The influence of technology in sports is increasingly broad, both at a professional, amateur, or even recreational level. Technological innovations have been able to adapt to a field as complex as sport, offering precise measurement instruments, materials that improve performance, and devices that prevent injuries or facilitate the recovery of athletes.

Herein, we’ll see examples of how technology is used in sports beyond the famous VAR, which we all already know from watching any football match.

What is Technology in Sports for?

Technology in sports and physical activity opens a new chapter in competitions, training, and athlete care. New technologies are applied to design materials for clothing, footwear, or sports instruments. They are also becoming the best ally for coaches, allowing them to monitor athletes’ performance and better schedule training and rest.

From sports apps to the latest technology to analyze athletes’ performance, prevent injury, and aid recovery, technology has revolutionized the sports industry in recent years.

The new technologies in sports are also becoming the right arm of the referees, facilitating communication or assisting them in difficult decisions. Also, these tech innovations are already applied in systems for preventing, diagnosing, and treating sports injuries.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Technology In Sports

Protects the Athlete’s Health

New technologies in sports allow athletes to be monitored to avoid overexertion that could cause injuries. It also contributes to perfecting treatments to facilitate the recovery of athletes. Thanks to electrostimulation, for example, certain muscle groups can be kept in shape, even if the athlete cannot train.

More Accurate and Fair Decisions

Super slow motion systems, closed video circuits, or VAR minimize the referees’ margin of error by providing them with information so they can make better and fairer decisions. And the technology has been adopted in various sports, such as football, rugby, tennis, and track and field.

Collect Valuable Data

Another of the benefits of technology in sports is that it collects a large amount of data that allows for more accurate tracking of training and performance. Coaches can use that information to plan workloads and optimize training.

Also, another important use of data-collecting technology is that bookies make use of it to check player fitness, team strength, motivation, etc., to set odds for sports betting online.

Boost Performance

The use of technology in sports improves the performance of athletes. Its applications are multiple, from creating new materials that are more resistant to contact and speed of movement to hyperbaric chambers that simulate altitude conditions of up to 2,000 meters above sea level to improve the respiratory capacity of athletes.

Disadvantages of Technology in Sports

However, all are not benefits. It is important to know the disadvantages of technology in sports:

Longer Waiting Time

The dynamism of sport means that, in some specific cases, consulting technology to make an arbitration decision implies excessively long waiting times that can affect the pace of the competition.

Technological Doping

Athletes or teams can take advantage of technology to improve their performance, making competitions less fair to those who do not have access to such technological advances.

Examples Of Technology Applications In Sport

Thermography

This technology makes it possible to evaluate the surface temperature of athletes to identify injuries or risk of injury in sports, also allowing monitoring of rehabilitation treatments and reincorporation into sports practice.

Player Tracking Systems

Player positioning and tracking systems provide valuable information in team sports such as football or basketball, helping coaches to get to know the players better and make more informed decisions during competition, training, or rest.

Sports Apps

Technology has democratized and promoted the practice of sports. With smartphones, sports applications and/or activity bracelets, many people can monitor indicators such as the intensity of the exercise, distance covered, route, amount of calories consumed, maximum strength, number of steps, and heart rate.

Video Systems

Video solutions are not only present in sports at a commercial and entertainment level to provide a more immersive experience for fans. They are also used for refereeing purposes, such as hawkeye used in tennis, VAR, or the automatic goal detection system in soccer.

Nanotechnology

Nanoscale systems are being applied more and more in sports. Nanotechnology has created lighter surfboards, golf balls that do not deviate from their trajectory, and swimming suits that repel water.

Conclusion: Artificial Intelligence Applied to the World of Sports

Today, the answers to many sports questions evolve according to our ability to generate knowledge, especially when it comes to processes from which it is possible to gather information. This power has become immediate thanks to Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology.

We have seen how it has helped the sporting world and applied it to various technologies. There are also many other techs in development; we will see soon what benefit they bring. Thanks for reading!