Role of Technology in Revolutionizing Sports Training

Vaibhav Somani, Director, Gravolite

The way sports are played, watched, and prepared for has been subtly altered by the growth of sports technology. India’s use of such technology raises the obvious question given its astounding global effects.

It’s hard to not expect coaches and athletes to strive for any advantage they can get given the high standards of world-level contests like the Olympics and CWG—from dietary plans to new equipment developments and training techniques—to increase their chances of winning. Thanks to the rising technological penetration into the Indian sporting world, there are many positive changes occurring in the sports business here. Today, there is a pretty load of high-tech tools available to evaluate and analyze an athlete’s performance in greater depth – a quite common one being the wear tech.

What Wearable Technology Is

Anything linked to the body that measures and records performance data during physical activities like walking, running or jumping is referred to as technology ‘that can be worn’. Let’s see how this class of technology works:

1. A large number of wearable gadgets use micro-electromechanical systems, which have sensors that can measure various physical changes like pulse rate, pace, force, or shock. For example, force-sensing resistors placed in shoes used in highly active games like wrestling, kabaddi, and khokho provide a continuous stream of data for entire training sessions.
2. Wearable technology enables coaches to monitor each player’s biometrics in real-time for indicators of pain or weariness while they practice, lowering injury and sports-related illness.
3. These gadgets are being subtly incorporated into athletic clothing and accessories including gloves, waistbands, and skin patches. Then, using Bluetooth and GPS technology to connect the devices, coaches using laptops or other electronic devices can receive real-time data for analysis, recording, and response.

Technological Status of yet-to-be Elite Sports in India

KushtiAkhada or wrestling, sword-fighting, kho-kho, tug of war, kabaddi, and mallakhamb are some of the indigenous sports of India that have suffered eclipse by mainstream sports like cricket. How is advanced technology helping these sports (if at all)? Let’s have a look:

The establishment of a cutting-edge wrestling academy by Indian Railways in Kishanganj, Delhi, has received approval from the Ministry of Railways. The largest wrestling academy in India will have with-it training facilities to elevate the sport. The project’s projected setup cost is INR 30.76 cr.

Owing to the scientific analysis and assessment program run by the Kho Kho Federation of India and Ultimate Kho Kho, the sector’s top players are currently experiencing a whole new aspect of training with the use of sports science technology “…the training is well conditioned and we know how much to push ourselves as the body is tested regularly and we are able to identify our strengths and weaknesses,” says the khokho star, Harkirat.

As E. Prasad Rao, Technical Director of VIVO Pro Kabaddi and a Dronacharya awardee, recently told, “With technological advancements, Kabaddi has kept on evolving. We only had referees and scorers for matches in traditional Kabaddi. But now, the term has changed, it is called ‘Technical Officials’ because they perform different duties on match days. Apart from on-field referees and umpires, there is a Technical Desk that takes care of scoring and timing, then there is a Technical Room behind the two which supervises the FOP operations and makes sure everything runs smoothly,”

Further Advancement of Indian Sports Tech Ecosystem is Required

Sports provide a fantastic platform to showcase all the most recent technological innovations. Considering the scenario at home, not only India’s but Asia’s sports technology ecosystem is still not as developed as those in the US and the UK. In Asia as a whole, the emphasis is mainly on educating the public about the numerous sports played and emphasizing grassroots activity. And instead of catching up, it’s about finding solutions to regionally specific problems.

India has the potentialto lead the world in sports analytics, according to a Sports Mechanics promoter who further said at the ‘Technology Powering Sports Revolution’ panel discussion held recently in June 2022,To achieve that, all we need to do is to set up a pipeline in place so that quality and authentic data across sports comes in.”

However, the information gathered from sporting technology must be accurate and trustworthy in order to support training. For instance, a sensor can give a coach a player’s average running rate for the duration of a khokhosession, but this information is not as useful as knowing how it fluctuated or when it changed. Understanding this data in the proper context can offer a deeper knowledge of game tactics, strategies, and programming. Without this knowledge, the data is almost worthless.

Technology has so much more to offer Indian sports training; all it needs is the correct pace and method to make the most of it.