Use of Virtual Reality – and its Companions – in Athletics

Has technology improved our lives? One could argue on both sides of that question. But there is no arguing that technology has changed our lives. The microchip has changed how we work, how we communicate, how we relax and how we travel.

Technology is used to help us participate in activities, analyze our sports heroes’ efforts (exit velocity was not a part of my youthful baseball viewing), and emulate those heroes’ athletic abilities. Making practice more life-like and closer to game conditions allows us to work on improving the skills necessary to be successful, and focus on the skills that need to be taught, learned or reinforced.

Technology through the use of Virtual Reality – and its offshoots – helps the individual or group to learn, rehearse and refine single or multiple techniques related to their sport. And it allows them to do so over and over again, with or without a playing field, in game simulation conditions.

Virtual Reality (VR) was the initial step, using a computer to create an entirely digital environment. Video games largely use VR to create the scenarios and players that populate their strategy and combat games. For athletes, they can practice without getting on the field, and NASCAR has been using VR to give drivers the opportunity to speed around various tracks without having to travel outside of their hometown.

Multiple professional and college teams use VR so that players can learn their playbooks without the risk of injury and learn at their own pace, reviewing the plays that need reinforcement. Other professional sports using VR include soccer and basketball. The NBA was one of the first to embrace the technology to aid in training and improving the game. Of course, VR is also used to provide spectators the opportunity to play for their favorite teams with games like John Madden’s Football, Blacktop Hoops and Virtual Soccer Zone.

Augmented Reality (AR) combines the physical world with digital elements overlaid by the technology. More of a benefit to watching sports than participating, AR lets the viewer see statistics, information related to the action, and analysis of the play being viewed. As a training tool, it provides information to the viewer that the individual then can use in practice or game situations. By following the action and analysis on the same view, players can better prepare for their opportunity to participate.

AR has significant application to how we view sports, from broadcasters adding their interpretations to the screen at home (drawing on the view as football broadcasters do), to including stats on an app for everyone in the ballpark or stadium (as the Los Angeles Rams football team does now in SoFi Stadium through their app).

Mixed Reality (MR) combines the physical world with digital elements where the user can interact with those digital elements. One of the earliest uses of MR was with indoor driving ranges where the player physically hits the ball into a net with the MR calculating the ball’s flight and landing on the course being viewed. It allowed golfers not only the ability to practice their swings during the winter without losing any balls, but also to play on many of the world’s finest courses while never leaving town.

Athletes can use MR to not only use their own equipment in confined spaces, but to get valuable feedback in the process along with being able to repeat the skill over and over again until perfected (or at least improved). MR also can allow athletes to compete with others in the same environment (playing field), whether at the same location or anywhere in the world. In cycling, it has been used to allow athletes on stationary bikes to compete with others in the Tour de France in real time following the actual course. The use of MR has expanded Esports from its initial use in gameype VR settings to more physically oriented competitions involving more than just the use of a game controller.

Extended Reality (XR) is an overall term for VR, AR and MR concepts and thus covers where they may overlap. For example, the addition of the statistics and analysis of AR to an MR experience can provide the athlete with valuable information to perform the task. Having an MR program that is almost completely virtual except for one key physical element gives the athlete the opportunity to focus on that one part of the skill being taught or reinforced. And with AI now adding more thought to the computer’s analysis and projection capabilities, not only does the system react to the athlete’s actions but responds as well.

As with all technology, what is new today is used tomorrow and old the day after, but the use of Virtual, Augmented and Mixed Reality in helping athletes better train, prepare and participate can only expand in the future. How sports teams and individual athletes choose to use what is possible remains the question. One would hope that even when it is possible, components of XR will not replace competitions actually being played but enhance the enjoyment of sports by athletes and supporters alike.