Learning about the use of virtual reality in athletic training was a tremendously rewarding experience. I was fortunate enough to be granted access to the equipment and technology used by the athletic videography staff at Vanderbilt University. I traveled to Vanderbilt over a three-day period in the middle of July and met with the staff.
One of the first uses of virtual reality in athletics has its beginnings at Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif. Three graduates from Stanford developed a company called Strivr Labs and began to explore ways in which virtual reality could be used to enhance the development of athletes.
One of the founders of the company, Derek Belcher, was a former football player at Stanford and brainstormed ideas about how virtual reality could benefit players away from practice or games by creating an environment where players could get “live simulated reps” without the contact and wear on their bodies. It also allowed them to train their minds by seeing the proper way to perform a task over and over. In addition, players were able to see and simulate live football situations during the off season when there was no practice or games.
Virtual Reality technology does not come cheap. High-tech cameras, goggles and the software required to get the 360-degree view into a playback mode is very expensive at this time. Because of the cost associated with the technology, very few college programs are able to make use of technology. More NFL teams are purchasing and using it.
Vanderbilt University is one of the few college programs using the technology. It’s interesting to note that the new head football coach at Vanderbilt, Derek Mason, is a former Stanford football player and a Stanford graduate. As I was looking into the possibility of traveling to Stanford and meeting with the Stanford football staff, I also looked at who was using the technology. Once I saw that Vanderbilt was making use of the virtual reality technology, I knew it would probably be easier for me to make contact with Vanderbilt as they are in the Southeast and recruit our kids.
I began to call and email the athletic department and was contacted by Vanderbilt’s head athletic videographer, Josh Pohl. Josh was incredibly welcoming. What Vanderbilt is using through Strivr Labs is incredible. They have the ability to film their players in action in real-time 360-degree view. That means that while the athlete is in motion, cameras are simultaneously filming every angle of his or her movement. Upon replay, with the virtual reality goggles in place, a player can see what is going on everywhere around them during action.
When you think about what this actually means it’s really amazing!
Take a quarterback, for example. If he is filmed throwing a pass during practice, when he goes back and uses virtual reality, he can see where he threw the ball, what was going on away from him on the backside or at the line of scrimmage. For that matter, he can turn his head and see what the coach behind him was saying as the play transpired or look up and see if any planes were flying over while the play was going on.
How is this done? The camera is what is called a GoPro Cube. It is actually a cube of six GoPro cameras filming simultaneously. It is on a stand and is placed just behind and adjacent to the quarterback. Once filming is complete, the film is uploaded and sent to Strivr in Palo Alto, where it is processed and returned to Vanderbilt. At this point, the virtual reality goggles are connected to a computer and the athlete can view the reps.
What’s interesting is that a few programs (Vanderbilt included) are using virtual reality to film what game day is like on campus and the coaches are taking it into athletes homes to use a recruiting tool so potential players can visualize themselves walking through the crowd on the way to games. Because it’s a 360-degree view, a recruit can look around at everything going on! It was really amazing to see just how real everything looked with the goggles on.
I don’t think the Strivr technology being used by Vanderbilt is financially viable for us in the Darlington athletic department at this point. It’s just too expensive. However, from talking with Josh, he seems to think there are other less-expensive options available. For example, Kodak makes a product that gives a “panoramic” 360 degree view. It makes use of two cameras that provide a 180-degree view. This version is not as comprehensive as the GoPro Cube and does not provide the flexibility to see what’s going on at all angles, but it does give the user the opportunity to see beyond what an ordinary camera would film.
In theory, this would be a great training tool in the off-season for our athletes at a more inexpensive price. I would like to have seen the technology in action. I think, if I had it to do over, I would have waited and tried to gain access to Vanderbilt’s spring football practice where I could see them use the technology on the field and started from there. I may go anyway!
