Over the last two decades, the cutting-edge technology has much influenced the sports domain. Sporting technologies refer to manmade means implemented to reach better outcomes in the quality of sport performance. In its turn, technology in sports assumes technical means through which athletes enhance their training and competitive strength and athletic performance. In other words, technology in sports enables athletes to perform tasks more efficiently and reach better results. Advanced motion capture and computer stimulations enable audiences to gain more satisfaction and live experiences from watching sport games and tournaments.
Apparently, advanced sporting technologies assume various advantages. First, they inspire the development of various products improving athletic performance. In particular, they help to diagnose athletes and maintain their health and fitness in the right condition. Body-fat monitors and heart rate monitors are just two examples in this context. Modern technologies and IT advancements have increased the knowledge of the human body and enabled deeper recognition of athletes’ potential. This adds to how much human body is able to endure and enable athletes to remain in proper shape and compete in an older age. In addition, technologies in sport have advanced the safety of athletes with innovative features part of today’s sporting equipment. For instance, modernized helmets and body protection guards help boxing, football and ice hockey players a great deal in preventing injuries.
In terms of judging in sports, modern sporting technologies have considerably easened the judging process and made it more accurate. However, the rules of many sports like tennis or footblall still do not allow technological fixation of a score to sustain the intrigue of a human factor performed by referres and umpires. While follow-up video fixation is available to spectators on large monitors, still referres and umpires cannot refer to it as a decisive factor.
The advancements of technology in sports have much promoted non-professional active sports over the years. Innovative clothing and footwear have become rather user-friendly by advancing strength, density, flexibility, durability, thickness, resistance to moisture, and toughness. All these features have welcomed many people to taking up various sports ranging from jogging to skiing and bicycling. On a professional level, sportsmen use the composite tennis rackets to ensure enhanced ball speed and eliminate vibration. All these and other features make the shots more precise and lead to advanced results. The stability and rigidity of modrn bicycles are due to sporting equipment innovations inspired by the growth and development of sporting technologies.
The springlite prosthesis device for the athletes with disabilities is another core advantage of modern technologies in sports. The device returns energy to athletes and allows them running agead. The same concerns wheelchair devices that are popular in sporting activities for disabled athletes (Schindel, 2011).
Further, such sophisticated technologies as CAD (Computer Aided Design) much facilitate modern improvements of sporting equipment. CAD assumes testing techniques and virtual design utilized to research and development in sport and leisure equipment. CAD assesses new products and ideas targeted at improving safety, ensuring comfort and effectiveness of professional and specialised sports equipment. At that, ‘smart’ equipment helps to assess human performance by means of computers and sensors, and enables athlete to advance their training regime. These devices test exercise stress, assess cardiovascular rates, frequency of movement, and run, and jump devices. Sports experts also apply motion capture analysis to assess athletic performance with unprecedented accuracy. Digital recordings facilitate overall evaluation of individual athlete’s performance and their physical and psychological conditions (University of Ulster, 2009).
Overall, wide applications of sport technologies are certainly beneficial for overall progress and advancement of both professional and amaterurish sports. The only drawback is possible replacement of critical human decisions with the sporting technologies.
- Schindel, A. (2011). “20 Ways Technology Makes Sports Better,” retrieved February 24 2016 from http://bleacherreport.com/articles/773227-20-ways-technology-makes-sports-better
- University of Ulster (2009). “The Role of Technology in Sport,” retrieved February 24 2016 from http://www.ulster.ac.uk/scienceinsociety/technologyinsport.html
