Sports Technology Expands Abroad

Here at Michigan State University, basketball is not simply a sport; it has its own culture. Spartan basketball is a way of life. If you disagree, you need only watch the Izzone student section for a few minutes to understand the passion for MSU basketball. This season, though, has been somewhat different for the stars of the basketball team.

The team got a facelift in technology when they were given new software for free that enables head coach Izzo to almost instantly send recaps of plays with a detailed analysis to the players on any one of their devices. This sort of coaching technology has skyrocketed recently and is starting to make its debut in foreign countries.

One of the most popular coaching technologies, Hudl, allows coaches to edit videos and share them securely in under an hour. The players can reach the videos on any device instantly. The system also compiles data about each play for the coach to analyze. The biggest flaw, however, is that Hudl servers are only on the East Coast, so teams playing abroad cannot get the real-time feedback from coaches in the United States. To fix this problem, the Hudl team aims to add servers to new areas around the world. This expansion will hopefully attract coaches in other areas of the world to grab ahold of this game-changing technology.

Similarly, before global expansion can occur, these technologies need to account for all types of sports. For instance, the software is not yet compatible with the game of cricket or polo. Once these revisions are made to the software and servers are constructed, the new technologies of coaching will hopefully expand abroad and open a new market and change the way sports are played today.