Whipping up a storm in climbing tracking

A pioneering new tracking device is attempting to do for climbers what Fitbit does for runners.

Hailed as the world’s first smart climbing tracker, Whipper has been designed specifically for rock climbers to keep track of their climbing. It also doubles up as a personal coach tasked with improving skills.

Whipper provides the stats climbers need to help advance their climbing technique and endurance. Users clip it on their harnesses and let the technology do the rest. Users can check out their vertical foot gain, incline, pace, effort level, altitude and more on the accompanying app.

Laura Kassovic, Whipper CEO, says: “I love to climb but I always need a little push to get me to the gym early in the morning. The Whipper motivates me to become a stronger climber and helps me train for my three-day Yosemite expedition this summer”.

The tech has been designed to cater for climbers of all skill levels. The smart coach feature on the app provides performance-based advice, training modes, and supplemental exercises.

Whipper also includes a range of social tools to aid in improvement and has been launched with the intention of creating a community around the app. Whipper users have the option to challenge friends, find a partner, track team progress and find events.

www.thewhipper.com

Whipper has been credited as the world’s first smart climbing tracker

Holiday with Juventus

Italian champion Juventus is looking to expand its brand through a new venture in hospitality and tourism. The club – which this year secured its record 32nd Serie A title – has teamed up with hotel, spa and resort operator Italian Hospitality Collection to offer resort-based training at the Chia Laguna resort in Sardinia. The Juventus Training Experience is aimed at young footballers aged between five and 14 years old and will be led by renowned Italian football player and Juventus legend Fabrizio Ravanelli.

Taking place throughout the 2016 summer season, the five-day courses are being marketed as a one-off opportunity for keen young footballers to have fun and hone their ball skills under the expert coaches of one of the world’s most legendary football teams.

As well as ball skills and technique, young players will be taught the importance of working as a team and focus will also be placed on the importance of nutrition and a healthy diet in every sport activity.

www.juventus.com/ en/j-academy

The programme is aimed at 5-14 year-olds

The South African Rugby Union (SARU) has recruited Silicon Valley-based tech company Kitman Labs to help it reduce player injuries and optimise athlete performance.

The governing body for rugby in South Africa will use US company Kitman’s cloud-based data collection and analytics tool Athlete Optimization System (AOS) – allowing it to turn data from the field into real-time actionable insight.

The system will provide coaches with tools to identify and understand the subtle degenerative signs that occur prior to injury and react to reduce these risks and keep their athletes performing at the highest level every day.

SARU will use AOS to analyse the performances of its World Cup-winning national team, the Springboks, as well as a host of other elite teams, including the men’s sevens, women’s sevens, under 20s, and elite player development squads.

“Kitman Labs will provide us with an easy-to-use tool to collect and store all the workload data from across the organisation in one central depository,” said Willie Maree, technical support manager with the SARU.  

“We are able to collect data from each of our athletes before they even come into camp, then put it to work immediately by looking at the injury information reporting and injury audits.  In addition, we can share key learnings and data between departments and teams.”

www.kitmanlabs.com

Kitman’s analytics system gives coaches the tools to understand signs of injury/ Wong Maye-E / Press Association Images

Hawk-Eye tracker

Paul Hawkins, the inventor of the Hawk-Eye ball-tracking system, has thrown his knowledge behind a new device which he hopes will help umpires at grassroots level make better decisions.

His as-yet-unnamed new innovation is a sensor capable of detecting the slightest of touches of a ball on a cricket bat – telling the umpire when the batsman has ‘edged’ the ball.

The size of a small coin, the device can be fixed easily to a bat and linked to an app on the umpire’s smartphone. Carrying the smartphones on the field of play, umpires then record each ball using the phone’s camera, giving them access to instant replays and, in the case of lbw (leg before wicket) appeals, showing where the ball had pitched and whether it would have hit the stumps.

With a recommended retail price of around £25, the solution would give amateur officials the level of technological help currently only available at professional level.

Hawkins said the idea was born after playing cricket and witnessing an opposition batsman being caught by the wicketkeeper – only to stand his ground and be given not out.

“Batsmen have always not walked, but what really got me was that after the inevitable bout of sledging from the fielders, the batsman said: ‘I know I nicked it and you know I did, but so what, it wasn’t given’,” Hawkins said.

www.hawkeyeinnovations.co.uk/

Hawkins had the idea after witnessing an opposition batman being given not out after being caught behind/ Steve Parsons / Press Association Images