Every day, kids are practicing to get better at the game they love.
They take instruction from coaches, run through drills, do exercises, and get advice on nutrition. Maybe their families go a little further to get them in specialized training programs designed to hone their skills and make them better athletes.
But in today's modern sports world, training elite athletes is about so much more than gym time, repetition in practice, and good nutrition. As important as these are, elite athletes of all ages are also using data and analytics to refine their craft, boost their performance, fend off injury - and even promote themselves to the coaches and scouts who are evaluating their potential as a prospect.
"In just a generation, advanced analytics measuring an athlete's performance have evolved from 'nice to have' to 'need to have,'" says Dr. Mike Sonne, Chief Scientist of ProPlayAI. "Knowledge and awareness about how your body is responding in an athletic environment is invaluable to an athlete with aspirations beyond amateur sport. Data is being used every day to help athletes improve, but also help them get to the next level."
ProPlayAI has developed the technology to collect athletic intelligence, helping pitchers hone their mechanics and maximize their movement on the mound. The app uses a smartphone camera to capture the windup, producing stats on how a pitcher moves and measures their skill level beyond pitch velocity. With real-time feedback and analysis, ProPlayAI highlights areas that need improvement and tracks progress as a pitcher gets better.
ProPlayAI quantifies 3D motion data into key metrics that help quantify joint angles and velocities, but also the speed of the arm towards the plate, how deceptive the pitcher's delivery might be, and other key metrics that can help identify fatigue and progress. This results in a better, more actionable pitching session.
This helps athletes become more self-aware; a self-aware athlete is a better overall athlete; and the better athlete is better positioned to win, which is the ultimate goal.
But most importantly, ProPlayAI makes collecting and using this data accessible for everyone; any athlete at any level can use it to assess their delivery. There is no need to go to a fancy lab, no need to hook up to a bunch of sensors, and no requirement to have a degree in advanced mathematics.
Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Nate Pearson - one of just a handful of pitchers in Jays' history capable of throwing more than 100 miles per hour - is a co-founder of ProPlayAI along with Dr. Sonne and CEO Reed Hanoun. He also uses the tool to help him continually improve and become one of the hardest throwers in the Major Leagues.
"Making a biomechanical evaluation through an app is revolutionary," says Pearson. "The results are accurate to what you would get in a lab, and with it being on your phone you can do it whenever you want. Whether you are in Little League or in the pros, all of your data is at your fingertips to chart your progression or share with coaches or scouts."
Learn more about ProPlayAI at proplayai.com.
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