Sport is critical to the Fourth Industrial Revolution
WHEN I was a teenager, my father was a diehard supporter of Moroka Swallows Football Club. I was accustomed to him spoiling me with bright maroon shirts emblazoned with the message: “Don’t follow me, follow the birds”.
Why anyone should follow the birds instead of their hearts was a mystery to me. I hated those maroon shirts so much that I stayed away from sport. When I was an undergraduate studying mechanical engineering in the US, I was compelled to take two sport classes. I took the easy way out and chose body conditioning and bowling.
Sport has been proven to reduce stress and improve mental well-being. Team sports improve social skills and build a culture of co-operation and leadership, improving emotional intelligence.
This measure of how emotionally mature an individual is has been proven to be a better predictor of success than intellectual intelligence or IQ.
Studies in the US show 95% of the chief executives of Fortune 500 companies played competitive sport in college. Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg captained the school fencing team, and Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella played cricket.
Last week, I attended the International University Sports Federation Winter Games in Siberia, Russia. I was asked to give a presentation on innovation around sport.
Th sports technology industry has not been fully developed. Little research has been one on sport technology and much of the equipment we use in South Africa is imported. industry and universities should identify how SA can develop a manufacturing industry around sport technology.
The Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) is merging the digital, physical and biological spheres and is well positioned to revolutionise sport technology. Data we collect as we walk, exercise and run has value and artificial intelligence (AI) can help us unlock that value.
One example of the application of AI to sport, which we use at the University of Johannesburg (UJ), is a wearable performance monitoring system that has a compression shirt and measures heart and breathing rate, posture and impact.
This device can alert users if they have exercised beyond the safety zone; so it reduces injuries, optimises performance, facilitates return-to-play and monitors player movements during training and matches.
The collected data is then analysed using AI to create a system that is able to recommend the best exercises for the given profile of a person.
The 4IR is changing the world of work. Machines will increasingly do much of the work that is done by people. The jobs that will survive are those that have a human touch and sport plays a big part in this.
According to the World Economic Forum, the top 10 skills that will be required in the 4IR include people management, co-ordinating with others, emotional intelligence, judgment, decision-making and cognitive flexibility. Many of these skills are difficult to embed in curricula and sport can play a big part in growing these skills.
For example, team sports require players to co-ordinate with others and manage people. The concept of winning and losing develops emotional intelligence. The change of a team strategy midway through a game develops cognitive flexibility as well as judgment and decision-making.
Given all the benefits of sport in wellness, social skills and rehabilitation, how do we nudge discouraged athletes like me, who was put off by maroon shirts, to start exercising?
Firstly, we should embed into our university curricula sport as a compulsory subject. This course should not be credit-bearing but it should be a requirement for a student to proceed to the next year.
Secondly, universities should have health walks where staff and students participate and prizes are given to those who complete the walks.
Thirdly, universities should invest in sport facilities. One of the most visible signs of excellent universities is their sport facilities. This is because there is a clear link between physical vitality and educational outcomes.