Question

Closing Case 1 Football Teams Use Virtual Reality The Problem College and professional football teams have a unique set of problems. First and foremost, teams would like to reduce the physical wear and tear of drills and practices on their players. In the National Football League (NFL), the most recent Collective Bargaining Agreement (2011) reduced the number of off-season practices, prohibited training camp “two-a-day” practices, and limited the number of contact practices in both the preseason and the regular season. At the same time, however, players must learn the playbook as quickly and thoroughly as possible. However, when football teams practice, the time on the field for repetitions (“reps”) is limited. It is particularly important for the starting players to participate in reps together. Specifically, consider quarterbacks, arguably the most important position on a football team. Young quarterbacks are often thrown into live action before they are ready because starters are injured. This situation compresses the amount of time available for young quarterbacks to learn enough to make correct decisions, let alone have a chance of winning. A Potential Solution Teams are beginning to use an immersive virtual reality experience that makes players feel and think as if they are actually on the practice field. Virtual reality (VR) is a set of information technologies that simulate physical presence in the real world, including sight, smell, sound, and touch. Modern VR environments are presented on stereoscopic, head-mounted displays—for example, the Oculus Rift, now owned by Facebook; www.oculus.com—to realistically create an artificial experience such as a video game. VR environments can also create a lifelike, real-world experience such as football. As of July 2015, two companies were providing VR experiences for professional, college, and high school football programs: STriVR Labs (http://strivrlabs.com) and EON Sports (www.eonsportsvr.com). Here is how these experiences work from the perspective of a quarterback. When he puts on the Oculus Rift headset and the headphones, he is standing in his position on the practice field. As he scans the field, he recognizes the defensive alignment, and he observes how his offense is positioned. He turns around, and he sees that his running back is waiting for the handoff. A voice calls the play, the ball is snapped, and a play unfolds. As the play progresses, the quarterback can scan the defense to determine the type of coverage. One quarterback noted, “It is like watching film, but you are actually there on the field. I feel like I am actually in the scrimmage.” The systems offer a fully immersive, 360-degree view for players and coaches as teams run through plays on a practice field, providing simulated bodies with natural body movements. In addition, players can hear coaches talking as well as the things they would normally hear on the practice field. Staff members spend many hours turning the video into useful virtual reality footage. The systems gather video from multiple cameras on four-foot tripods placed around the scrimmage on both the offensive and defensive sides. The cameras capture live plays and content from teams' practices and then, via their software, produce three-dimensional video for players through an Oculus Rift headset and headphones. The VR technology essentially has football players walking through real-game experiences. Although the systems work for every player, quarterback was the logical starting point. The systems initially were utilized as a method to train quarterbacks with mental exercises to reinforce actual practice repetitions. They quickly expanded for use with other positions, because they are invaluable in improving players' reaction times and decision making. STriVR and EON clients include college teams such as Stanford, Auburn, Clemson, Dartmouth, Vanderbilt, Kansas, Mississippi, and UCLA, as well as the National Football League's Dallas Cowboys and New England Patriots. The first pick in the 2015 NFL Draft, Jameis Winston of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, trained using the EON system. Further, nearly 100 high school football programs are using VR packages. STriVR and EON have concentrated on building libraries of basic plays for their clients. After shooting video at various practices, the companies deliver the VR footage to the teams within a few weeks. However, in the near future, the companies hope to reduce the turnaround time, allowing teams to use VR video tailored to specific game plans. There are other uses for VR technology in football programs, including: Teaching incoming freshmen and preparing backup players who do not get as many reps as the starters. Providing value in recruiting, because coaches could take laptops, VR headsets, and headphones on the road. Without visiting a campus, recruits could be virtually standing in a locker room with potential teammates, listening to a pregame pep talk. They could then be in the tunnel, racing onto the field with the other players, or on the sidelines during a game. Helping injured players—instead of pushing their bodies through a real practice, they could work on their reps and their mental exercises virtually. The Results The use of virtual reality technology in sports in just beginning. However, one NFL executive told STriVR to charge $250,000 per year to professional football teams because teams using the technology would be “picking up half a coach.” Finally, STriVR and EON have plans for basketball and baseball in the near future. Sources: Compiled from S. Wagner-McGough, “Report: Patriots Will Arm Themselves with Virtual Reality Technology,” CBS Sports, July 23, 2015; S. Springer, “Patriots Poised to Enhance Practice with Virtual Reality Technology,” The Boston Globe, July 22, 2015; M. Lelinwalla, “All You Need to Know about Virtual Reality Training in College Football and the NFL,” Tech Times, June 29, 2015; G. Schroeder, “Virtual Reality Becomes a Reality for College Football,” USA Today, June 9, 2015; B. Fischer, “Use of Virtual-Reality Training Continues to Grow in College Football,” NFL.com, June 8, 2015; B. Wallace, “Tackling Tech: Why Virtual Reality Will Become Reality for the NFL,” www.patriots.com, May 28, 2015; B. Feldman, “‘I Was Blown Away’: Welcome to Football's Quarterback Revolution,” Fox Sports, March 11, 2015; M. Tait, “KU Becomes Pioneer in Using Virtual Reality to Enhance Football Program,” Tale of the Tait KUsports.com, March 26, 2013; N. Davis, “NFL, Players Announce New 10-Year Labor Agreement,” USA Today, July 25, 2011; http://strivrlabs.com, accessed July 22, 2015.

