Smart sports
Need to improve your golf swing or your backhand, or just to swim a bit faster in the pool? Here’s the tech that can give you a sporting edge
not all sports are about speed. When playing tennis or golf, the accuracy of your backhand or putting counts
Apple has been helping us all with our exercise routines ever since the first iPod made trips to the gym a bit less tedious, way back in 2001. The iPhone went further, allowing you monitor distance and speed, and could even work out how many calories you were using.
But sport isn’t just about burning calories. There are many sports where you can use digital technology to improve your performance and technique – whether it’s stroke efficiency in the pool, top-spin in tennis, or perfecting your long football throws upfield. Apple’s clearly got its eye on the sporting market with the new Apple Watch Series 2, and there are plenty of other devices now available for both the amateur and professional athlete.
Fitness trackers have been one of the great technology success stories of recent years, with dozens of attractively designed fitness bands and sports watches now offering a variety of features for monitoring performance during exercise. However, most fitbands and watches are simply designed as general purpose devices for use in the gym or when you’re out running. They’re fine for checking how far you run or walk each day but, of course, there are many people who focus their efforts on other sports that may require more specialized features.
Apple was clearly aiming at a more serious sporting audience with the Series 2 version of the Apple Watch. The original Apple Watch was limited by the need to pair it with an iPhone, which immediately ruled out it out for many sports as you could only use it if you also had an iPhone strapped to your arm. However, the new Apple Watch Series 2 now includes built-in GPS, which means that you can leave your iPhone safely at home and use the Watch Series 2 to monitor your speed and distance travelled for running, cycling, hiking, and many other pursuits. Admittedly, Apple’s got plenty of competition here, with products such as the new TomTom Spark 3 range, which includes a number of models between $130 and $250 that are designed for a variety of different sports. Garmin’s another big name here, with its high-tech Fenix watches that look like something out of a James Bond film and are even more expensive than the Apple Watch.
And, of course, the other big improvement in the Watch Series 2 is that it’s waterproof – or, rather, “water-resistant” – opening up the Watch Series 2 to swimmers. There are a number of alternative fitness bands that are waterproof and can be used in the pool, such as the Swimmer’s Edition of the popular Misfit Shine ($120), but the more competitive
swimmer might want to look at a specialized swimming watch, such as the Garmin Swim ($150), which can track speed and distance, and can even analyze the efficiency of your strokes.
Take Your Bes t Shot
Of course, not all sports are about speed. You can cover a lot of ground when playing tennis or golf, but that’s less important than the accuracy of your backhand or your putting.
There are quite a few smart devices designed for golfers, including hand-held sensors and watches that can compile statistics such as the number and distance of shots. But if you want to improve the actual quality of your shots then you can try the popular Zepp Golf 3D Swing Analyzer, which was recently upgraded, and costs around $150. This can be attached to your glove and monitors the full 3D movement and speed of each swing, so that the Zepp app can offer tips on how to improve your technique.
Zepp makes a similar sensor for tennis – and one for baseball too – which can be attached to the racket handle in order to record data on your racket speed, backswing, and spin. It also has a special “serve” mode that animates your service action on your iPhone screen so that you can see where all those double faults are coming from. Babolat makes a tennis racket with a built-in sensor, but that obviously limits your choice of racket.
And, yes, you can even get a smart football too. There are a number of wearable sensors that you can use to monitor your movement and speed on the field, but for technique, you need the Wilson X Connected football, which can measure the spin rate, distance, velocity, and even spiral efficiency of your throws. It’s $200, but if you’re serious about improving, it’s one hell of a coach to have, with all data sent to your iPhone for analysis. Wilson also make a basketball with the same kind of sensors, while soccer fans should look for the Adidas miCoach Smart Ball, which is similar.
There are more advanced devices too, including motion-capture systems that can monitor every movement of your entire body in order to improve performance or reduce the risk of injury. That’s getting more into the realm of professional sport, but most of the devices we’ve looked at here are affordable enough for many amateur athletes. Of course, buying one of these devices doesn’t automatically make you better at your chosen sport, but it can at least show you areas where you need to improve – and the rest is up to you.