Welcome to the latest edition of the powered by siliconcoach newsletter, your online resource that keeps you up to date with what's going on in the video analysis world.
In this edition we'll tell you about a combined event with the English Cricket Board, talk about the importance of feedback in learning a skill, go to some little known parts of the siliconcoach web site, visit a huge bike show in Las Vegas and go to Dubai. Then, as usual, you'll meet a couple of our team.
Enjoy powered by siliconcoach and we look forward to your continued feedback and support.
The siliconcoach Team
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It's not watch and learn, its watch, do and learn!!
Although we covered Timewarp in the last issue of the powered by siliconcoach newsletter, we did not really stress the importance of visual feedback in improving performance. Improvements can occur at any level and many top coaches and athletes use Timewarp to hone their skills. The biggest potential to really make a change however, is in children learning fundamental motor skills.
Kids generally have pretty poor body awareness and spatial understanding, but they are very good at watching and mimicking. This is where Timewarp and some exemplar video clips are perfect. Basically the child just watches the exemplar video of someone of a similar age doing a good forward roll, jump, throw etc (played within Timewarp) then they have a go and then watch themselves; all without touching the computer. Then they repeat this process over and over again until they get better. It's not watch and learn, its watch, do and learn!!
Add to this the fact that kids love to watch themselves on screen and you have created a highly engaged group of children having fun and learning fundamental motor skills. Children that don't have basic motor skills tend not to perform well in physical activity and drop out through frustration and/or embarrassment. By improving their basic skills they are more likely to enjoy and succeed in their physical activities throughout their life. Hopefully, over time, more active children will lead to a healthier and more active population.
There is an excellent example of the watch, do and learn concept by one of or ambassadors in the UK, Peter Williams, using Timewarp with a young cricketer (select the second video).
For those completely new to the Timewarp concept, watch this short video and after that click on the '+more' button below to go to the TimeWarp product page.
Little known parts of the Siliconcoach web site
The siliconcoach website is quite large and users tend to focus on certain parts, usually the software features or the support tutorials. This short article will introduce you to some other very useful but less visited parts of the site.
Best practice
This is possibly one of the most important areas to visit on our web site. It gives you advice on how to use the software in your coaching, teaching, clinical or retail setting. These best practice ideas are from staff and users who have many years of practical experience behind them.
To find out more, click the 'more' link below and then choose your channel (sport, education, clinical, retail). Once in your channel you will see an Introduction and under that you will see a list of scenarios. Choose the ones that best suit your needs and you will be guided as to what software is best for that task, why you would use it, how to use it and then some examples. There are also printable versions so check out the Best Practice section.
Teaching resources
Check out this area if you teach biomechanics. It gives you examples and information on how to purchase resources we have made for teaching biomechanics and functional anatomy.
Research
Siliconcoach was actually an off-shoot of a big research project and we have been closely aligned with research ever since. This link gives you summaries of the articles that have used siliconcoach products in their research and also some articles that discuss video analysis in general.
siliconcoach - out and about
Each year thousands of people in the bike trade (it's a trade only show) gravitate to Las Vegas for Interbike, the largest bike trade show in North America. Back in 2005 we had a stand there showing our then just released bike fitting system Dialed in Motion but have not attended recently as we have an exclusive distributorship in the USA with Specialized bikes. However this year Steve Stanley, who is based in the USA, left the moderate heat of California to go to the extreme heat of Las Vegas to catch up on what was new in the bike industry.
As usual there were amazing new bikes from the likes of Specialized, Pinarello and others, clothes, gear from SRAM and Shimano and many others, performance food from lots of people, but two things really caught his eye as being leading edge and innovative.
- Although the ability to measure the force applied to each pedal by the rider has been around for over 10 years, there has never been an economical and practical mass market solution. Manufactures such as SRM, Polar, and PowerTap, do a good job of measuring the net power/work done by both legs but they don't directly and independently measure the force applied to each pedal. If it works as they said and demonstrated, Metrigear (www.metrigear.com) have done it. Due for release in the first quarter of next year, this tiny device is about the size of a car fuse. It fits inside your pedal axel and wirelessly transmits 2 dimensional force data from each pedal. They still have a few issues to work though like fitting it to more than just the current Time brand pedals, but they will sort these out and the price looks good at about $1000 USD.
- Garmin continue to make very good on-bike devices that now basically have it all (GPS, speed, time, heart rate, cadence and power) but are pulling it together in a nice web site.
It was good to see that there was nothing new in the bike fitting area and reaffirms that our bike fitting software is still a leader in cycling retail. Keep a watch out for our next innovations in this space though.
Dubai
Go Sport - Dubai is now on the growing list of places around the world that Siliconcoach's "Dialed in Motion Shoe Fitting" system can be found. Understanding and interpreting a person's gait is a critical factor to consider when providing advice on the type of shoe to purchase. Using video to assist the observational skills of the retailer takes gait analysis to the next level. Using a digital video camera, a computer and Siliconcoach Dialed in Motion software, the shoe retailer can capture the client running on a treadmill. The video clip is quickly and easily imported into the software and is then ready for analysis. As well as the customers gait being assessed in its "natural state" changes in gait can be observed between various types of running shoes, providing vital information on the best shoe type for the customer. (see: Dialed in Motion Shoe Fitting) Video aided gait analysis leads to a deeper level of interaction between the customer and retailer. The customer experience is greatly enhanced and the most suitable shoe for the customer is selected resulting in a more enjoyable running experience and reduced risk of injury.
