Will Smart Sports Equipment Lead To Better Athletes?

For those that are part of the Quantified Self movement, this is just a natural extension.  You can now measure your different sports.

• Swingbyte – a sensor that clips to your golf club to monitor speed, acceleration, arc, and other stats.

• 94Fifty Smart Sensor Basketball – a sensor embedded in a basketball to track shot speed, arc, and backspin along with dribble speed and force.

• FWD Powershot – a sensor that fits into the handle end of a hockey stick and measures speed, angle, and acceleration.

• Zepp Baseball Sensor – a sensor stuck to the knob of a baseball bat that tracks the speed and plane of the swing and the angle of impact.

• There’s also the Babolat Play which is a smart tennis racket.

On the one hand, this stuff is fascinating and amazingly cool.  On the other hand, who even knew that dribble force was something for me to be coached on.  It will be interesting to see how athletes and coaches adopt these technologies and how they help improve sports over time.  Will they increase the stress for the average athlete who was never going to be great and was just playing for fun?  Will they improve everyone and help players and coaches really focus where they can make a difference?