Everyone is talking about metaverses. Big brands have not waited to start their tests, and the sports world has given its first steps.
Everyone is talking about metaverses. Big brands have not waited to start their tests, and the sports world has given its first steps.
Women’s sports have traditionally been left behind compared to men’s sports. How can visibility help attract more viewers? Are numbers improving?
Guiding players to be able to focus on the most relevant stimuli is key in order to get a positive result in their learning process.
Tom Brady, the perfect example of a long-standing athlete we have been seeing in the last decades, retires. At age 44 he has competed in twenty top level NFL seasons. When a legend’s career comes to an end, collectibles related to him/her increase their value. And one that has reached its highest value is, precisely, tickets for his last game. The match between Buccaneers and LA Rams. It is a non-fungible-token kind of ticket. With Brady’s retirement, this NFT becomes a valuable collectible. In fact, one fan is selling the ticket on eBay for 9,900 dollars.
The educational value of sports practise depends on how the coach manages the conditions under which people learn that sport. The educational part is not the learning of techniques or tactics. Not even the physical or psychological benefits of good physical training. The only real educational part is the conditions under which the training sessions and the learning tasks are carried out.
The ability to anticipate opponent movement is essential for any speed-based sport. When fast reactions are required, if the player waits to see the ball trajectory, it will be too late. So, the art of anticipation consists of foreseeing ball trajectory from the postural cues and movements of the opponent. It is to correctly predict the direction of the game. What stands out in athletes who have the ability to frequently anticipate is their intelligence and game vision, and even their age. It seems that they think several seconds ahead compared to the rest. These kinds of interventions have been qualified by the scientific literature as acting ‘on the border of impossible’. It is about an ability that today, in elite sports, is utterly decisive.
What better guarantees the success of a stadium, an outstanding architecture or a good adaptation to the business plan? This is the never-ending debate among club managers, architects, and stadium project managers. Spectacular facades tend to be photographed, and recorded, and have a great online presence. This can improve the team’s image of success and modernity. However, this does not guarantee success. Especially, if the rest of the architecture design is ignored.
The same question comes up when approaching the end of the season and the knock-out stage starts to decide which team goes to the next round. Is it better to play the second leg home? Some coaches and players do prefer this. They think it is easier to change a bad result when being supported by the spectators. Others prefer playing home first to get a positive result that makes them feel confident for the second leg.
All the theories and debates about the ‘new normal’ are far behind. Soon, the world will turn two years in pandemic, a situation that has reshaped our way of understanding the world and our lives. Changes could be deeper than we think. Some of them could even be for the better.
Professor of Philosophy and Metaphysics at Durham University, Stephen Mumford, in his book Football, the Philosophy Behind the Game (Polity, 2019) explained that part of the secret of this sport is that no one ever knows what is going to happen. That is the beauty of it. Within that uncertainty, he went on, the penalty spot has a special significance. It is the scene of so much excitement, heartbreak, and joy, especially in a penalty shoot-out. This is one of the aspects of the match that players cannot control, according to this professor. The goalkeeper cannot control where the shooter kicks and vice versa, even though some deceiving techniques are used.
Football analytics isn’t just about numbers. It is about creating the patterns of play that win matches. Here, we look at how coaches can work with data scientists to do exactly that.