Table of Contents Page 1. Introduction …………………………………………………... 2 2. Background …………………………………………………….. 2
2.1 Why technology has become important in sport performance? 3
2.2 A brief history of technology used to improve performance. 3 3. Technology used to aid sport performance …...... 3 4.1 Footbounaut ……………………………………………………... 3 4.2 Ingestible Pills ……………………................................................ 5 4.3 Sensors ……………………………………………………...…..... 6 4.4 Fitmodo …………………………………………………………... 7 4. Future of sport performance technology ……… 9 5. Conclusion ………………………………………………………. 11 6. References ……………………………………………………… 13

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Technology Used to Improve Performance in Sports
Introduction
As the world's sport keeps on changing, so does the use of technology keep improving. In the modern day sports, there has been tremendous development in the field of sport with new technology being unveiled in every sport. The use of technological improvement to enhance the game, for example, the hawk-eye technology while others are meant to help the players in their exercises, training, injury treatment and nutrition. There is some computer software designed for fitness and nutrition professional and they are used to organize data and produce reports. Some of this software includes; teams beep test and body byte. In this paper, I will focus on new sports technology such as Footbounaut, Ingestible Pills, Sensors and Fitmodo. The Team Beep test
Background information
Why technology has become important in sport performance?
In the modern world, competition in sports has grown as sports have changed from being a hobby to being a career where thousand earn their living through professional sports. As a result, there is a need for enhancing each sportsman’s performance through every available means and technology has been the most effective way. In the recent past, new discoveries have been made to help the players in advancing their skills and keep themselves physically and psychologically fit before a sporting event.
A brief history of technology used to improve performance
Sporting technology has been developing from the day man first discovered sports. Over the years, as the sports have been evolving, so has been the technology advanced. The advancement in technology is meant to improve the performances of the game and make it more entertaining. For example, in football, there have been many changes in the field of play, the jersey, the rules and even the introduction of special technology in training, treatment and refereeing to improve the performance of the players. The history of technology in enhancing performance derives from military physical fitness that was ensured that the timely preparation of warriors for war by keeping themselves physically fit. The adoption of that concept has kept on advancing and as technology has com, it embracement has developed the performance further through the use of various technologies such as the footbounaut and other equipments in the gym to enhance health and performance.
Technology used to aid sport performances i. Footbounaunt
The footbounaut is a novel and striking training device that is comparable to mixed martial art cage and a science fiction approach that is used in improving an individual’s technical skills. This technology is used by one of the greatest team in German’s Bundesliga, Borussia Dortmund. The technology helps technically proficient players to become sharper and improve their capability (Bell, n.p). The control of the footbounaut is through a tablet computer that spits eight balls once the player has taken the center position in the footbounaut and they are expected to act quickly to hit all the balls that come from different directions. Therefore, the footbounaut helps the players improve their techniques, awareness and their peripheral vision.

Borussia Dortmund’s Footbounaut: Mustafa Amini in training
The technology offers the players a level of training that is not possible in the field. The player is supplied with eight balls in quick succession and they are required to respond quickly so that they can increase their pace and accuracy (Bell, n.p). According to other football clubs such as Manchester United of England, footbounaut technology is considered to be the perfect tool in improving footballers’ ball-handling skills because it demands precise skills that are used at high speed in a physically challenging environment. According to twenty years old, Australian born Dortmund PLAYER Mustafa Amini, the technology helps an individual to work on any weaknesses and ensures that one plays t pace with accuracy. Therefore, the footbounaut technology is a modern technology that develops footballers' skills, pace and accuracy in a challenging environment that is not practicable on the field hence improving their accuracy and game performance in the real world. ii. Ingestible Pills
Heat exhaustion or otherwise referred to as hyperthermia as a severe condition that is caused by excessive heat exposure and dehydration. The condition usually occurs when the body can no longer dissipate heat adequately due to increased heat production from within the body or extreme environmental conditions (NASA, n.p). The disease is fatal when the thermoregulatory mechanisms fail and it can result to death. Due to players’ body mass and their working conditions, players are most likely to suffer from heatstroke due top dehydration as they sweat out too much fluid without proper replenishing.
The first users of the pill were astronauts who teamed up with the Johns Hopkins University to develop the ingestible thermometer pill in 1980s. Due to the death of an athlete and a college footballer, the pill received an overwhelming welcome in the field of sport as it would help in detecting signs of heatstroke. An individual swallows the indigestible pill and it reads the body temperature once inside the gastrointestinal tract and then transmits the produced magnetic flux that is retrieved by a recorder outside the body with an accuracy of one-tenth of a degree Celsius.

