple of years later.
The same goes for this 35-kilogram car part that recovers the kinetic energy from the heat created by the car’s braking process.
KERS is now used by all teams in Formula One, and it gives racers an additional boost that comes from an energy source that is usually wasted. We’ve seen this system implemented in a few hypercars, and it is possible to see it in all cars in the future.
8. Radar Gun is Baseball
Some people might argue that the homerun review will serve a better value, but since baseball is a very traditional sport, homerun reviews almost never happen. They mainly rely on the radar gun.
By using the radar gun, every single pitch speed is documented and analyzed by the team. This piece of technology allows pitches to track the development of their pitch speed and find a way they can improve.
Final Words
Can you imagine watching sports without these technologies? They are built into the core of every sport and provide crucial data, which helps athletes and coaches in many different ways.
Sports technologies continue to advance as now we’ve seen VAR technology used in soccer and augmented reality for adding audience. In other words, sport cannot be imagined without technology.
