Sports Science: Week in Review, Dec 12-Dec 18

A few years back, like 5-6 years, people talked about bits and atoms like they were each their universes. It was pretty clearly separated. Bits were the 1s and 0s world of digital and online. Atoms were the chemical and biological world that all physical things occupy.

The line separating atoms and bits has blurred as the Internet of Things has become something. Sports, with the attention it gives to analytics (bits) and its basis in human performance (atoms) is shaping up an important proving ground for how these worlds converge.

There are hurdles to clear. Sensors that bridge physical and digital realms are emerging technology. User interfaces are not as usable as they need to become. And that’s the technology push side.

Market pull for the news sports technology is okay, not great. Sports analysts have a difficult task combining what they understand about statistics with the bioengineering that explains athletic performance.

Research is happening. Medical groups are pursuing advances. Government funding is materializing. Big sports companies are pursuing moonshot-like projects. Sports teams and venture groups are collaborating on accelerators and operations.

There could be more research but there always could be more research. The bottleneck, if there is one, is lack of knowledgeable performance analysts. The skill set that’s needed is demonstrated in this post by Alan Couzens on Injury Prediction but at a higher level. Progress has it’s own timetable.

More things that I read and liked last week:

 

 

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