Questions

1. In what other ways could professional and college football programs use virtual reality systems? (Hint: Consider the fan experience.)

2. Are STriVR and EON strategic information systems for any football program? Why or why not? Support your answer with specific examples.

3. Will STriVR and EON become competitive necessities for football programs? Why or why not? Support your answer with specific examples.

Answer 1

Ans1:

The VR technology which is being used for training the players off-field apart from changing the way the game is advancing i.e at a very basic level, using Virtual Reality to improve human performance which is just transforming how a specific players learns and gets better at the sport through mental training which is giving the required enhanced results that were desired from the technology. The various ways in which the professional and college football programs may use virtual reality systems are:

1. Taking required set of evaluation tests which have been prepared in the video so as to asses a player's strengths, weaknesses and can also be used during trials to automate the process and save time as well.

2. The use of VR can help understand the reactions of the players along with the various decisions that they make during the different kinds of situations which they face at various positions, in various scenarios, on interactions with various set of players on the field.

3. The player's vision and thought process behind various actions can be monitored and corrected by the coach since using this technology a live stream of the video feedback being experienced by the players can be looked into by the coach so that the player can be guided in the same manner it would have been on-field.

4. Using the advantage of the system acting similar to a first person's experience, this technology can be used for the player to make them co-ordinate better with their fellow team members since the team members can be tailored into the specific training footage along with the player, to the player it seems as if they just completed a team practice sessions after they are done.

5. another advantage of this technology is that the players can get as many reps required for them to learn the skill without suffering from on-field injuries.

Ans 2:

With this strategic system which created by these companies for training quarter backs, which was their logical starting point since the role and expected on-field of a quarterback is one which involves more visual involvement in the form of pattern recognition i.e recognizing various defense strategies and reacting to them. As a result of which these systems initially were utilized as a method to train quarterbacks with mental exercises to reinforce actual practice repetitions but, have quickly expanded for use with other positions, because they are invaluable in improving players' reaction times and decision making.

Hence the strategic system can be tailored in a way that it works for every player just by recording the footage of various scenarios and positions of players that it needs to train and making the system fit for another player which needs to be trained. Because of which they have concentrated on building libraries of basic plays for their clients. After shooting video at various practices, the companies deliver the VR footage to the teams within a few weeks.

Ans 3.

Right after the first pick in the 2015 NFL Draft, Jameis Winston of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, trained using the EON system. Nowadays being in association with various NFL teams at both professional and college level teams such as Stanford, Auburn, Clemson, Dartmouth, Vanderbilt, Kansas, Mississippi, and UCLA, as well as the National Football League's Dallas Cowboys and New England Patriots. Further, nearly 100 high school football programs are using VR packages. The competitive necessities are setting various new trends at different levels up to the point that the technology can no longer be ignored. Since, in order to grow from a novice in any field to an expert in that field it requires what is known as "the ten thousand hours" rule of rigorous and religious practice which no-one has ( not for the next ten years figuratively speaking ) but using this technology, a player can get a thousand reps of any exercise/scenario that too in just ten minutes if a player wants to. Since this sport requires a co-ordination of eyes, feet and the whole body so as to speak and this technology is helping the players train that reaction sense, increase their visual capacity, This technology won't get beaten by conventional or any other training techniques any time soon and not adapting it won't help a team stay competitive in the way the sport is changing each day.

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