Sports Coaching Platforms: Will They Replace Humans?
New technologies are poised to bring new ways and convenience to consumers. Sports is no more an exception, with the growing deployment of technology across the industry. However, the growing deployment of technology in every field drives the fear of replacement. Human jobs, such as training, are at high risk. For instance, hundreds of elite sporting organizations use SMARTABASE, Fusion Sport’s platform. The platform registers the users of British Athletics, Sport Scotland, English Cricket Board, Birmingham Sports University, and even military and performing arts institutes. Thus, it exhibits the growing deployment of technology in the sector and the risk of the job.
Let’s dive deep into the working of Sports Coaching Platforms:
Sports Coaching Platforms allow coaches/trainers to monitor, guide and bring improvements in the physical and mental performance of an athlete. Sports Coaching platforms mostly work on the subscription model. Trainers pay a significant amount to become a member of the platform for an allotted time. This allows users to use the applications and help their athletes in performing efficiently. Apart from that, platforms and monitoring devices, including fitness trackers, are deployed to enhance the levels and qualities of exercise. Furthermore, the software tracks the schedule of the athlete, including sleep hours, time, heart rate, blood oxygen level, etc. As a result, it allows coaches to suggest improvements in the lagging area.
Sports Coaching platforms play an essential role in the athletics world. However, the contribution of trainers is improbable to replace in the near future. Here is the list of factors depicting how sports coaching platforms are helping coaches and why the risk of replacement is growing.
Enhanced Communication
Coaching apps allow trainers and students to have more efficient communication. For that, they can use devices like earpieces to share complex data during play. In addition, they can also share advanced in-game strategies through devices.
Safety Features
Coaches can use sports coaching platforms to check overall health. Some apps even allow coaches to warn players through safety warnings features. Furthermore, the apps also monitor a player’s injury recovery progress. Recently, the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) with Fusion Sport unveiled the results of their Athlete Management System (AMS) at the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference. According to the results, the brand has seen a substantial 30-40% decrease in the rate of sports injuries. Thus, coaching platforms are helping athletes decline injuries potentially.
Training
Certain platforms are designed as wearable tech, which can be worn on the wrist or a jersey. It allows coaches to observe athletic metrics through GPS sensors. The coaches can track the in-game movement, behavior, and location of the athletes. In addition, it also shares the data related to fitness goals, biometrics, etc.
Video Technology
Video technology enables users to decide according to their performances. It helps coaches in monitoring potential player concussions. Sports Coaches use video technology in order to grab every aspect of player performance and suggest corrections accordingly. It helps coaches in tracking the form, technique, and mistakes of players and helps coaches in the decision-making process. Moreover, the tech is crafted in a manner that is available to be seen on a smartphone. Additionally, the National Football League, National Hockey League, etc., also use video technology to obtain the result of close or controversial calls.
Data Analytics and other Changes
Technology makes statistical data more complete by allowing coaches to glance over in-depth information on projected players. It also helps them track every bit of the opponent’s performance. However, data must be gathered and analyzed to develop winning strategies.
Sports Coaching Platforms are Unlikely to Replace Humans
The significance of sports coaching platforms is growing at a rapid pace. According to Astute Analytica, the global sports coaching platform market is forecast to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 13.8% during the forecast period from 2022 to 2027. Moreover, industry players are also registering high revenue growth, which generates a fear of technology dominance over human efforts. For instance, TeamSnap recently celebrated 2021’s Record Growth and Momentum as the company continues to grow at the same pace in 2022. In March 2022, TeamSnap, the online community for everything youth sports, also declared the tremendous growth of the company. The company recorded an increase in daily average users (DAU) by 47% YOY, spiking to nearly 2 million unique user logins per day. This depicts the ever-increasing deployment of technology in the sector.
Besides the growing adoption of technology across all verticals, human coaches are forecast to stay in lead due to their unique capabilities, such as leadership, inspiration, guidance, and support. Apart from that, the ability of coaches to innovate strategies cannot get replicated by technology. However, technology with human intervention can bring out excellent results. Sports coaching platforms have gained astonishing significance in the past few years. It helps coaches in various ways by enhancing communication, and reaches, and helping students by offering added safety guidelines. Athletics coaches use sports coaching platforms to offer powerful and accurate training with added convenience. Thus, the adoption of sports coaching platforms is expected to increase, but simultaneously, it will not replace human coaches.
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