54.7 F
Laguna Hills
Monday, Mar 18, 2024
-Advertisement-

Better Sense of Performance Now at Pros’ Fingertips

World-class surfer and part-time San Clemente resident Jordy Smith is trying to level the playing field, not against the competition, but Mother Nature.

A small electronic sensor developed by Huntington Beach startup Trace is helping the native South African monitor tides, water temperature, wave length and height during important training sessions across the globe.

“In any sport, everyone tries to look for consistencies,” said Smith, who holds the No. 7 ranking in the World Surf League. “In surfing, there’s so many inconsistencies.”

Smith is a pitchman for the Trace device, which is available for about $200 at 250 U.S. retail locations, including Huntington Surf and Sport, Costa Mesa-based Surfside Sports, and Surf Ride in San Diego.

The device, which is smaller than a hockey puck and can run for seven hours on a single charge, also is popular with skiers, snowboarders and mountain bikers because it uses GPS mapping to track every run, lift, trail, vertical drop and jump, plus speed, airtime, and body metrics, such as calories burned and heart rate.

The original product and the latest version released last month have sold more than 500,000 units, creating user-generated feedback accessible via a smartphone app or website from Byron Bay in Australia to Blacks Beach in San Diego.

“You’ve never been able to see this kind of data before in these sports,” said Trace Chief Operating Officer Brad Blankinship on a recent visit to company headquarters.

Smart sensors, which already have been steadily adopted by consumers, make up a booming technology segment that now is playing a bigger role in professional sports, from changing habits on the ice and the diamond to shifting workout regimens in the weight and exercise rooms.

The devices have gradually shrunk in size, in line with historical technological trends, making them more and more appealing to pros and amateurs alike.

An Edge on the Ice

The Anaheim Ducks hired strength and conditioning coach Mark Fitzgerald about a year ago to implement various new technologies to assess player readiness and ultimately improve performance over a grueling 82-game season.

“If we don’t have a way of gauging that, we would be in big trouble,” said Fitzgerald, who runs Elite Training Systems and spent several years in similar coaching positions in the Canadian and American hockey leagues.

“I wanted the Ducks to take a leadership role in the league and set a standard on what’s being tested and monitored and how that’s being used.”

Rookies will get a good look when their training camp opens on Sept. 15, followed by veterans a week later.

Body sensors not only will capture physical data through sprint tests and other cardiovascular workouts but track sleep patterns and recovery time, all benchmarked against a year of data collected from returning players.

Players are buying in and want to know what the data means, and more importantly, how they can build their fitness to compete at the highest level.

“The game is faster, the guys are bigger and stronger,” Fitzgerald said. “They want to make sure they’re doing everything possible to compete and keep that job.”

Smart at Bat

Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim star Mike Trout has been using a “smart” bat in batting practice and training sessions for months that analyzes swing, hand speed, and attack angles. The data is immediately transferred via Bluetooth to a smartphone.

The MT27 Smart Bat, which utilizes a sensor developed by San Jose-based Zepp Labs inserted into the knob of an Old Hickory wood bat, is the first of its kind.

“The biggest thing with sensors on the bat, you don’t want to see it or feel it,” Trout said during a recent private demonstration of the technology at Angels Stadium.

The four-time All-Star and former American League MVP is a pitchman for the product, as is Canadian tennis pro and Wimbledon runner-up Milos Raonic.

Other Angels players have taken a liking to the device, which has fueled some in-house competitions on who swings the hardest and generates the most bat speed.

Bite Out of the Competition

Body and equipment sensors aren’t geared just for the pros.

Irvine-based startup Pear Sports LLC and Lindora Inc. in Costa Mesa co-developed an iPhone app that interacts with Pear’s wearable device to monitor heart rate and provide real-time audio coaching to maximize workouts and performance.

Pear has a deal with Finish Line Inc. to distribute the device through the Indianapolis-based company’s growing line of specialty running stores. It has raised about $9 million to date, including a $1 million investment by Irvine-based Vizio Inc.

Pear has been developing custom workout apps for sports franchises, companies and events. Clients include the Minnesota Wild hockey club, the U.S. Ski Team, the Ragnar Relay Series, and Warrior Dash, the world’s largest obstacle race series.

The company, which competes against other fitness-tracker makers, such as Fitbit Inc. and Microsoft Corp., is trying to capitalize on the global smart-sensor market, which is projected to balloon from about $18.5 billion in sales last year to $57.7 billion by 2020, an annual growth rate of about 18%, according to Ireland-based Research and Markets.

Waves of Data

Trace is getting strong adoption of its device at U.S. ski resorts and with a growing number of influencers on YouTube.

Its automated video software, which is used in conjunction with a GoPro camera, can splice data gathered from fitness activities, including paddleboarding and kayaking, and edit the information into personal video highlight reels within seconds, allowing users to instantly share the feedback on social media.

“We take sensor data and try to make athletes’ lives better with that data by showing performance information through video editing,” said Trace Chief Executive David Lokshin, a former options trader for Barclays Bank in Singapore who co-founded the company with his father, Anatole. The elder Lokshin is an expert in sensor fusion who held key scientific roles at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Magellan—which developed the first consumer GPS device—before leaving the company in December 2009 to work on sensor fusion technology that ultimately led to the creation of Trace.

The company, which the two started in 2013, has raised about $3 million behind lead backer Vinny Smith and his Newport Beach-based venture capital firm, Toba Capital.

Data sensors have created a new landscape for athletes like Jordy Smith, who competed this week in the Billabong Pro Tahiti on the Men’s Samsung Galaxy Championship Tour.

Part of his training included analyzing data gleaned from his Bunny Chow and Al Merrick Girabbit surfboards at Lower Trestles, a prime collection of surf breaks at San Onofre State Beach in San Diego County.

Surfing, like other established sports, has just started testing the waters of sensor technology, but early signs of adoption point to more utilization.

“I think we can get behind some of the limits being pushed,” Smith said. “And as the devices get smaller, more people are going to want to use them.”

Want more from the best local business newspaper in the country?

Sign-up for our FREE Daily eNews update to get the latest Orange County news delivered right to your inbox!

Previous article
Next article
-Advertisement-

Featured Articles

-Advertisement-
-Advertisement-
-Advertisement-
-Advertisement-

Related Articles

-Advertisement-
-Advertisement-