Ibn Battuta Mall: Customers line up to have their gait analysed using Dialed in Motion Dynamic Shoe Fitting.
To highlight the arrival of Dialed in Motion to Go Sport outlets in the Ibn Battuta Mall and Mall of the Emirates a running expo was held in the Ibn Battuta Mall over a three day period in early October with Graeme Burborough from Siliconcoach in attendance. Public reaction to Dialed in Motion Gait Analysis was very enthusiastic and Go Sport has seen a resultant increase in shoe sales.
Cricket in The Park (CITP)
This edited report is from Peter Williams of Sport Mentoring and a siliconcoach Ambassador.
Sports Mentoring in association with siliconcoach were honoured to be asked to be heavily involved in the English Cricket Board (ECB) / Sky Sports /npower 'Cricket in the Park' events, which were held in 5 different locations during the 2009 Ashes series in the UK. It was promoted as the 'Great Exhibition'.
Events were held in Southampton, Liverpool, Cambridge, Derby and Regents Park London and were held on weekends coinciding with each test match. The Great Exhibition took over a few acres in a local park and had various activities and attractions. This included the npower big screen which was showing the test match live, the Adidas road show, the npower 'girls', various stalls and side show events and of course us.
We were running the Sky Sports coaching zones, which were made up of 4 areas, namely 'Hit It', 'Catch It', 'Bowl It' and 'Throw It'. Each zone offered a warm-up related to the main activity, a group coaching experience then a piece of individual coaching and at the end of the zone, a chance to set a score in a skill competition. In the Batting, Bowling and Catching zones we also had siliconcoach video analysis equipment which allowed us to compare the activity of the zone side by side with an England player using SC Pro7 software. We had Paul Collingwood catching, Kevin Pieterson hitting a six for the batting and James Anderson as the bowling comparison. The overall theme of the zones was to give members of the public a brief insight into the role of a coach, and by coming through the zones everybody received a 'coaching experience' from the coaches and a coaching 'tips' card from each of the zones.
The video proved to be very popular, it's amazing how many people haven't seen themselves play sport on video. The feedback from the participants was mainly on how easy it is to see their good, bad and indifferent techniques and it was all extremely positive. Most of all, they liked seeing themselves compared to a professional player.
Last stop on the CITP tour was London and Regents Park. None of the events to date had reached the crowd levels that the ECB and Sponsors were hoping for, mainly due to the typical British summer weather, however that all to changed in London. At least 14,000 in the Park on the Saturday with over 500 coming through the coaching zone which meant we needed every one of the 25 coaches that we had employed to run the Sky coaching zones. It was a fantastic occasion and one to remember for a long time. This a great way to promote you services and your sport and give the attendees a lots of fun at the same time.
Ambassador Profile: Martin Dunn
Video Feedback: Benefits for Professional and Recreational Surfers
Siliconcoach software is used by many people as part of their business. www.surfcoach.com is a surfing training business established by Martin Dunn where he offers both on-the-beach and online coaching programs. Martin offers coaching packages that include coaching, accommodation, and video analysis in a real world business, and video training packages, accessible through paid membership online. Surfcoach.com has been in business in the real world for 25 years, and online for 15.
Martin is Australia's most successful and innovative surfing coach. The results of his coaching programs speak for themselves.
Screen shot from siliconcoach Pro made for one of Martin's athletes.
Team Profile: Andrew Wood
One of the brains trust behind the development of the siliconcoach products is Andrew Wood. Andrew, better known as Woody, grew up and went to school in Blenheim at the northern end of New Zealand's beautiful South Island. He moved to the lower end of that same island to attend Otago University where he did the 4 years honours degree in Arts majoring in computer science with a minor in classics. (It's interesting to note that over half of the Siliconcoach staff has come through Otago University and the head office is based in the same city of Dunedin. )
It was during his undergraduate studies that Woody developed an interest in graphics algorithms that lead to further study for a Master of Science. When he was studying it was the early days when graphics cards were just starting to get powerful enough to do general purpose programming on them. His aim was to extend the work of others who managed to get Ray Tracing running directly on the cards (Ray Tracing is a method used to render 3D computer models into a lifelike 2D picture). Although this is much easier nowadays, it was difficult work back then.
Woody is a vital cog in the Siliconcoach development machine and although he can turn his hand to anything, he generally works on software code that handles the video images and drawings that magically appear on your screen when you are using our software. He is always looking for creative and efficient solutions to problems using development tools like C#, .net, WPF, Silverlight and his newest interest, developing for the iPhone (watch this space!!).
Living in the sunniest part of New Zealand makes it easy to get outdoors and when you are surrounded by beautiful local scenery you are always drawn outside. Cycling is Woody's main sporting interest, he trains regularly and enters local long distance races like the 100km Grape ride that does a loop around the wine growing areas near the top of the South Island. He assures us that any stops for wine tasting are only during the training rides.
Although you won't usually be talking to Woody through sales or support channels, you will see the work he does every time you use one of our products.
Andrew 'Woody' Wood on the 100km Grape Ride