The ingestible “thermometer pill”
The use of the pill in sports came after the tragic death of Eraste Austin who collapsed from heat exhaustion on July 19, 2001 and that of Korey Stringer Pro Bowl offensive tackle for the NFL’s Minnesota Vikings who died on 1st august the same year (NASA, n.p). These two occasions prompted the athletic programs to adopt better measures to protect their sportsmen fro heat related illnesses. iii. Sensors
A sensor is a device developed by researchers at the Imperial College and it measures the biomechanical data of an individual such as posture and gait during an activity. In optimizing athletic performance and monitoring the movement of people suffering from injury or neurodegenerative diseases, people use the sensor. It uses an accelerometer that allows the measure of motion in three dimensions (Sauser, n.p). Once the sensor processes the information about the body, the information is transmitted to a computer for retrieval, analysis and result display. The technology helps in detecting the athletes’ development within the race and shows the manner in which he or she will finish the race by detecting any problems as observed through shortened strides.

A sensor worn behind the ear could monitor a person’s movements iv. Fitmodo
Fitmodo is a technology used in areas of high altitudes that have less oxygen. The technology is used by Hypoxico architect that enables the creation of low oxygen count similar to the top of the Himalayas or Zurich. The technology is used in creating training facilities that have low oxygen count. Intermittent hypoxic training is the name given to training in those rooms. The professional advantage of such training is a more efficient use of oxygen, a stronger cardiovascular resilience and improved ability top buffer lactate enabling one to hold back the chest-burning agony of endurance sports (Manaugh, n.p). The hypoxico has an application used for monitoring heart rate and blood-oxygen levels. The technology is used for the preparation of winter Olympics. The combination of athletic technology and atmospheric simulation makes the field wide-open for endurance training that promotes athletic performances.

Hypoxico application for monitoring heart rate and blood-oxygen levels

Intermittent hypoxic training
Future of sport performance technology
Innovation is all what can be used to describe the future of performance technology. Scientific research is being conducted every day and applied to produce amazing athletic performances and showing improvements in mental and physical training. The future is bright as scientists are driven by strong desire to develop equipment and methodologies that will see the athletes perform to their full potential. Therefore, seek to increase their pace, accuracy, training method and health, in that accord, new innovative technologies will be produced to improve sports performance. For example, in football, the football pitch is modernized to have a clear outlook for the fans and the players as well as the referees.

A football pitch made on the ocean
With an increase in technology and need to maintain low body temperature, technology will incorporate clothing with a cooling mechanism like the one shown below. The wicking fabric works by distributing sweat all over the fabric making it to dry quickly, therefore cooling the body faster. The T-shirt is made with thousands of 0.15inch hydrophilic polymer rings and it is called Freeze ZERO. New technology in football used to determine offside.
Conclusion
In conclusion, therefore, the technology used in sports is a high class and new discoveries and innovation are coming up each day. The dedication to improve athletes’ performance, health and training methods has been improving as it is visible in all sports. The use of new technologies to improve the accuracy of judgment such as the hawk-eye in football shows the level of technology development attained in the sports industry. From such observation, one can predict better equipments and methodologies that would increase the performance of individual and exploit their potential for the betterment of the sport.

Works CitedBell, Jack. "Footbounaut: Dortmund’s Secret Weapon." The New York Times 22 Apr. 2013: n. pag. Print.Manaugh, Geoff. "Fitmodo: How To Climb Higher Than Mt Everest Without Leaving The City." Hypoxico 14 Feb. 2014: n. pag. Print.NASA. "Indigestible Thermometer Pill Aids Athletes in Beating the Heat." NASA. NASA, 14 June 2006.Sauser, Brittany. "Improving Athletic Performance." A sensor worn behind the ear could monitor a person’s movements. N.p., 4 Oct. 2007. |